At the University of Toronto, members of CUPE 3902 Unit 3 are rapidly approaching a strike deadline of December 8, 2022, having been without a Collective Agreement since August 31, 2021. I’m a sessional lecturer at the university as well as a proud member of the bargaining team. I’ve been an educator for three decades as well as a university lecturer for nine years, and, with one of the tools of my trade being storytelling, indulge me for a moment as I share a quick narrative.
Before Nickelback became a household name, members of this Canadian rock band were piecing together gigs here and there in the hope their grunge cover band at the time – Village Idiot – would bring in enough of an income that they wouldn’t have to get day jobs. The band’s drummer, Brandon Kroeger – also the cousin of lead singer Chad Kroeger – eventually gave up his drumsticks for a suit and tie, abandoning his dreams for economic predictability. Had Brandon hung in a bit longer he would now be a very wealthy man like his cousin, but one can hardly blame him for walking away from the precarity of his days as a Village Idiot.
Our society generally accepts that there is a risk in pursuing a career in the arts, and indeed underappreciated artists have contended with precarity for centuries. Relatively recently, employers such as the University of Toronto decreed that academics should also be destined for Village Idiot lives of precarity and subsistence. Rather than creating employment opportunities that come with pension, benefits, and job security, the university has instead created groups of employees that have none of those “perks” and, in fact, cannot even count on their library cards or internet access extending beyond the length of their single-term contracts. There are three main reasons why the university forcing precarity on employees is a short-sighted approach: it diminishes employee loyalty and retention, it makes doing our work more challenging, and it erodes the overall quality of the services we deliver.
As a lecturer at the university, I’m passionate about and good at what I do. Based on the work alone, I’d be tempted to stay forever. As a single parent with two young children, though, I need more predictability and care than what’s on offer. Even with a full-time course load, the university sets a ceiling of $1775 on my Health Care Spending Account, which quickly evaporates when I start forking out funds for dental bills and prescription glasses. Before obtaining a doctorate to begin my work at the university, I had much more generous health care coverage as a public school teacher. I also had the promise of a stable pension, but at the university there’s no pension in sight. In what world does an employer think this insulting treatment correlates with employee loyalty and retention?
Like many members of CUPE 3902 Unit 3, my precarious employment at the University of Toronto leads directly to the need to juggle opportunities with multiple workplaces: a contract here, a CV update there, a day job here, an interview there. Rather than being fully supported in my work with my students, the fragility of my employment demands constant attention be given to seeking other income sources, lining up future job opportunities, and ensuring that my foot remains simultaneously in multiple doors. I’d love to attend more department meetings, to participate in research initiatives, and to stick around after the workday for informal chats around the water cooler. But why, oh why, University of Toronto, do you think I have time for all of that when you’re forcing me to book gig after gig rather than allowing me to have a more singular focus on the work you’re paying me to do?
As a current member of the CUPE 3902 Unit 3 Bargaining Team with a mandate to bring forward Unit 3 members’ bargaining priorities, I’ve been fascinated to hear firsthand at the table the employer’s posturing about how concerned they are with maintaining high quality. I’m not buying their performance and believe instead that it’s only a matter of time before their shortsighted employment practices erode the very quality they claim to hold sacred.
I’ve been in this contract-after-contract quagmire for 9 years now, hired back repeatedly while rising through advancement process ranks because of the high-quality work that I do. Forgive me, University of Toronto, for not subscribing to the bogus argument that offering me and my colleagues some modicum of job security would erode the quality of this institution; you know already that your employees are doing great work. Forgive me, University of Toronto, for not accepting your assertion that the purpose of lecturers is merely to “fill in” for tenure-track folks who are on leave; you already know that some lecturers have been “filling in” for more than a quarter century. For goodness’ sake, University of Toronto management, can you at least have the decency to admit that your precarious employment scheme is about institutional profit and not at all about institutional quality?
Perhaps it’s time for all precarious employees at the university to ponder whether or not it’s worth continuing in precarity as the academic equivalents of a Village Idiot, especially when the employer seems not to comprehend that our exceptional talents set the beat for this organization. Does the university want employees who are loyal, engaged, and high quality? Or are they content to take the risk that one by one, their employees will trade in both drumsticks and dreams? Nobody wants to be the almost-Nickelback-guy, but one could hardly blame anyone for walking away from this absurdly precarious system. University of Toronto employees aren’t the only ones with a decision to make, though. It’s time for university management to wake up to the myriad ways they’re harming what could and should remain a truly world-class institution.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
