CBC’s The Current Misses the Point
The CBC radio program “The Current” did a feature for 27 minutes this morning about the problems of contract instructors in Canada. This is very topical because the contract instructors at York University are on strike, as are the teaching assistants at the University of Toronto. Between them, thense two Universities teach 100,000 undergraduate students.
You can listen to the program here: http://bit.ly/1E0dsr2
Originally I was asked to take part in this program, which was going to be broadcast between 8.30–9.00 am. I had preliminary discussions with the editor on Thursday morning, and was due to join live via Skype in the morning. This would have been a bit of a rush, becuase I teach a class at 10.05 am, and would have had to drive into work after the interview. Subsequently the time of the feature was changed to after 9 am, so I would not have been able to join, although the email I got at 3 pm, merely said “We will not be needing you”. Charming!
So I listened to the program this evening over the internet, and I found that the only contract instructor chosen was someone who earns $88,000 a year, teaching 11 courses. Now she was from York University and was one of the strikers, but it very much gave the impression that the issue wasn’t about pay.
On the contrary, for most contract instructors, the issue is very much about pay. I have posted a rebuttal on the the Facebook page of the CBC. They have not represented the true nature of the problem
I regret to say that this feature gave a very misleading picture of the problem of contract faculty at Canadian Universities, where pay is very much a serious problem. For example, at Carleton University I am limited to teach a maximum of 6 courses per year, for $6700 each. In the sciences, teaching 6 courses a year would be more than a full time job. I teach five courses per year, giving me a net income of around $34000 per year. A regular faculty member in my department would teach three courses.
I have discussed this in an interview on CBC Morning Ottawa:
And I have also written about in my blog
https://medium.com/precarious-physicist/enoughs-enough-6c56afe36d00
Do remember, that I have put my job on the line by speaking out publically. As was mentioned in your interview, if I annoy people in power, my courses can be taken away from me gradually. There will be no dramatic “escorted from the building” firing, just a gradual loss of my livelihood. So why did I do this? Because I am an award winning teacher. I am committed to providing teaching excellence and the best possible education to all my students. The Canadian University system is paying very little attention to undergraduate education at present. The Universities claims of financial issues preventing more hiring of permanent staff is a thin smokescreen for a deliberate attempt to cut undergraduate teaching costs. This is done by hiring contract instructors year after year, teaching core courses, while pretending that this is merely a “temporary expediency”. We should follow the European Union employment laws, which force employers to hire staff permanently when they have been on contract for four years.
Since going public about this issue of the low pay and exploitation of a substantial part of the academic labour force, I have had many messages of support from current and former students, and from many other precariously employed academic staff all across Canada. Several of them have thanked me for speaking out, because they dare not. Fear of the consequences of free speech should not be allowed to be used by Universities as a Human Resources technique for stifling legitimate complaints. The program really did not paint a sufficiently bleak picture of the issues faced by many contract faculty in Canadian Higher Education today. We are dedicated teachers, committed to our students, and it is nothing short of scandalous that we continue to be treated in this fashion.
I am “quite cross” about this as we British would say.
