The following letter was written by an individual who is not a member of YorkNotHostage, and advocates an end to the strike and a "Yes" vote for ratification. The opinions expressed in this letter are those of the author, not YorkNotHostage. We maintain our neutrality in regard to the bargaining issues, and we maintain our opposition to this strike. Open Letter from Art Noordeh to York's Contract Faculty “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” Marin Luther King, Jr. Dear CUPE 3903 unit 2 (Contract Faculty) colleagues, I am writing this letter as a contract faculty who has been teaching at York for more than 20 years. I am directing my comments only to Unit 2, the contract faculty, since I am not sure if I really understand the concerns of other units and hence do not want to make any inappropriate comments about them. We all have heard and seen a lot of comments and blames from both sides of the bargaining team, the employer and the union, during the past 10 weeks. We have also seen some agreements and compromises on both sides which at some point raised our hopes that the strike was going to be over! UNFORTUNATELY, THE STRIKE STILL CONTINUES! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Most of us have chosen this profession mainly for one or more of the following reasons: 1- we enjoy university teaching, 2- we need to pay the rent, 3- we have no reasonable alternative opportunity for work. No matter how we look at these reasons, they all have one common denominator: SERVICE TO THE STUDENTS. Without serving the students none of the above objectives can be achieved. While the importance of the labour-management negotiations to improve fairness and better job security for employees and increased productivity and efficiency for the employer cannot be neglected, there is a limit to which the essence of our service, that is the students’ academic activities, can be compromised. OUR STUDENTS ARE SUFFERING! We, individually and as a group, have a responsibility to include the interest of the students in the bargaining objectives. Sadly this important component was missing in real sense throughout the whole bargaining period. Sure there were some references made to the students’ sufferings but no one was really doing anything about it (just blaming the other side for it!). The responsibility of service to the student body is in part on the shoulder of the unit 2 members which justifiably need not be shared by the other units. We are there solely to teach the students not to pursue our own studies. Also, let’s not forget the fact that we have a long term interest to be a part of the York community. To this we need to add the adverse effect of this prolonged strike on the image and reputation of our work place, York University. I am sure most of you, if not all, have experienced how disappointed and displeased people are when the subject of York University’s strike is brought up in any conversation. Public opinion is gradually turning against us! I could go on and on and mention other reasons (including a number of controversial and possibly aggravating issues) which could explain why continuation of this strike would result in a loss-loss situation for both parties involved. Given the sensitivity of these issues, however, I do prefer to refrain from further discussion on these matters. Dear colleagues, it is time to move on and get back to do what we are supposed to do, TEACH OUR STUDENTS. I believe that the university’s offer is something that we can live with and I strongly urge all unit 2 members to vote in favor of this offer. Let’s face it, even if we reject the offer and continue the strike how much more could we possibly gain? Even if there is a marginal gain to be had, it is not worth the cost to our students, the community and the reputation of our school, let alone the aggravation that this will cause for all involved. Please think carefully about this and VOTE YES. Respectfully, Art Noordeh Discuss this here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=7088&uid=44571865743 |