Volume 32, No. 2 Editor: Bob Rupert February, 2002. CUASA Affiliation with CLC by Bob Rupert It was 1974. I was in my third year as a sessional lecturer in Carleton's journalism school and my second as a labour relations specialist with the federal labour board. The phone rang. A Carleton colleague wanted some advice on how to go about forming a union. Then, as now, a firm believer in collective bargaining, I was delighted to make some suggestions. The next year the Carleton University Academic Staff Association became the first Ontario faculty union to be certified by the Ontario labour board. Over more than a quarter- century, CUASA's performance has confirmed the wisdom and strength of its founders. Slowly, too slowly, many other Ontario faculties have taken the same step. Dignity. That, to me, has always been the attraction of unionism. The employer and the employees share power and respect. Nobody has absolute power They also share the responsibility that comes with power. A couple of years after that phone call I left my government job--by then I was a Treasury Board negotiator--to join the Carleton faculty. It was to have been a one year "executive interchange" arrangement. I never left Carleton. I have never regretted it. And my CUASA involvement, including a year as president, has contributed a lot to my Carleton experience. Now I am retiring from Carleton and from my editorship of the CUASA news bulletin. This will be my last bulletin and the opinions here are my own. I want to leave behind a couple of thoughts as I leave the editor's chair. 1. For those who are newer to the campus and to the employer-union relationship, learn to understand and live with the inevitable tension that comes with a union. Collective bargaining cannot work without two parties seeking to further their often-competing interests and to solve their workplace problems. It doesn't have to be warfare, but it will sometimes be adversarial. Dissent is inevitable--and essential--to the collective bargaining relationship. One side feels one way--the other side feels another way--about the solution to a problem. Value this dissent. No dissent=no discussion= no exchange of ideas. A university campus cannot be vibrant without exchange of ideas. Both sides must be effectively represented in this process of dialogue and decision-making. It may surprise you to hear that I think the employer side at Carleton is more effectively represented now than ever before. Top management understands the relationship--and the psychology of the relationship. We, the union members, have to be on our toes. We continue to need our best people involved in CUASA. If you are on the union side, your dissent is not disloyal. If you think the employer is wrong--you should say so. The employer needs to hear it. And you should do this from a position of security and strength. That's your union, and I do mean your union. When I hear colleagues criticize "the union"--and criticism of the union is also essential--I wonder just who they think the union is. You are the union. 2. I think it is time for CUASA to take the next step towards stronger collectivism for Canadian university teachers. The Canadian Association of University Teachers has relatively new and very effective leaders who recognize that, while collegiality is important it should not come at our expense. Canada's university teachers and librarians have a legitimate community of interest and a great deal to offer to this country's post-secondary education. They should do so from a position of independence and strength CAUT is now moving in the direction of greater activism and involvement in the country's labour movement. It has formed a national union--the National Union of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. Some faculty unions--notably Memorial, University College of Cape Breton, Mount Saint Vincent, Mount Allison, Bishop's, Algoma, Laurentian, York, Windsor, Winnipeg, Athabasca and College Institute Educators' Association of British Columbia have already affiliated. I think CUASA should now do the same. So does the CUASA steering committee and the council of departmental representatives. A motion authorizing the holding of a referendum on affiliation to NUCAUT has been passed by steering committee and council. The referendum will be held in March following an information meeting (in accordance with CUASA's Constitution). Pat Finn, our executive director and a longtime, tireless and effective CUASA advocate, has put together the outline of NUCAUT that follows this article. I see affiliation as the logical next step for a faculty that pioneered collective bargaining in Ontario's university system. I think it is time for us to take our place in the Canadian Labour Congress, this country's "house of labour." During my years in the labour movement, with the Newspaper Guild, I was involved in the CLC and I see it as the best way for workers--us included--to engage in social dialogue and influence the direction of social and political change. I don't applaud everything the CLC does--or everything every union does for that matter--but I do applaud the concept. There is no reason for us to sit--as we now do--on the sidelines. I think we need the CLC but I also think the Canadian labour movement needs our influence, our ideas and even our leadership. For now, this will be the only difference for us at Carleton. We will be more involved in Canada's house--and voice--of organized working people. This will automatically involve us in the Ontario Federation of Labour and our local district labour council, both of which, at the provincial and community level, serve to advance workers' interests. I see a day when all Ontario and Canadian university faculties will be part of one collective--a day when collective bargaining will totally replace collective begging. But that day has not arrived yet. I think the best way for us to hasten that day is to openly endorse and celebrate our 26-year collective bargaining history at Carleton by joining NUCAUT and the CLC. I anticipate some dissent from within CUASA. But I believe the vast majority of CUASA members will accept the need to move on and strengthen our collective. And I do not anticipate dissent based on elitism. The always- suspect notion that university professionals and others in post-secondary education are somehow above other workers, that we don't need the power or protection of organized labour, has now been dispelled by people like Ontario's outgoing premier. I hope you vote to affiliate with NUCAUT. And I hope you will keep our union strong. The National Union of CAUT's application to join the CLC was overwhelmingly accepted by the CLC Executive Council. Current NUCAUT members are: Memorial, University College of Cape Breton, Mount Saint Vincent, Mount Allison, Bishop's, Algoma, Laurentian, York, Windsor, Winnipeg, Athabasca and College Institute Educators' Association of British Columbia. Dues payments commenced January 1, 2002. Dues are 65 cents per member per month or 7.80/year (total annual cost about 1% of CUASA's annual budget ). There will be minor expenses beyond the membership dues relating to an annual audit and any conference calls between member NUCAUT Associations. CAUT has set up a listserve for NUCAUT delegates to conduct the necessary business of NUCAUT. Member associations are responsible for providing CAUT with the name and email address of the person(s) they wish to be on the listserve. The Interim Executive, made up of a President, Vice-President and Treasurer who will serve until the next CLC convention in Vancouver during June 2002 (unless re-elected), was elected via conference call on January 16. The Executive Director of CAUT is, ex officio, the Executive Director of NUCAUT. Elections for NUCAUT officers will coincide with CLC conventions (every 3 years). Should CUASA members vote to affiliate, CUASA would be entitled to 1 voting delegate at the CLC Convention (1 delegate for up to 1,000 members; 1 additional delegate for each additional 500 members or major proportion of 500). Local associations are financially responsible for sending their delegate(s) to the CLC convention every 3 years. Each delegate has 1 vote on the floor of the convention as do the President and Vice-President of NUCAUT.