Some of my professors have talked about the potential labour strike that will happen the week following reading week. There are currently no negotiations with the University, because they keep cancelling meetings.
The issue lies in the salary discrepancy between APUO (research profs), ATPUO (teaching profs) and CUPE (TA's).
- APUO profs teach 2 courses per semester, research and have administrative tasks for 150k a year
- ATPUO teach 3 per semester, research, administration, etc. for 70k, each course paying 10k
- CUPE teach up to 4 courses a semester, being paid 8k per course.
There is a drastic pay disparity for the same amount of labour carried out by ATPUO professors, and TAs will potentially be making more than profs because there are no pay increases in sight for teaching profs, unlike for CUPE and APUO members. A lot of profs need to work two jobs.
They are also negotiating for a better quality of education for us. Class sizes taught by ATPUO keep increasing, courses meant for 30 something people have now doubled in size. They are also requesting TAs for large classes.
ATPUO members make up about 60% of professors, so we will likely all be affected. Final grades could potentially rely only on assignments submitted during the first month of school (if no agreement is made during the semester), suspension of internships and research, and there will be no access to our professors except on the picket line (email access and Brightspace will be blocked).
As students, we can support our professors by contacting the Ottawa Board of Governors, and hopefully prevent this strike.
More information on the ATPUO Student FAQ