Teaching assistants, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the relations of ruling : an exploration of collective bargaining at the University of Victoria 2003-2004

(1)

Teaching Assistants, the Canadian Union of Public Employees,

and the Relations of Ruling: An Exploration of

Collective Bargaining at the University of Victoria

2003-2004

by Melissa Moroz

B.A. (Honours), University of Victoria, 1999 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS

in the Department of Sociology

O Melissa Moroz, 2004 University of Victoria

All rights resewed. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author.

(2)

Supervisor: William K. Carroll

Abstract

Using the theoretical and methodological framework of institutional ethnography as developed by Dorothy Smith, this thesis investigates and describes the social relations of a post-secondary educational labour union, namely the Canadian Union of Public

Employees Local 4 163. Data explored in this thesis come from the author's participation in this union, discussions with union activists, and a reading of the union's documents as text. With a concentration on the collective bargaining process that occurred between the University of Victoria and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 41 63 in 2003- 2004, the analysis is focused on how the daily lives and interactions of union leaders, staff and rank-and-file members are shaped by relations of ruling.

(3)

(0

National or Local?

(g) CUPE National Strike Funds (h) Strike Aversion

(i) Conclusion

Chapter Three: Ruling Relations and the Collective Bargaining Process 78

Conclusion 94

Bibliography Appendices

(4)

Acknowledgements

First, I would like to thank Dr. William K. Carroll in the Department of Sociology for his patience in working through my ideas and continually suggesting further readings. I would also like to thank Dr. Radhika Desai and Dr. Ken Hatt for their feedback and guidance. Carole Rains and Zoe Chan were always supportive. Members of the CUPE 4163 contract committee made this thesis possible. I wish to thank Bob Wilson for encouraging me to organize my own workplace and for providing me with valuable insights about being on a union's payroll. Kim Toombs and Shane Calder put forward an example of a militant, democratic response to the anti-labour climate in recent years. I must draw particular attention to their unwavering community activism. I wish to extend my gratitude to Sherwin Arnott, Alex Grant, Chris Hurl, Ben Isitt, Andrea Mears, Justin Schmid, Adrienne Smith, Morgan Stewart and Mikael Swayze for being there while I worked through the concepts elaborated in this thesis, and for acting as a sounding board during the intense times that are recounted in the pages that follow. I appreciate the contributions that each of my informants provided. Without their insights this thesis would not have been possible. Finally, I am indebted to all activists on the Left who have built up the labour movement and changed society for the better - and to those

(5)

To those in the labour movement

who struggle for change;

(6)

Preface

I came to this topic through my experiences with the labour movement in British Columbia and specifically with the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 41 63. I have been employed by CUPE for three years, having come to this position through my activism in the local. In the last year, the members of the local-mostly Teaching Assistants at the University of Victoria-experienced a challenging round of collective bargaining. It is my feeling that the results of this process were disappointing, leaving Teaching Assistants in a worse position with increased poverty and indebtedness to banks. This thesis is an exploration of how we arrived at this disappointing outcome. The experience of collective bargaining with a group of individuals is an emotionally intense experience. Tears, confusion, and anger sometimes followed the events that occurred at the bargaining table. There are some members of the bargaining team who raised serious concerns about this thesis because of the intense nature of bargaining and the interpersonal relations that occurred at the table. I do not wish to point fingers at individuals who volunteered their time to sit through t h ~ s process. I hope that individuals do not feel an injustice has been done to them in these pages.

I have strong convictions for publicly funded education and for the rights of workers. Unions, I believe, can play a major role in advancing the cause of workers and society generally. Sometimes, as in the case of CUPE 4163 in the latest round of bargaining, unions fall short. The emancipatory potential of unions is blunted by their own internal dynamics, and by the interaction with institutions, structures, and customs that are antagonistic to the cause of labour. This thesis is my attempt to understand precisely how this process happens. How do relations of ruling shape unions?

(7)

Introduction, Literature and Method

(a) Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4163

Unionization of teaching assistants (TAs) and other graduate student workers at Canadian universities has been a trend since 1974. At the University of Victoria (Wic), in British Columbia, a TA organizing drive late in 1997 culminated in the certification of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 41 63 the following spring. Since that time, Local 41 63 has grown to include second-language teachers, sessional

instructors, and other academic workers. Between September and April there are about 1300 members in the local, most of whom are graduate students.

The local is divided into three components. Component One includes teaching assistants, workers in the computer labs, research assistants, lab instructors, and cultural assistants. Almost all Component One members are students. In fact, except in a few cases, being a student is a requirement of employment. Component Two is the smallest component of the local. Members work as teachers in the English and French Language Centres at W i c . These centres offer students non-credit courses to develop language skills in either French or English. The English Language Centre generates a significant revenue surplus (some would argue a profit) for the university. Finally, Component Three of CUPE Local 41 63 represents sessional instructors, some of whom are enrolled as students (e.g., working on a PhD), many of whom have a PhD or related degree, and some of whom have held tenured positions in the past. Often, sessionals are referred to as the university's "dirty little secret." Ln short, they are teaching more and more of the courses offered at the university, for a shockingly low rate of pay with very little job

(8)

security. This process has been described as the 'casualization' of university teaching by labour organizations and scholars (Nelson, 1997; Noble, 2002).

Within the labour movement in Canada and the struggles against the global neo- liberal attack on labour and the public sector, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has played a lead role. The diverse membership of Local 41 63 belong to CUPE, the largest union in Canada with over half a million members in health care, education, municipal services, libraries, universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services, and airlines. Over half of these workers are women.' The services that CUPE members provide encompass many branches of the public sector; they are an important part of what many Canadians value in Canadian society. From hospital care to assistance for children in a classroom to garbage disposal, it is likely that CUPE workers will be 'on the fiont line' providing these publicly funded services. Founded in 1963, CUPE and its members have struggled for decades for living wages, safe working conditions, quality services, and the right of public sector workers to organize and bargain collectively. It is often through their efforts that larger social gains have been made. For example, CUPE municipal workers have fought successfully to keep

municipal water systems out of private hands; CUPE school workers have fought to keep class sizes down through provisions in their collective agreements that were often secured through strike action. CUPE as an organization is by no means perfect; this thesis will examine in detail tensions within the union and disparities between its professed aims and how it functions in practice. Nonetheless, the contribution of CUPE members and their union to Canadian society should not be underestimated.

'

"About our Union." Canadian Union ofpublic Employees. August 22,2002. < www.cupe.ca > Date last accessed April 13,2004.

(9)

The resources used to pay CUPE workers come from federal, provincial, and municipal governments rather than the private sector. In some cases, CUPE workers are employed directly by governments - municipal garbage workers are a good example. In other cases, CUPE workers are employed by public agencies, such as school boards, health boards, or Crown corporations. In the case of CUPE 4163, and other workers in the university sector in British Columbia, the employer is a quasi-public agency, funded partly by public resources, and governed by a Board of Governors that consists of a majority of government appointees. This complicated financial and administrative apparatus can create blurred lines of authority that undermine efforts by CUPE to secure gains in the collective bargaining process. Drawing its funds from user fees, private- sector donations, and public grants from the provincial government, UVic as an employer can claim to answer to many masters. It functions differently than purely public or purely private employers. As will be demonstrated in detail in this thesis, quasi-public-sector employers such as UVic frequently attempt to evade responsibility, pointing to

governments and claiming they lack the resources or authority to meet the demands of their workers. Governments, meanwhile, particularly those hostile towards labour and intent on privatization, can evade unpopular decisions by delegating administration, policy-making, and cutbacks to these quasi-public institutions. Such agencies serve the functions of 'hatchet-men' for governments and political leaders. For example, the university can refuse wage increases on the grounds that it lacks authority under provincial wage controls, then raise user fees as it sees fit. Increasingly, as the services provided by CUPE members fall under the threat of privatization, quasi-public-sector employers rely on these blurred lines of authority in order to justify concessions, layoffs

(10)

and cuts to services. These employers therefore play a crucial role in a transnational political agenda benefiting private capitalist interests at the expense of labour.

In the case of UVic and CUPE 4163, provincial-government guidelines provided a pretext for a concessions-based contract where increases in compensation failed to offset increases in tuition fees, which a large majority of teaching assistants were required to pay as a condition of employment. This social relation between the teaching assistants and the university-with TAs as both students and workers, as consumers and producers of knowledge-blurs the lines of authority further. In short, the university can "rob Peter to pay Paul." University officials can claim that increases in tuition fees have nothing to do with the terms of employment, and are therefore not subject to negotiation. However the same student-worker who is required to pay the higher fees is refused higher wages. The result is a decline in the real income of the student-worker, leading to higher debt- loads and increased poverty. The university hides behind two smokescreens in evading its responsibilities toward its employees: it exploits the dual role of TAs as students and workers, and it points to the provincial government as forcing the imposition of

concessions. This final h c t i o n of quasi-public-sector employers, as 'hatchet-men' for higher governmental authorities, is a major obstacle to unions bargaining in the public sector.

While this dynamic has always been a feature of public-sector bargaining, it is intensified in a climate of privatization, cost-cutting, and layoffs. Many scholars have examined neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism in British Columbia and Canada (Carroll and Little, 2001; Carroll and Ratner, 1989; Haiven et al. 1990; Magnusson et al. 1984; Palmer, 1987; Panitch and Swartz, 2003; Teeple, 2000; Shields and Evans, 1998). For

(11)

several decades, corporate interests in North America and other regions have successfully undermined the concept of government intervention in the economy and of any social role for the state. The public provision of social services is a major site of this conflict. In the education sector in Canada, we are seeing an expansion of private ~niversities.~ Indeed, across North America there is a persistent trend toward the privatization and commercialization of higher education, a process documented by David Noble (2002), James L. Turk (2000), and others (Drakich, et al. 2002; Doherty-Delorme and Shaker 2003; Tudiver, 1999). The collective-bargaining experience of CUPE Local 4 163 is therefore highly relevant as a sociological study of practical use in the current political and economic climate.

(b) Review of Relevant Literature

Institutional ethnography is a theoretical and methodological approach developed by feminist sociologist Dorothy Smith. The method of inquiry begins fiom the standpoint of everyday life, starting with the lived experiences of people rather than the larger processes of institutions. The approach allows the researcher to work with participants as subjects instead of objects. Literature is reviewed in a way as to position the researcher and to determine what is already known about the research topic. This needs to be accomplished in an active rather than a passive way. As Campbell and Gregor explain, the researcher "must come to terms with the literature while delineating and maintaining her particular stance vis ci vis discourses, authorized knowledge, and views that express a

"The Degree Authorization Act" introduced in 2002 by the British Columbia Liberal government authorizes private universities to grant degrees. In May 2002, legislation was passed to establish the first private university in the British Columbia. Tuition fees are expected to cost $25,000 per year (Doherty- Delorme and Shaker, 2003).

(12)

standpoint organized differently fiom the institutional ethnographer's stance in the everyday world" (2002: 5 1). An active literature review entails more than reading and documenting "the facts." An active literature review must incorporate an analysis of the literature's social organization. The purpose therefore of the literature review is to situate the research in the discourse without importing dominant perspectives that might

predetermine how the research is conducted.

That being said, there is a large body of literature written on labour unions. In order to situate myself within this literature, I will review materials that help develop questions and provide clues to the "puzzle" I will be exploring. Namely, how are the

daily lives and interactions of union leaders, stafland rank-and-$le members shaped by relations of ruling?

What

is

'the

Union?'

Much reference is made to 'the union', both in the literature and in the labour movement itself What exactly is 'the union?' Dorothy Smith's approach is useful in exploring this question. She proposes looking at social relations that exist in order to answer "what is the union?" Richard Hyrnan argues that 'the union' is a clear instance of reification in that an impersonal abstraction is treated as a social agent, "when it is really only people who act" (1 975: 16). Does the union then refer to the individual members who make up the organization? Is a union "simply the sum of its members" (Hyman:

16)? The answer to these questions cannot be yes; union leaders or union staff often speak on behalf of 'the union', make important decisions, or resolve grievances without ever consulting the rank-and-file members. It is therefore important to distinguish

(13)

between the rank-and-file membership and the leadership of 'the union'. As Hyrnan explains, "the situations of union leaders differ significantly from those of the members they represent; and this leads in turn to differences in attitudes, interests, objectives, and conceptions of what is good for the members and for 'the union"' (1 975: 16-17). This distinction between the leadership and the rank and file is important for me to consider, and comprises a major h eof this study. In short, relations of ruling (which will be explored below) may affect union leaders differently than the rank-and-file members. Scholars have also drawn attention to distinct institutional characteristics that differentiate 'the union' from its members. As Ross explains:

As an institution expands in strength and status, it outgrows its formal purpose. It experiences its own needs, develops its own ambitions, and faces its own problems. These become differentiated fkom the needs, ambitions, and the problems of its rank and file. The trade union is no exception. It is the beginning of wisdom in the study of industrial relations to understand that the union, as an organization, is not identical with its members as individuals

.

. .

Experienced employer representatives are accustomed to emphasize the distinction between the union and its members (Ross 1948: 23 as quoted in Hyrnan: 66).

Hence, 'the union' is not simply the members; nor can it be referred to as an organization without members for that would amount to reification. Where are we left? Is it possible to study 'the union', or should I simply study the actions of the individuals involved with an organization called CUPE 41 63? Hyman suggests:

To get beneath the blank abstraction of such labels as 'the union' it is

. . .

necessary to ask a series of highly specific questions. What decisions are taken? What relationships between those in different positions inside a union - and those outside it - lead to these decisions? What alternatives are considered in the decision making process - and hence what lines of action are excluded from the

realm of serious possibility? And through what processes and by what criteria is this prior framework of decision-taking created (1 975: 66-67)?

(14)

These are difficult questions to answer. In fact, Hyman appears to dismiss the possibility of answering them: "it is impossible.. .even to attempt to provide detailed answers to these questions" (1 975: 67). I will employ the method of institutional ethnography in order to provide these detailed answers. Hyman concedes that it is possible to "indicate some of the pressures and constraints which determine the content of trade union decision-making and non-decision making" (1975: 67). Most importantly, 'the union'

represents a set of more or less stable relationships, a network of positions of greater and lesser power and influence. The top leader(s), in favourable circumstances, may wield far greater power and influence than any other individual in the union, and may be able to adapt organizational

relationships to add further to this power and influence (Hyman: 8 1).

In summary, the definition of 'the union' will be demonstrated through an examination of the "more or less stable relationships" that exist between individuals in the organization called CUPE 4 1 63.

Critiques of Labour Unions

It is a rule in a capitalist society that any institution or reform created for or by the working class can by that very token be converted into a weapon against it - and it is a hrther rule that the dominant class exerts a constant pressure towards this end

. .

.

The working class is only concretely fi-ee when it can fight against the system which exploits and oppresses it. It is only in its collective institutions that it can do so: its unity is its strength, and hence its fi-eedom. But precisely because this unity requires

disciplined organization, it becomes the natural objective of capitalism to appropriate it for the stabilization of the system (Anderson 1967: 276 in Hyman: 69).

A central critique of labour unions is that they are institutions of capitalism instead of bodies of resistance. According to this critique, unions have allowed the state to determine their activities. Many scholars situate this historically as part of a post-war compromise between capital and labour (McInnis, 2002; Palmer 1983, 1987; Panitch and

(15)

Swartz, 2003). Even prior to the Second World War, tensions could be discerned within labour's ranks. Syndicalism and other radical currents offered a critique of moderate 'bread-and-butter' unionism, viewing labour organizations as historic vehicles of revolutionary transformation. Vladmir Lenin, meanwhile, differentiated between 'trade- union consciousness' and the revolutionary consciousness of the most advanced sections of the working class (Lenin, 1963). In the mid- 1900s in Canada, a major shift occurred in the relationship unions and the state, and between labour and capital. The power of organized labour at the end of the Second World War forced concessions from capitalism that simultaneously altered its structure, practices and orientation. This post-war

compromise provided legal recognition to unions for the first time, while severely restricting the right to strike. With the Rand Formula of 1946, unions enjoyed

unprecedented financial stability, though union leaders were increasingly placed in the role of policing their own members and the collective agreement.3 Bureaucratic sway replaced militancy as the determining attribute of union leaders, who moved from the role of mobilizer to manager. While employers were required by law to recognize unions and participate in the collective bargaining process, the working-class organizations they faced at the bargaining table had been transformed and restricted in fundamental ways. Collective action was prohibited during the life of collective agreements. Grievances were channeled into individualized arbitration processes, whereas previously they were resolved through wildcat shop-floor action. All of this in turn contributed to an

institutionalization of employment relations and a bureaucratization of the labour movement (Aronowitz, 1973).

This historic decision by Ontario Justice Ivan Rand resolved the infamous autoworkers strike at Windsor, providing unions with compulsory dues checkoff in exchange for a guarantee of labour peace for the life of

(16)

The current actions of unions must be understood within this post-war context, and the breakdown of the compromise in recent decades, associated with the rise of the new right and a withering away of post-war gains. Unions frequently act in defensive rather than offensive ways (Russell in Carroll 1997). Additionally, as Hyman suggests, unions act in ways that "reinforce the bias towards wage-consciousness" (1975: 28). Labour unions do this by, for example, instituting collective agreements restricted to wages, hours and benefits, leaving decisions about the work process itself exclusively at the discretion of management. As suggested by Bob Russell, "the present

institutionalization of labour affairs assumes, amongst other things, a regime of

regularized collective bargaining, a highly juridified state of industrial relations, a formal

- ,-

division between workplace representation and political representation proper, and, for highly involved activists, a relatively inclusive trade union culture that may have overall exclusionary implications" (Russell: 120- 12 1). Even though union activists may be included in bargaining and other union-related activities, overall decision-making within the workplace is largely beyond their control.

The labour-relations regime has created a situation where the interests of union leaders and the rank-and-file membership are often antagonistic. Placed in the role of policing the collective agreement and the membership, union leaders are inclined toward moderation and the settlement of disputes at the bargaining table rather than on the picket lines. Legal constraints such as the prohibition on strikes during the life of collective agreements force union leaders to shun efforts toward militant shop-floor action. Indeed, the authority and legitimacy of union leaders (in the eyes of employers and the state, at least) depends on their ability to control the membership and prevent wildcat action. In

(17)

this way, the post-war labour-relations regime has demobilized organized labour. It has shifted the orientation of organizations and leaders fiom militancy to moderation; in the words of Bryan Palmer, from "resistance to accommodation" (1983: 14). In this altered institutional setting, leaders frequently become defensive and fearful of the rank and file who represent the ultimate threat to their positions of power and authority (Hyman 1975: 8 1). Leaders may become removed from the members by, for example, becoming

professionals. Contact with members on the shopfloor is reduced significantly, and replaced with a multitude of other responsibilities such as meeting and socializing with management, political officials, and other union leaders. To defend their positions, a common tactic employed by union leaders is to withhold information from their

members. This tactic is sometimes motivated solely by self-interest or self-preservation, while other times leaders believe that in withholding information they are acting in the best interests of their members. It is here that staff or experienced leaders might put pressure on new leaders to go against the instinct of informing the members of all union business. Withholding information may be intentional or it may be implicit in the culture of the union.

Union leaders and staff act in ways that they believe are best for the organization; these actions may not, however, necessarily be in the best interests of the members. For example, in the recent negotiations between the University of Victoria and CUPE 41 63, if the teaching assistants had gone on strike, they would have been entitled to $40 per day strike pay. In most cases, this financial compensation fiom CUPE National would exceed the compensation TAs receive fiom the university.' If the TAs were to go on strike for an

Most TAs at the University of Victoria work between ten to fifteen hours per week at a wage of

(18)

extended period of time, as was the case at York University where TAs struck for 78 days drawing millions of dollars in strike pay from CUPE, they would act as a financial burden to CUPE. It was thus in the best interest of CUPE (as an organization) to pursue a policy of 'strike aversion' and seek an agreement with the university without resorting to a withdrawal of labour. The ordinary tendency of union leaders to avert strikes was

amplified by the peculiar financial situation of TAs. Unlike most unionized workers, they would receive more money striking than remaining at work. The distance between this particular section of CUPE members and their union is well illustrated on this question of strike aversion. Indeed, it could be argued that the interests of W i c TAs in some ways conflicted with those of CUPE members generally. A TA strike would deplete CUPE's fragile strike fund, threatening the well-being of many of the union's half-a-million members. A strike, however, appeared necessary to safeguard the economic interests of W i c TAs. Ultimately, a policy of strike aversion influenced the union's demands and its approach to bargaining with the employer. Seeking to avert a strike, CUPE adopted a stance of accommodation rather than resistance. Leaders and staff were generally guided by an implicit strategy of preventing the bargaining process from building momentum and shifting into something with a life of its own, beyond the control of the organization.

In summary, labour unions have been criticized for their role in an increasingly institutionalized and bureaucratic system of industrial relations. Within this system, labour unions tend to focus only on 'bread and butter' issues rather than on broad

objectives of social change. As Bob Russell explains, "much of the day-to-day politics of trade unionism involves policing collective agreements as they pertain to the interests of individual members" (Russell: 120). Within the context of a post-war compromise

(19)

between capital and labour, the historic political project of the labour movement (as articulated by Marx) - the socialist transformation of society - has increasingly been replaced by the narrow goal of securing membership ratification of collective agreements and averting strikes.

Beginning in the late 1970s, with the rise of the new right, the post-war compromise began to deteriorate and now exists only in its remnants. "What we have witnessed is the passing of the era of free collective bargaining in Canada, one in which the state and capital relied, more than before the Second World War, on obtaining the consent of workers generally, and unions in particular, to act as subordinates in Canada's capitalist democracy" (Panitch and Swartz, 2003: 6 ) . Governments are intervening in the content of negotiations at an increasingly alarming rate. Here lies an interesting irony: while neo-liberals claim to favour a decrease in government intervention, the

implementation of their agenda requires increased intervention in the field of industrial relations. This new attack on trade unions needs to be understood in the context of neo- liberalism.

'The Relations of Ruling'

Dorothy Smith refers to the "ruling apparatus" as "those institutions of

administration, management and professional authority, and of intellectual and cultural discourses, which organize, regulate, lead and direct, contemporary capitalist societies" (Smith 1990: 2). The origins of Smith's approach to 'relations of ruling' stem from Karl Marx's theories of materialism and class consciousness and oppression. Smith explains that "the method of inquiry is grounded in [Marx's] materialism as described in The

(20)

German Ideology..

.,

the premises of which are not concepts or principles but the actual activities of actual individuals and the material conditions of those activities" (1990: 6). As Mam explains:

The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force [original emphasis]. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence the relationships which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of its dominance (Marx 1970: 64).

Smith proposes using this materialist ontology to allow researchers to explore what is actually happening in the lives of people in a very practical sense. Instead of theorizing before the research, Smith wants researchers "to discover, to analyze what is there, and to find and refine concepts to analyze and express properties of social

organization as they come into view in the course of inquiry" (1 990: 6). By returning to a standpoint in the actualities of people's lives, and beginning the inquiry here, we can discover how social relations are coordinated. As Smith explains: "Like a map, it would be through and through indexical to the local sites of people's experience, making visible how we are connected into the extended social ruling relations and the economy"

(1 999:95).

Relations of ruling only exist in as much as people, both rulers and those who are ruled, make them exist. As Marx believed, social forms of consciousness, such as class consciousness, exist "only in actual practices and in the concerting of those practices as an ongoing process" (Smith 1990: 7). In this sense, Smith explains that capitalism, for example, "explicates in practice [original emphasis] the properties and categories of

(21)

economic relations on which a science of political economy can be founded" (1 990: 7). Capitalism itself provides us with a methodology of analysis, based on the activity of real people and their material conditions (1 990: 7).

The Commercialization of Post-Secondary Education

Historically, the social function of the university has remained basically the same: It is the place or institution where the ruling apparatus of the time transfers to the next generation the attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed to cope with the future. (Franklin in Turk, 2000: 18)

James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), defines commercialization as "the attempt to hitch universiti'es and colleges to the private sector" (2000: 4). As a result of insufficient public fhding, Turk argues, there is an increase in the commercialization of universities and colleges in Canada. In short, universities and colleges are more reliant on private funding sources than ever before. This commercialization occurs in a number of ways.

First, and perhaps most visible, is the rise of marketing of brand names on

campuses. For example, at the University of Victoria, an exclusivity deal was signed with the soft drink company Pepsi. In exchange for a large volume of fiee product, UVic provided the company with a monopoly on soft drink distribution on the campus for a period of ten years.s Additionally, the University of Victoria controls the vending machines and sells Pepsi products for a profit. The University of Victoria Students' Society ( W S S ) was included in this exclusivity deal, agreeing to purchase all soft drinks fiom W i c for distribution in the Student Union Building for ten years. In exchange,

This information was gathered fiom an interview with Morgan Stewart, past finance director and chair of the University of Victoria Student Society and a former member of the Board of Governors at UVic.

(22)

UVic gives $25,000.00 to the W S S each year. Similar exclusivity deals pertaining to food services with firms such as Sodexho and Aramark are common at Canadian post- secondary institutions. Where Pepsi receives exclusive access to market its brand to the campus community, Sodexho and Ararnark enjoy a monopoly on the provision of cafeteria, residence and vending services. Cash-strapped university administrations and student associations are often eager to enter into such agreements; they justify the curtailment of consumer choice and the proliferation of corporate brands by pointing to the necessity of the guaranteed revenue these agreements provide.

A second way in which commercialization occurs is through the "selling of goods and services to universities and colleges" (Turk, 2000: 5). Computer hardware and

software are sold in bulk to universities and colleges to facilitate on-line learning or virtual education. In exchange for reduced prices on their burgeoning computing

infrastructure, post-secondary institutions sign large contracts with single providers such as IBM. Both of these aspects of commercialization - the marketing of brands and the private provision of goods and services

-

demonstrate the tendency of universities and colleges to operate as if they were private institutions. This is evidenced in a number of other ways. There is a shift in the language used on campuses: "students" become "clients", while "teachers" become "service providers." There is a shift towards a user- pay model, marked by the deregulation of fees and a decreased reliance on public funding. There is an increased reliance on private donors and charities. Furthermore, management practices change. For example, instead of the primary role of educator, presidents become Chief Executive Officers. There is an increased reliance on casual labour. While no formal study has been conducted to date, CUPE Local 41 63 estimates

(23)

that its members perform three-quarters of all teaching at the University of Victoria. Across North America, this 'casualization' of university teaching is evidenced by the proliferation of term-employment and the declining ratio of instruction by tenured faculty. Finally, commercialization is marked by the proliferation of labour-replacing technologies, such as Information Technologies (IT), that are used to increase

productivity by reducing the role of human teachers, "substituting capital for labour" (Turk, 2000: 9).

It hardly needs to be said that there are 'strings attached' to this creeping privatization. With a greater reliance on corporate funding sources, and a private-sector model of operations, universities and colleges increasingly serve corporate and private interests. For example, because of recent changes to government funding programs, many academic researchers in Canada must team up with private partners in order to receive public funding. The recently inaugurated Discovery Parks Inc., a 'technology transfer' facility at W i c , is explicitly designed to facilitate the transfer of university (publicly subsidized) knowledge to private-sector entrepreneurs.

Using Dorothy Smith's institutional ethnography as a method, Liza McCoy (1998) conducted research on how colleges in Ontario are "restructuring" to deal with reduced operating grants and a push towards a private model of service delivery. Her focus is an investigation of how accounting texts shape the practices of those who manage teaching. Specifically, she analyzes a new program-costing document used at a particular college, one year after its enactment. Based on a mathematical formula, the program-costing document requires deans in various divisions to evaluate how much programs cost to run. Based on these evaluative figures, deans and administrators then

(24)

make decisions, for example, about which courses or programs should be dropped. Basically, the college receives a specific amount of funding for each student depending on the program. Each teacher receives a specific amount of reimbursement for the labour of teaching the course. All of this is part of the program-costing document that tries to maximize revenue and minimize cost. It is not surprising that deans, held accountable to the administration, attempt to do such things as increase class sizes and reduce teaching hours to improve the "bottom-line" of the program-costing document. McCoy's study is useful because she demonstrates the centrality of the program-costing document to the quality of education at the college. Her study highlights how the text is used as an objectified form of knowledge. In essence, the program-costing document is used to justify the practices of the deans and administrators.

(c)

My

Role

in CUPE

Local

4163

Institutional ethnography begins inquiry in the "local particularities of everyday experience" (Smith, 1999: 73). This allows a point of entry into exploring relations of ruling. The subject therefore begins in her embodied form. The standpoint I will be taking begins in the actualities of my experiences. The goal being to "explicate the actual social relations in which people's lives are embedded and to make them visible to

them/ourselves" (1 999: 74). I first got involved with CUPE 4163 as a volunteer on the Political Action Committee in the fall of 2000. My membership in the union was a result of my employment as a teaching assistant in the department of sociology, where I was completing the course-work component of a Masters degree. My motivation in joining the Political Action Committee was two-fold. First, I wanted CUPE to be involved in the

(25)

political projects (especially campus-related ones) to which I was already committed. In this sense, my activism pre-dated my participation in CUPE. Second, I was excited about belonging to a union and wanted to take an active role in CUPE.

At the time, there was an elected executive and three paid staff positions. The staff worked almost entirely on grievances and bargaining. In the summer of 2001, the position of communications and recruitment director was created by the executive and advertised to the membership. I applied for and was awarded this position, largely on the basis of my involvement as one of the few volunteers in the local. I started this job, working 15 hours per week, in July 2001. Since that time, three staff have been employed by the local: a business manager, a business agent, and a communications and

recruitment director (me). My primary responsibility as CUPE 4163 staff is to

communicate union issues with the membership, the campus community and the public. Additionally, I am responsible for recruiting members into positions of leadership and educating them on how to act in these roles. I have worked intensely at this for almost three years watching different members come and go. During this period, my perspective about how things work within the union has ev01ved.~

I occupy a particular location in the union in that I am the communications and recruitment director and a paid staff member. More importantly, I feel I occupy the particular location of being a person who knows things. Because the majority of CUPE 41 63 members are teaching assistants who don't usually hold a TA position for more than two years, my three years of experience with the union, in particular in a paid staffs position, means I generally know a great deal more about the union than other members.

(26)

This is not because I'm smarter but because I have closer social ties and more intimate access to the union's daily activities. I have access to what has been described as

institutional knowledge of the organization.

(d) Problematic and Conceptual Approach

Institutional ethnography differs from more conventional types of qualitative research methodology used in the social sciences in that it begins by problematizing peoples' experiences. As George Smith explains, "the method of analysis proposed by Dorothy Smith marks a paradigm shift for sociology because of its unique

epistemological/ontological grounding" (Campbell, 1995: 19). Unlike other research methods, which attempt to know the world from the 'outside,' institutional ethnography proposes explicating people's experiences from their own standpoint. However, as Dobson points out, "a standpoint is not a worldview" (2001: 148). Instead, the standpoint position allows the research to be rooted in people's everyday lives. This rooting brings us closer to the goal of discovering "how things work" and "how they are actually put together" (Smith, 1987: 147). If we understand how social relations occur in a particular local setting, we can reveal how people's daily lives are also coordinated by social relations beyond their locality. This is because social relations penetrate through local sites of work across space and time. As Dobson (1 53) explains: "We are the ones that achieve organization together; organization does not exist 'out there' as structures or buildings or even texts but rather as a social relation that was put together by people and continues to be so." In this way, institutional ethnography is particularly useful for

Recently, CUPE 4 163 staff organized as a bargaining unit of the Communications, Energy and

(27)

individuals wishing to conduct research from the 'bottom up' (Campbell, 1995). Indeed, I chose institutional ethnography because

the analysis begins in experience and returns to it, having explicated how the experience came to happen as it did. The objective of making the analysis is to open up the possibilities for people who live these experiences to have more room to move and act, on the basis of more knowledge about them (Campbell, 1998: 56).

It is through my lived experiences with CUPE 41 63, as first an activist then as a staff member, that a 'problematic' emerges. Campbell and Gregor explain that in institutional ethnography "a problematic identifies how the researcher will take up the inquiry from a standpoint in the everyday world" (2002: 48). Working for the union, I began to understand that my original perception of my involvement as a union activist working towards social change had shifted to incorporate a greater criticism. Knowing the union from the inside, I began to see what Dorothy Smith refers to as a "disjuncture" (1 990: 83- 104). This is the moment when one realizes, as explained by Marie Campbell and Frances Gregor, "that something chafes" (2002: 48). The problematic I would like to explore is: How do I work as stafffor CUPE 4163, looking out for the organizational well-being of the local, and at the same time, best represent the interests of the rank-and- file members? In order to answer this question, which centres on the tension between the

interests of the organization and the interests of its members, I arrived at a second question: How do relations of ruling shape the interactions and practices of union leaders, staff and rank-and-file members?

Paperworkers (CEP) Union, Local 467, which consists of the staff of many public-sector unions throughout BC.

(28)

(e)

Methodology

For the purposes of this thesis I will be exploring the time period leading up to and including bargaining for a collective agreement for Components One and Two. The union formed a contract committee in the early months of 2003 and began regular meetings to develop strategies, proposals and internal structures. Formal negotiations with the University of Victoria began on August 18,2003, and continued until January 2004, when a majority of CUPE 41 63 members ratified a new collective agreement. I will be drawing selectively from the events, people, and documents during this time with the intent of exploring how the ruling relations penetrate into the everyday life of the local.

I will be taking up the standpoint of union activist. Although it is true that I have worked for CUPE 4163, I am often at odds with some union leaders and staff. I more closely identify and feel comfortable with union activists who express a willingness to go on strike and pursue far-reaching goals through forms of direct action, rather than

negotiation. Contrary to others, I believe that CUPE 4 163 and the university are divided by a fundamental antagonism, rooted in our economic system. I approach industrial relations through the framework of class conflict rather than class harmony.

Acknowledging the existence of a class society, and power imbalances within it, I believe CUPE should act in a more aggressive way. If it were up to me, UVic would be publicly shamed for their labour practices and the campus would be surrounded with picket lines to achieve bargaining demands such as a reduction of user fees.

This study will focus primarily on Component One members of CUPE 41 63, and specifically on teaching assistants, who comprise a large majority of the membership. This group of workers is one I am most familiar with having been a teaching assistant for

(29)

two years and also having worked most closely with them. The nature of my work as a paid staff for the local demands that I spend more time working with Component One members because this group is the most transient and is therefore constantly needing orientation to the union.

For reasons of space, not all aspects of the relevant institutions and ruling

practices will be explored. Much of my data will be drawn from my experiences and the experiences of those involved in the process. There will be some analysis of documents as text, though this method will comprise only a part of this study. Many institutional ethnographies rely heavily on text analysis (e.g, Campbell, 1998; Kinsmen, 1995; McCoy, 1998; Ng, 1995; Sharma, 200 1 ; Smith, 1993). My research is a departure from these research projects. It represents a different kind of institutional ethnography, laying greater emphasis on personal experience than on text analysis.

Institutional ethnography does not advocate a single method of data collection. Instead, the researcher uses a variety of techniques to reveal the hidden social relations that exist in the everyday world. Marie Campbell explains that

institutional ethnography, like other forms of ethnography, relies on interviewing, observation and documents as data. Institutional

ethnography departs from other ethnographic approaches by treating those data not as the topic or object of interest, but as 'entry' into the social relations of the setting (Campbell, 1998: 57).

Beginning from the standpoint of union activist, I will use the following data-collection methods:

(30)

My experience will be used as data. For the last three years, I have participated in the activities of the union. I have had many opportunities to observe firsthand different situations involving different people. I have attended two CUPE National Conventions, a CUPE BC Convention, the Naramata Labour school, numerous workshops, six CUPE 41 63 Semi-Annual General Meetings, and literally hundreds of executive, staff and committee meetings within the local. Field notes that I've gathered during this time assist me in revealing how the social relations of the union are organized; they allow me to explore the everyday life of the union fiom an insider's perspective. This location enabled me to conceptualize the following two methods of inquiry: 'talking with union activists' and 'documents as text'.

2. Talking with Union Activists

Instead of conducting formal 'interviews' with union activists, as might be done in accordance with a more traditional qualitative research methodology, I employed the method of 'talking to union activists.' I distinguish formal interviewing from talking in that I did not have a list of prepared questions nor did I seek certain information. I talked to dozens of union activists during my research. With five of the participants, I brought a tape recorder so that the data could be transcribed and analyzed. Many of the quotes that appear later in this thesis come from those transcripts.

Informal conversations with union members have provided important insights, even from those who believed they were ignorant of the union and its activities. In this I mean that many union members make statements such as "I don't really know much

(31)

that followed were usually very perceptive. Members have an excellent understanding of their lived experiences because they are the experts on their own everyday worlds. Talking to members from their particular sites of knowledge was thus extremely revealing and useful in my research project.

In addition to insights from CUPE 4163 members, I found that bringing in outsiders was relevant and important. Therefore, there is some information in this thesis that came from CUPE members in other locals. In selecting participants for my research, I chose union members who played an active role in bargaining. Based on my

observations of the bargaining process, I developed a list of individuals who I thought would have particularly relevant insights into the themes that I sought to explore in this thesis. In qualitative research methodology this is known as purposive or judgement sampling.

3. Documents as Text

Analyzing documents as text is an important component of my research in that one of the central premises of institutional ethnography is that the social world is coordinated through text. Smith refers to text as "local practices organizing a sequential social act" (1999: 52). Exploring the use of text allows the researcher to see how

everyday social relations come to happen. However, the surface of the text is not the focus. Instead, "the text is analyzed for its characteristically textual form of participation in social relations" (Smith 1990: 4). It allows the researcher to see how relations of ruling are coordinated through text. Smith explains:

The text is an actual material presence; it is the book, the pixilated letters that come up on my computer screen, the paper, or whatever form in

(32)

which it enters the actual present site of my reading. The text occurs in the actual local historical settings of our reading and writing. Sitting just where we are, we enter through the text into relations of a different order, the relations mediated by text that organize our participation as we read. We are raised, in our reading, from the narrow localities of lived actuality into the textual world with its marvelous capacity to launch us as subjects into the looking-glass land. (Smith 1999: 52)

Members' involvement with CUPE 4 163 is largely mediated by text. Members have more contact with information they receive in the form of text (e.g., by email, on posters, in letters, in the collective agreements, on ballots, in newspapers) than anyhng else. Thus, most members come to understand what the union is, how it is organized, what their part in it is, etc., through text. By engaging the text they receive, perhaps unconsciously, they are guided towards making certain decisions and forming certain assumptions. This is not to say that if they receive a document from the union that says -

'Vote Yes!' - they automatically vote yes. Rather, that the members have a social

relationship with the text that might drive them to act in a certain way. This is how text coordinates social actions. When members read the text, they are not doing so passively. They are doing what Smitn describes as 'activating the text.'

Being the staff person responsible for almost all of the text that comes from the union, I have an insider's perspective. I write the press releases. I edit the newsletters that go out to members. I produce the leaflets that are used during information pickets. Why are certain things written the way they are? How do members activate text?

Perhaps an example of another scholar's institutional ethnographic work would be useful here. A relevant project is Stephen Dobson's research that looks at a union's grievance procedure and how this procedure effectively makes the griever 'disappear.' Dobson, who is an elected union official, describes how "Sarah," "stressed and almost in

(33)

tears" came to him with a work-related problem (2001 : 150). Dobson then goes on to explain how he is required to fill out a "Problem Form." The latter is limited to Sarah's contact information, date and a description of the "problem." Nowhere on this form is there space for Sarah's emotional condition nor is there space for information aboutbow she was unable to pay rent due to her "problem." Dobson then submits the "Problem Form" to the Grievance Officer and a full-time staff officer so they can see if the

"problem" is covered by the collective agreement. If the "problem" is not covered by the collective agreement-irrespective of how compelling the circumstances may be-the problem is dropped by the union. If the "problem" is covered by the collective agreement, the process continues and "a whole series of actions concerted and coordinated by texts" begins (1 5 1). Dobson is trying to show the reader that within the union, events do not merely happen. Certain actions occur because they fit within a particular framework that is textually organized. In this particular case, "Sarah's" experience was mediated though the collective agreement and the 'Problem Form.'

(f)

Why study CUPE 4163?

There is no shortage of literature written about labour unions. Employers, workers, and academics have each given their insights. Employers mostly write about how to keep unions out of a workplace or how to control unions once they've organized (DeMaria, 1980; Myers, 1976; Quinn, 1982). Workers write about why unions are important or how to win a good collective agreement. Academics theorize about labour unions from a multitude of perspectives and disciplines. I hope I've accomplished

(34)

something different. I believe I will be one of the first people to apply Dorothy Smith's method of social research to a labour union.7

The goal of this thesis is to investigate and describe the relations of ruling present in the union. While every claim I make may not ring 'true' to all those who read this thesis, these claims are none the less important and urgent to make. By the time this thesis is complete, I will have invested three years of my life in what I consider a political project. At the very least, it is my hope that others will think about how they might be institutionalizing oppressive social relations. I want to emphasize that the goal of this thesis is not to criticize the activities of those involved with the union. Rather, it is my hope that this thesis will advance the long-term goal of building CUPE 41 63 into a more democratic organization capable of defending not only the interests of its members but also those of the labour movement generally and the larger community.

Stephen Dobson's 2001 Institutional Ethnography as Method in Studies in Cultures, Organizations and Societies, Vol. 7, pp. 147-158 is another example of institutional ethnography applied to a labour union.

(35)

Chapter One: Background to the

Collective Bargaining Process

(a)

CUPE 4163

Collective

Bargaining

In this section, I will explore a chapter in the history of the local, specifically, the collective bargaining process that took place between CUPE Local 4163 and the

University of Victoria in 2003 and 2004.

The primary goal in collective bargaining for CUPE 4 163 is to improve the existing language of the collective agreement. Thus, members and staff of CUPE 41 63 review an existing collective agreement article by article, word by word, in order to propose changes that are intended to improve the working conditions of CUPE 41 63 members. These articles are important in that they are used by management and workers. The contents of the collective agreement become the rules that govern the working relationship between worker and manager.

Components One and Two of CUPE 4163 share a collective agreement. Some of the articles of the collective agreement apply to both components, while others apply only to a specific component. For example, both components share articles pertaining to the grievance procedure whereas each component has its own article pertaining to the accrual of seniority. The first collective agreement reached between CUPE 4163 and the

university was a five-year contract that expired on August 3 lSt, 2003; this agreement provided over its duration a considerable improvement in wages, culminating in a hourly wage of $17.49 per hour for teaching assistants.

In terms of the history of CUPE Local 4163, the original organizing drive took place in a climate of spending cuts and fiscal restraint. Two weeks into the fall semester

(36)

in September 1997, teaching assistants in the departments of Physics and Chemistry received an email notifjing them that they would be paid for 14 weeks per semester rather than the customary 17 (Moroz and Isitt 2003). This amounted to an 18 per cent wage cut, with no corresponding decrease in the amount of work assigned to the teaching assistants, nor any decrease in the tuition they were required to pay to the university. Spurred by this threat to the economic well-being of one section of TAs, TAs across the disciplines were mobilized into action and on March 3 lSt, 1998, in a brief, uncontested hearing before the BC Labour Relations Board, CUPE Local 4163 was certified as the official bargaining agent for teaching assistants, language instructors, and computer user services employees at the University of Victoria. Negotiations for a first contract with the university began in May 1998, and nearly a year later, on February 22, 1999, CUPE 41 63 members had signed their first contract with UVic. This contract raised the wage for graduate student teaching assistants to $16.14 per hour, and it would increase to $17.49 per hour by the fifth year of the contract. No language about tuition was included. In comparison with other collective agreements for teaching assistants in Canada, this first agreement made only partial inroads in comparison with wages that at some universities exceeded $30 per hour (see Appendix One). Nonetheless, the contract was a base and a beginning from which to start building a union and better working conditions.

Unfortunately, it would be five years until this group of workers would return to the bargaining table. All but one of the original members of the bargaining team would, by this time, have left W i c . Graduate tuition, five years later, (following the ascent of the Campbell Liberals to office) had increased dramatically by 70 per cent.

(37)

In preparation for the bargaining of the second contract, a committee was formed in January 2003. The committee was open to all Component One and Two members. Volunteers and staff on this contract committee spent hundreds of hours conducting research and developing proposals that were tabled on the first day of bargaining. The proposals put forward by the committee were detailed in a package that was 112 pages long. The proposed changes to the collective agreement included cost articles (e.g., wages and benefits) and non-cost articles (e.g., working conditions and seniority). Some of the cost proposals for Component One included:

Wage Parity: A proposal to align teaching assistant wages at UVic with wages for teaching assistants at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU).

Tuition Assistance: A proposal to have some form of tuition compensation and/or protection against tuition fee increases. In the year preceding the round of bargaining - in September 2002 and September 2003 - tuition for graduate students had increased by nearly 70 per cent, with an additional 30 per cent anticipated in the near future. This amounted to an increase fiom $2000 to over $4000 per year, with no corresponding increase in wages.

"Offset Clause": A proposal to ensure that if teaching assistants received a wage

increase, h d i n g would not be reduced fiom other sources (e.g., fellowship money). The union sought such a clause in the collective agreement to ensure that TAs receiving scholarships would enjoy any wage increases secured by the union.

Paid Leave: A proposal to require UVic to pay teaching assistants while on maternity, paternity, or sick leave.

(38)

There were dozens of "non-cost" proposals. While it is not the focus of this thesis to explain these proposals at length, I will provide some examples. Members were

proposing to increase democracy in the workplace, reduce probation periods, eliminate arbitrary hiring practices, ensure paid breaks, improve job security for long-service teaching assistants, access more complete contact information for members (such as email addresses), and prevent unpaid overtime work.

A general membership meeting for Components One and Two was held in July 2003. Approximately 20 members were in attendance. The contract committee, which had been meeting since January, presented the contract proposals at this meeting and the proposals were approved. A contract committee consisting of Components One and Two members was formally elected. Members at this meeting decided that the bargaining team, limited by bargaining protocols to eight members at the table, would be elected from the contract committee. (I will discuss bargaining protocols at the end of this chapter.) Members decided that the contract committee would elect the bargaining team at a later meeting. Each component would have equal representation on the bargaining team. Also, each component would elect their respective bargaining team members. Bargaining team positions were contested in Component One and acclaimed in

Component Two. The bargaining team was to be accountable to the contract committee, and any major decisions pertaining to bargaining were to be decided by the contract committee. This committee structure was set up in an attempt to increase representation at the bargaining table beyond the eight members on the bargaining team. Near the end of the collective bargaining process, the contract committee and the bargaining team became largely indistinguishable, as all active members of the contract committee were included

(39)

in the bargaining process. For example, in the final days before a tentative agreement was reached, members of the contract committee were present at the bargaining table and voted on the various proposals.

It should be noted that most decisions within CUPE 4 163 are made by a relatively small group of members. While union leaders and staff strive to increase member-

involvement in union activities, participation is often low. It is only at key points in the bargaining process-in the event of strike votes, or during ratification-that participation extends beyond a small group of eager union activists. Attendance increases fi-om dozens to hundreds of members, revealing the mass character of the union. Once such key moments pass, participation returns to previous levels. I should emphasize that this pattern is not unique to CUPE 41 63. In this local, as in many unions and other

organizations, formally democratic structures usually operate on the basis of a minority of potential actors.

Collective bargaining took place between the union and the university fiom August 1 8th, 2003 until January 13'~, 2004. As was the case in the Local's past rounds of collective bargaining, the National Representative from CUPE served in the role of lead negotiator at the bargaining table. This particular National Representative had acted in the role of lead negotiator for the sessional lecturers (Component Three) of CUPE 41 63. He was not present during the first round of Component One and Two collective

bargaining nor did he have experience with other locals representing Teaching Assistants. Local staff and bargaining team members believed that they lacked the requisite skills and therefore requested that the CUPE National Rep fill the position. The role of lead negotiator is extremely important because "only the spokesperson may make or receive

(40)

offers" (as outlined in the University of VictoriaKUPE 41 63 Bargaining Protocol Agreement - See Appendix Two).

As bargaining proceeded, the contract committee called a number of general meetings to inform members of the union's proposals, the status of negotiations, and to determine what course of action the union would take. It was at these membership

meetings that important decisions were made.' Attendance at these meetings ranged fiom 50 to 100 me~nbers.~ From August until November, very little progress was made at the bargaining table, particularly with respect to cost items. When the lack of progress became evident, the union's contract committee set a deadline of November 21St to receive the university's offer on wages and benefits. No financial proposal was tabled by the university. Although informal comments to union bargainers had suggested that some increase would be provided, the lack of a formal position on wages implied that the university's position was 'zero'. Within the collective bargaining system, clauses that are not re-opened maintain the terms of the previous agreement. After receiving no

substantive financial proposals fiom UVic, the contract committee decided to take the next step and called a membership meeting for November 24&.

At this meeting, attended by nearly 1 00 members, the CUPE 4 163 membership voted by a wide majority to hold a strike vote.'' There was a high level of enthusiasm at this meeting; members expressed anger at the university's refusal to offer any increase in wages, and they voiced support for a more aggressive stance in negotiations. Union

- -

The CUPE 4163 constitution identifies membership meetings as the highest decision-making body.

In total there were approximately 1000 members in Components One and Two who were eligible to vote at union meetings. The precise membership figure is difficult to determine at any given time considering the short term of employment (four months in the case of TAs), and delays in the communication of membership data between the university and the union.

lo The results of this vote at the November 24" meeting are not recorded in the minutes. Participants

(41)

activists who had been serving on the bargaining committee for months were energized by the level of attendance. For the first time in the five-year life of the union, the

organization revealed its mass character. Microphones were required at this meeting and the room was overflowing. In this climate of heightened participation, proposals fiom the bargaining team regarding a strike vote were readily accepted. There was a mood of optimism and excitement on the union's side.

The strike vote was conducted over a four-day period. A total of 829 members were eligible to vote; 409 of them actually voted. The ballots were counted on December 8% 375 members voted in favour of a strike, while 32 members were opposed." This amounted to a 92 per cent strike vote, an impressive mandate for the union's bargaining team. On December 12'~, at the union's request, a mediator was brought in to help with negotiations. With the mediator present, the university tabled a financial offer titled 'Graduate Teaching Assistant Fellowship' (GTAF). This proposal contained a number of serious weaknesses: it was not structured as a wage increase; it would not be included in the body of the collective agreement; it did not apply to everyone; it expired before the termination of the collective agreement; and it did not address tuition. The contract committee could not accept the offer.

All the while, cognizant of the university's unwillingness to acknowledge any connection between wages and tuition, the union was preparing for a strike. It was during the months of December and January that the union had the highest number of active rank-and-file members participating in building the organization. The shop stewards in the various departments on campus began holding departmental meetings. The union increasingly assumed the characteristics of a democratic, bottom-up, grassroots

Teaching assistants, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the relations of ruling : an exploration of collective bargaining at the University of Victoria 2003-2004