University of Guelph workers need to unite
A lot of other people at Guelph University in all kinds of different roles are really struggling right now. Know that it’s not your fault and you’re not alone. We can do something if we get together.
Justice for Workers Guelph. Photo credit: Justice for Workers Guelph.
Over one fifth of the population of Guelph, Ontario are students or staff at the university. And, over 13 unions represent university and arboretum workers.
Justice for Workers Guelph (J4WG) provides a safe space for workers from different pars of the university to start coming together to talk about their situations and experiences.
The Co-op program at U of G is paid work but according to J4WG member Lou, the paid undergrad co-op positions which were counted as credits towards a final degree were complicated.
Getting paid was not a problem. However, there were issues around paid positions that were counted as credits towards a final degree.
The issues arose around unpaid labour in those paid positions that still happen around working hours; how much work is expected; and work that is expected in order to compete in the job market for whatever career you’re planning to go onto after completing your degree.
“It can be very expected that you do unpaid work because the idea is that it is an opportunity for you to do something that will set you apart from other candidates after school,” Lou, a worker at the University of Guelph and a member of Justice for Workers (J4WG) shared with Small Change.
Additionally, “this free work that you’re doing is something that you should make time for and go out and do things for free because you need to do that in order to build your resume or gain experience that you can show in the future,” Lou stated.
Currently, the problem for a lot of people is how expensive everything is for regular working people. Food, gas, housing are especially expensive and a problem in university cities like Guelph.
Lou pointed out how all of these inflated expenses make it especially difficult for unpaid workers when there isn’t a support network to make sure that needs are still being met.
“If you have to work in order to meet your own needs by getting paid, then it’s not a reasonable expectation to take on volunteer experience or an experiential learning arrangement,” Lou said.
Lou found during their undergraduate degree that as a student in a co-op program, some of the companies that hold sway in terms of recruiting co-op students don’t have labour practices that reflect what is generally considered fair for workers.
Amazon conducted recruitment of students facilitated by the university through on-campus workshops and events by these multi-nationals meanwhile they have warehouses where workers are dying on the job.
“To me, if the University of Guelph were to live up to the values that I want from an educational institution – which it often says that it cares about in terms of improving lives and adapting to challenges in the world and figuring out how we can use technology or science to make things better for people – it doesn’t feel like that’s happening. Especially, when the things that you can do in terms of work, while you’re at the university, are working for the organizations that are contributing to the problems of labour exploitation,” Lou shared.
It appears there is a culture of fear on campus regarding instructors who promote Amazon in class but not in their personal interactions.
Something Lou found when they were doing their undergraduate degree, and that they now know applies to graduate students, is that Guelph University is a place where you are trying to access education, resources and connections in order to define what you are going to accomplish in your life.
“The problem that comes up is that to speak up about what is happening at the university that you think is unfair, or that you think reflects some kind of systemic problem in society, might limit your opportunities in terms of your own education or your career,” Lou shared.
As an undergrad Lou knew of student s who felt uneasy with partnerships between the university and certain labour practices of those companies, but also felt that to speak up about that issue could lead to problems finding co-op positions in the future.
Some of the graduate students find that speaking up, or out, may influence advisors who might agree to work with them and that could limit their ability to publish as well as expectations required to be successful.
Currently, over 12 unions divide up labour working at the University of Guelph. In addition, there are three levels that come into play when discussing teaching. There are professors and faculty; sessional lecturers who might run an entire class but are not faculty; and teaching assistants who are graduate students as well as undergraduate students who do a lot of seminars.
Sessional, graduate students, and professors are unionized while undergrad TAs are not unionized.
Status certainly impacts which system you have access to in terms of negotiating your employment relationship with the university and means that a collective voice is best.
Ideally you should not be one TA with your own full course load who is the point of contact.
“There’s a noticeable difference in Guelph during the summer when a lot of undergrad students aren’t around and the rest of the year when the are,” stated Lou.
They went on to say, “ideally the university is a part of the city that is really great and it’s also part of the city that can impact everybody else.”
Lou added that there are issues with student workers at the university and how much they are paid compared to inflation. That influences issues with students and creates pressure on housing in the city in general which impacts everyone in the entire city who is renting.
Over the past few years Canadians have seen corporate profits higher than ever while things like the pandemic have totally destroyed the living conditions of many working people.
“The university as an economic class and as our society increasingly is built around high tech and other systems that do require education in order to understand, I think, that education is something that you have to put resources into and that’s a political issue because capitalists would rather have those resources for themselves,” said Lou.
Guelph is a university town with a student population of about 20,000 and thousands of workers employed at the university. The university is a big part of the overall landscape in terms of jobs and a major transit hub, yet Lou knows that, “a lot of other people at the university in all kinds of different roles are really struggling right now.”
They want people to know, “it’s not your fault and you’re not alone. We can do something about it if we get together.”
Check out J4WG Facebook and Instagram for updates and more information.