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Abstract
This article explores the role of interunion conflict in the rise and evolution of faculty unionism in Canada. We argue that competition and tension between the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in the early 1970s played a key role in driving professors’ support for the certification of independent faculty associations. Moreover, we contend that a parochial, sectionalist, and craft-like brand of faculty unionism remained dominant in Canada until the 2000s, when external forces and the rise of the neoliberal university convinced CAUT’s leadership to broaden the tent in terms of membership and embrace an enlarged notion of solidarity in an effort to better defend terms and conditions of work for university teachers.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Field et al., The “Other” University Teachers.
2 Ross, The Making of CUPE; Warskett, “Structure and Strategic Choice,” 126–38.
3 Rajagopal, Hidden Academics.
4 CUPE, “Post-Secondary Education Sector Profile.”
5 CUPE represents sessional instructors at the following universities: Athabasca University, Brock University, Carleton University, Dalhousie University, King’s University College at Western, McMaster University, Mount Saint Vincent University, Ryerson University, Saint Mary’s University, the University of Toronto (including St. Michael’s College and Victoria University), Trent University, l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, University of Guelph, University of Manitoba, University of Saskatchewan, University of Victoria, and York University.
6 In Quebec, l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and l’Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) faculty associations are affiliated to both the Fédération québécoise des professeurs d'université (FQPPU) and the CSN. FQPPU, an advocacy organization for faculty associations in the province, has both certified and noncertified affiliates, while the CSN is a confederation of certified unions, including faculty associations that belong to its Fédération des professionnèles (FP). FP is the main organization that faculty associations at UQAM and UQO rely on for assistance with collective bargaining. None of the CSN-affiliated faculty associations in Quebec are affiliated to CAUT. Sessional contract academic faculty in Quebec are represented by the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ), a federation of the CSN, primarily. Sessionals at Université de Sherbrooke are members of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), sessionals at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières belong to CUPE, while the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association is an independent union affiliated to CAUT. The Association of Professors of Bishop’s University, Concordia University Faculty Association, Syndicat des professeurs et professeures de l’Université Laval, McGill Association of University Teachers, and Syndicat général des professeurs et professeures de l’Université de Montréal are also CAUT affiliates. While FQPPU and CAUT share many member organizations, the former is not officially affiliated to the latter, although they do share a longstanding cooperation agreement. There are no formal ties between FNEEQ and CAUT. (Pierre Hébert, La Rempart de la «cité universitaire» depuis vingt ans (1991–2011. Montréal, QC: Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d’université (FQPPU), 2011).
7 CAUT, “About Us.”
8 CAUT, “Member Locals.”
9 These federations include the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d’université, the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia, the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations, the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations, the Federation of New Brunswick Faculty Associations, and the Association of Nova Scotia University Teachers.
10 On some campuses, such as at the University of Saskatchewan or Brock University, sessional instructors organized with CUPE after having been rejected by local faculty associations.
11 Savage, “Professional Societies.”
12 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 83.
13 Hyman, Industrial Relations, 41–42.
14 Gunderson, “Professionalization,” 115.
15 Savage and Webber, “The Paradox of Professionalism”; Ross, Savage, and Watson, “Bargaining Structures and Bargaining Outcomes.”
16 Walsh, On Different Planes, 9–16.
17 Fowke, “A History of the C.A.U.T.,” 195–215.
18 Savage, “Professional Societies,” 4.
19 Savage, “Professional Societies,” 4; Pentland, “A Short History Lesson,” 21.
20 Savage, “Professional Societies,” 5–8.
21 Robinson, “Increase Academic Salaries?” 74.
22 Robinson, “Increase Academic Salaries?” 74.
23 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 206.
24 Savage, “Professional Societies,” 4.
25 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 83.
26 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 204.
27 Savage, “Professional Societies,” 8–9.
28 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 85.
29 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 98, 106.
30 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 98; Robinson, “Increase Academic Salaries?”
31 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 94.
32 Dubinsky, “Models for Determination”; Brody, “Professional Unions,” 52–59.
33 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 95.
34 Savage, “An Insider’s View,” 16.
35 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 95.
36 Savage, “State of the Nation,” 10.
37 Savage, “State of the Nation,” 10.
38 Horn, “Historical and Personal Observations,” 46.
39 Horn, “Historical and Personal Observations,” 46.
40 CAUT, “St. Mary’s Faculty,” 3.
41 Horn, “Historical and Personal Observations,” 46.
42 CAUT, “St. Mary’s Faculty,” 3.
43 Cinman, “CUPE attacks CAUT,” 4.
44 Cinman, “Strengthening CAUT,” 1.
45 Cinman, “Strengthening CAUT,” 1.
46 Cinman, “CUPE attacks CAUT.”
47 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 9697.
48 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 204.
49 Woodcock, “Strike Fund,” 7.
50 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 204.
51 Savage, “An Insider’s View,” 16.
52 Savage, “An Insider’s View,” 16.
53 Pentland, “A Short History Lesson,” 21.
54 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 209.
55 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 204.
56 Savage, “How and Why,” 58.
57 Tudiver, Universities for Sale, 103.
58 Savage and Webber, “The Paradox of Professionalism,” 117.
59 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 210.
60 Pentland, “A Short History Lesson,” 21.
61 Pentland, “A Short History Lesson,” 21.
62 Savage, “How and Why,” 57.
63 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 212.
64 Axelrod, Scholars and Dollars, 211.
65 Black, “Affiliation with the CLC,” 10–11.
66 Penner, “The Next Ten Years,” 9.
67 Savage and Webber, “The Paradox of Professionalism.”
68 Rajagopal, Hidden Academics.
69 Interview with A, B.
70 CUPE 3912, “Organizing at St. Mary’s.”
71 Patrias and Savage, Union Power, 115.
72 Interview with A, B, C.
73 CAUT, “Stronger Together.” An example of the Q&A used in the sessional certification campaign at Queen’s University can be viewed here at https://archive.qufa.ca/qufa/Adjunct%201%27s/why_join_pamphlet.htm.
74 CAUT, “Discussion Paper.”
75 CAUT, “Stronger Together.”
76 CAUT, “Stronger Together.”
77 CAUT, “Stronger Together.”
78 Interview with B.
79 Interview with A, B.
80 For example, in 2005, all-in bargaining units were certified at the newly organized Northern Ontario School of Medicine and St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
81 The CIEA later transformed into Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE), the umbrella organization of 19 BC-based independent faculty and staff unions representing instructors, librarians, archivists, support staff, and IT technicians.
82 CAUT, “CIEA joins CAUT.”
83 Interview with A.
84 Interview with A.
85 Interview with A.
86 Interview with B.
87 Interview with A, B; CAUT, “Stronger Together.”
88 Interview with A, B, D.
89 NTD; British Columbia Labour Relations Board, [2000] B.C.L.R.B.D. No. 220.
90 Interview with D.
91 Interview with B.
92 Interview with B.
93 Interview with E.
94 Interview with C.
95 CAUT, “UPEI Joins Ranks.”
96 CAUT, “Unit at Acadia.”
97 Laurentian University Faculty Association, “LUFA Chronology.”
98 Queen’s University Faculty Association, “Amalgamation FAQs.”
99 University of Guelph Faculty Association, “About Us.”
100 Lecturers’ Union of Memorial University of Newfoundland, “Welcome”; Interview with B.
101 Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers, “Historical Notes.”
102 Interview with B, G.
103 Ross, Savage, and Watson, “University Teachers and Resistance”; CAUT, “Fair Employment Week”; CAUT, “Make it Fair.”
104 Ross, Savage, and Watson, “University Teachers and Resistance.”
105 Interview with B, D, F.
106 CAUT is not a bona fide national labour union and counts noncertified faculty associations among its affiliates, so it could not act as a bridge to facilitate the affiliation of independently unionized faculty associations to bodies such as the CLC. NUCAUT, on the other hand, by restricting its membership to certified academic staff associations only, qualifies to fulfill this role.
107 CAUT, “NUCAUT”; The initial membership of NUCAUT included faculty associations at Memorial, Cape Breton, Mount St. Vincent, Mount Allison, York, Windsor, Algoma, Laurentian, Winnipeg, Athabasca and CIEA/BC.
108 NUCAUT, “NUCAUT member.” Interestingly, when the Executive Council of the Canadian Labour Congress gave authority to its president to grant affiliation to NUCAUT in 2001, CUPE was the only union to oppose granting the new organization affiliate status (CAUT 2001b; Interview A). While the founders of NUCAUT insist that its creation simply reflected a desire on the part of its affiliates to forge closer ties with the Canadian labour movement, an added benefit of joining the CLC is that NUCAUT affiliates are much better insulated from attempts by other CLC-affiliated unions, such as CUPE, to displace faculty associations as bargaining agents, particularly for sessional contract academic faculty. See, for example, the failed displacement attempt at Wilfrid Laurier in 2016 (Ross, Savage, and Watson, “Bargaining Structures and Bargaining Outcomes.”).
109 Ross, Savage, and Watson, “University Teachers and Resistance.”
110 CUPE 3902, “Affiliations.”
111 Interview with H.
112 CUPE 3902, “History.”
113 CAUT, “CAUT Welcomes New Federation.”
114 CAUT, “New Members Welcomed.”
115 CAUT, “Member Locals.”
116 Walsh, On Different Planes, 15.
117 Ross, Savage, and Watson, “University Teachers and Resistance.”
118 For a more fulsome explanation of how these interdependencies operate on a theoretical level, see Walsh, On Different Planes, 9–16.
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Notes on contributors
Stephanie Ross
Stephanie Ross teaches in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Larry Savage
Larry Savage teaches in the Department of Labour Studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.