Conversations on a Theme

For those of you unaware Lennoxville (or, post-LV) types, you should know that the staff at BU is currently on strike. It started last week while I was at OLS. Originally it was supposed to start in August but was advanced because the union said that the administration was going to terminate 15-20 people. It turns out that this isn't true, at least according to the management I spoke to today...it was going to be a very small number of jobs that would be actually 'ended', but there would also be a number of people retiring who would not be replaced. Anyway...'truth' is a very bendy line in a situation like this...there's plenty of propaganda vomit coming from both sides.

I've been writing about this in Facebook, in a group that the Poutine Press set up to discuss (nay, provide groundless support for) and Nelly Khouzam (a prof of mine...and someone who used to head the union) sent me an email last night. Reprinted with her permission:

Dear Scott,

I have just spent some time reading all the material on facebook concerning the strike, and I was quite saddened to read your messages. I think you have a very wrong idea about what the APBU is about and stands for. The records office is actually understaffed, and if the employees who work there did not go as far beyond the call of duty as they do, things would be a lot less smooth than they are presently. The APBU does not protect the lowest common denominator. We work to ensure that everyone is treated with fairness and equity. I have been active on the APBU Executive for 9 years, and became so after I was treated unfairly by the administration, and the APBU helped me. I would strongly argue that I do not represent the lowest common denominator. I understood and appreciated 9 years ago what the APBU stands for and I decided then to put a lot of my energy into supporting and defending their principles. I would also argue that I have done this at no expense to my main job, which is serving the students and accompanying them
in their education and learning at Bishop's.

I would be more than happy to spend time with you, if you so wish, to try and rectify some of the misconceptions you have about the APBU,

sincerely,

Nelly Khouzam
Professor, Computer Science
Past President, APBU
Member of the APBU Executive
Member of the APBU Faculty Negotiating Team
Member of the APBU Staff Negotiating Team
Member of the Faculty Evaluation Committee
Former member of the Bishop's University Executive Committee of Corporation
Former member of Senate
Former member of the Senate Planning Committee
Former Chair of the Computer Science Department
and many others.

And my response:

Hi Nelly,

It should go without saying that I don't consider my statements as a direct reflection of you.

My disagreement is with unions as a whole, and because of my affiliation with Bishop's, with the APBU specifically. I have seen, either through poor PR from the union or a lack of credible examples, very few points which would cause me to feel support for _this_ union when in general I lump them all into the category 'evil'. Perhaps evil is too strong a term and certainly its alignment with 'chaotic' is not correct, but I use it to express my absolute distrust in whatever motive they purport to have.

Forgetting everything else I feel about them, unions support the weakest of the group so as to bring the standard of work down, and for this alone I can never support them.

This said, I would be happy to meet with you at any point to discuss this further as I would always prefer to be well-informed, however I would find the possibility remote that you may change my mind on the larger subject. I am on campus every day now during the week, most likely in the mornings.

I'm going to take her up on the offer to speak about this further. Details of that conversation will follow on this blog in the next few days. As I wrote, I would always like to be better informed (you know, that whole "information is the only thing that really empowers" stuff).