The Canadian Association of University Teachers hosted a conference on achieving fairness for contract academic staff to kickoff Fair Employment Week on October 20 and 21. Participants developed a wide range of strategies and tactics to organize fellow faculty members and confront their administrations about the growing use of contract faculty at Canadian universities and colleges.
Faculty associations discussed key ways of addressing precarious work, including bargaining, grievances, and mobilization. In hands-on exercises, conference participants practiced creating collective agreement language, writing grievances, preparing materials like flyers, buttons and posters, producing videos, and writing press releases.
Conference attendees donated their lunch hour to visiting an OPSEU college faculty picket line to express their support.
