As we began our strike almost a month ago, we could not have anticipated the extent to which the UPEI Board of Governors would disregard their legislated role [PDF] in maintaining a productive academic environment, and instead foster a degree of animus between students and academic staff that, left unaddressed, will lead to irreparable harm for years to come. If we are committed in any meaningful sense to accountability, the actions of the Board and their designates over the last weeks and months cannot be simply passed over, and in the days and weeks ahead we will be giving thought to how accountability can be accomplished in this instance.

To be clear, the recent recognition from UPEI Administration that “relationships have strained during the strike” falls flat given the central role that Administration played in straining those relationships – particularly the relationship between students and professors. How can we reconcile the Board’s suggestion that UPEI is an environment where students can thrive with its repeated accusations that UPEI academic staff are greedy and self-serving and will stop at nothing to disadvantage their students.

Which is it?

Over a year ago, when the UPEI Board of Governors hired their chief negotiator, they made a decision to ignore as much as possible the voices of those who do the work of our institution; indeed, they invested considerable financial resources in doing just that. This follows a period of a global health crisis and senior management scandals that have contributed to the sort of workplace toxicity that has made UPEI not simply a difficult place to work but also a challenging educational environment for students, faculty, and staff alike.

Make no mistake, being forced into binding (interest) arbitration either through legislation or public pressure would have meant giving up our constitutional right to strike and our access to a meaningful process of collective bargaining. The precedent that this could have established at our institution, in the region, and across the country would have contributed to the erosion of workers’ rights in a variety of sectors and to the further corporatization of post-secondary education. 

At a decisive moment almost four weeks into our strike, FA members collectively made it clear that we were not prepared to give up on our institution. While it is important not to discount the important work that had been done up to this point, that commitment backed up by FA members’ refusal to work under existing circumstances, or to buckle under the pressure brought to bear by Administration’s destructive and vicious email campaign, proved to be pivotal in allowing us to reach a negotiated settlement.

There is no doubt that many of you are experiencing a range of emotions. The trepidation of crossing our former picket line after four weeks of presenting that united front. The urge to honk as you pass campus entrances no longer populated by colleagues, students, and Island workers. And the anxiety of returning to your classes.

Many of you have likely heard from students who are upset, disappointed, and uncertain about the future. We must remember that many of us were in a similar position prior to the beginning of this round of collective bargaining. Over the last year, as FA members have gone through a number of trials, we have mobilized around our shared concerns, and we have emerged as a stronger community of teachers, scholars, and practitioners than we could have imagined at the beginning of our strike. It is imperative for us to use the skills we developed and our new outlook to help our students organize, find their voice, and turn their frustration into a powerful force for shaping our campus.

In the days and weeks ahead, we’ll no doubt slowly return to the life we knew before our strike. But we must not lose sight of what together we have accomplished and the community we have become as a result of our struggles. We must commit to building on that foundation to play an active role in the positive change that must come to UPEI, because we are UPEI. The time between collective bargaining is every bit as important as the time we spend in collective bargaining. 

Today is the first day of building a better UPEI. Let’s get to work!

Solidarity!