Heard in the Hall
To Strike or Not to Strike
The Concordia Part-Time Faculty Association has voted 95 per cent in favour of a strike mandate—meaning that if contract negotiations with the university break down, part-time professors could walk off the job. Their last contract took seven years to negotiate, and expired this August. Are you in support of a possible strike?
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“Yes. I think I would be in support of it. Because I feel like teachers have the rights too- the same way students have rights. So, it makes sense that for the teachers to want to go out and strike to show that they want their rights for themselves.”
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“Yes. Because, I think the professors have the right to obtain what they want […] As I am a French student, I know how to strike, as it is really common in France to express ourselves through striking. But I think the strike should be with peace and no violence. For me, a strike is a good way to be listened to, to be heard.”
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“Yes, I think striking is a completely valid form of protest. Regardless of if I support the demands of the strikers or not, I think they definitely have the right to do that […] I hope it would be [beneficial] for the strikers.
But, yeah, like I said, I can’t make that assumption; I am careful about that kind of thing. Thanks for telling me about this, cause I’ll go find out what’s going on, now.” -
“I am not. Well, I am not completely informed on the topic, but just from what happened last year and seeing everything on the news for the student [tuition hike] strike, and how it interfered with the studies, I wouldn’t really want that to happen again. I wanna get my studies over with, go out, find a job, live my life.”
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“No. Because I don’t think that it benefits the situation for anyone. I’m sure [CUPFA’s] demands will be met eventually. They don’t have to go on a strike for their demands to be met.
It might take some time, like you said before seven years, to negotiate, but they don’t have to go on strike in order for that to happen. They could just hope that the [university] takes more efficient time than seven years this time around.”
