By: Irina Sverdlichenko

The Harper government proposed new immigration rules that would refuse immigration applications to polygamous and forced marriage families (not including arranged marriages). Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, called these practices “incompatible with Canadian values.”

These measures aim to reduce the barbaric practices justified by these archaic unions. The proposed bill is in response to some cases of honour killings, wherein Afghan men were accused of killing female relatives, like their wives or daughters, to rectify the dishonour that they felt they had brought upon the family. These measures would prevent the use of cultural differences as a mitigating factor of such heinous crimes.

The bill would also amend the Civil Marriage Act to ban marriage for anyone under the age of 16 and the Criminal Code to impose a maximum five-year prison term on anyone who “celebrates, aids or participates” in a marriage ceremony knowing that one of the parties is involved against their will or is below the legal age.

The first thing I wondered when I read this article was: what else is new? Canada looked into the validity of the polygamy ban years ago. There’s always ambiguity in these types of cases. Any law that might impede on one's right to practice religious freedom requires serious examination. In 2011, it was decided that it didn't go against the Charter, however, because marriage is defined as a union between two persons.

It makes perfect sense to limit the entrance of polygamous practices, when the RCMP is already pursuing polygamous leaders of large sects, such as in Bountiful, B.C. In 2011, the community was accused of smuggling eight under-aged girls into the U.S to marry pedophiles, one of whom was notorious polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, now in prison.

The lines of uncertainty on whether the pursuit to eradicate fundamentalist Mormon practices is valid become less ambiguous when one considers the sexual exploitation young girls in these sects experience.

Three years ago many women starting coming forward and recounting their harrowing ordeals as child brides in Warren Jeffs’ polygamist community. Among the most poignant was the tale of Elissa Wall, who was only fourteen when she was forced to marry her nineteen year-old cousin whom she despised.

Obviously, there is a need to eliminate these sorts of archaic, misogynistic religious practices. But this bill also aims to crack down on forced marriages which are not condoned by Canadian law. In countries like Afghanistan, forced marriage is still highly prevalent. I am reminded of the story of Humaira Taiba, a young girl whose marriage was arranged to a man 28 years her senior, from the time she was one-month old. When speaking to a reporter about her upcoming nuptials (at that time, she was seventeen), she explained: “I have been roaming for one and half years with a petition in my hand to find a solution for my destiny. Though suicide is illegal, but if I don’t get my right, I have to commit suicide.”

It's great that Chris Alexander is taking a definitive stance on eliminating the immigration of unions known to be tied to the exploitation of women and young girls. The backlash from fundamentalist religious sects and other countries will be strong, but it's more important to assure no one can use religious practices to justify unconstitutional acts.

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Workers from McMaster’s facility services unit have officially severed ties with their old union.

In a vote conducted by the Ontario Labour Relations Board on Sept. 23, the 270 workers who make up the unit decided to break off their five-year agreement with the sizeable Service Employees International Union two years early and instead entrusted their affairs to the Building Union of Canada.

BUC is a recent upstart in the business headed by former Toronto police union leader, Craig Brommel.

The vote was a narrow one, said Craig Macdonald, the Director of Maintenance at McMaster’s Faculty Services.

“To my understanding, 55 per cent [of union members] were for leaving while 45 per cent were in favour of staying with the existing agreement.”

Regardless of the fact that Brommel used intimidatory practices to silence critics during his stint at the head of Canada’s largest police union—infamously chronicled by CBC’s The Fifth Estate—members have voted to trust him as the head of their new union.

Those who voted for change were unhappy about a five-year collective agreement conceived in 2010 that left the majority of them with small wage increases and few benefits.

Speaking to The Hamilton Spectator, Brommel reiterated that fact saying, “The problem is that a certain group of workers there didn't do well on the last contract. There was almost no pay hike and a lot of take-aways on their benefits. I'd say 75 per cent of the members did not do well and a certain group really got screwed. McMaster seems like a good university, but this last contract was really bad.”

In the same article, the local vice-president of the SEIU, David Bridgers, lamented the recent turn of events but maintained that his union was handicapped by McMaster’s own stinginess during negotiations: “The university was very clear that there was no new money available when we negotiated and we saw that was the way of the world.”

Speaking to the mixed response from votes, Macdonald said, “There’s some people who benefitted from the last contract and others who didn’t do as well. I think that depending on the demographics involved, some saw opportunity in the new union and some saw comfort in the existing one.”

Macdonald is optimistic about the possibilities that the future holds, despite knowing that the agreement will have to satisfy a viagra no prescription wide array of interests.

“The employees haven’t change; we have a great staff. I don’t think the fact that they have different leadership will change our relationship with the workers,” he said.

The parties meet for the first time on Nov. 14 to begin negotiations regarding the new collective agreement that will be drawn up.

Ryan Sparrow / The Silhouette

While students are wrapping up their courses and gearing up for exams, negotiations are underway for contract renewal for sessional faculty members.

"Sessional faculty face a myriad of other problems, including the inadequacy of TA support, the rising cost of child care and a lack of decent health benefits," said Alex Diceanu, a sessional faculty member who teaches in Political Science and Labour Studies.

CUPE 3906, the union that represents the approximately 300 sessional faculty at McMaster, is negotiating for its membership. The bargaining team for the sessionals recognizes that things need to change at McMaster.

“The biggest issue this round is job security,” said the union’s president Blake McCall, who did his undergrad and masters degrees at McMaster

“Many members have to apply for their job every four months, with some exceptions. This creates high levels of uncertainty leaving many sessionals without knowing if they are going to have a steady income on a semester-to-semester basis. Changing this to ensure security of our members is a top priority.”

Sessional faculty members, like many contingent faculty, are hired on a course-by-course basis, which makes it difficult to make long-term personal decisions like purchasing a home or starting a family.

As of 2013, Ontario still ranks the last in per-student funding at universities in Canada. The most recent budget announced is expected to include additional cuts to post-secondary education despite record enrollment.

One common cost-cutting measure for universities is to rely on increasing numbers of lower paid part-time faculty.

Continued budget cuts have resulted in a casualization of the academic sector. While some academic workers still have a relatively secure position, such as tenured professors, there has have been efforts to erode even their relative power in institutions.

The growth of precarious work in academia is accelerating. A University Affairs report from January 2013 states that, in the U.S., one-third of faculty at universities are contract workers. Experts suggest that Canadian data may indicate similarly high rates.

The UA report specifically looks at job insecurity, pay and benefits. Out of the nine schools surveyed, McMaster is one out of three that have no teaching load limit. McMaster sessionals also have no access to a pension and only have access to benefits through their union membership.

Temporary and part-time faculty are paid on average 50 per cent less than tenured professors, and they lack the job security and academic freedom that is afforded to tenured professors.

Most of the part-time and temporary positions are solely confined to teaching-only work, which can have an effect on learning outcomes for students, especially as their professor may also have to engage in additional research.

Gord Arbeau, a university spokesperson, described how, “McMaster values the important work that is performed by all employees at the University and believes all employees deserve fair and equitable contracts.”

“Negotiations work best when they happen at the table and not through the media or other avenues of communication,”said Arbeau.

Students are seeing the effect this has on their professors, and they are concerned.

"I think largely decreasing levels of tenure being made available to professors is an unfortunate trend for academia as a whole," said Eric Gillis, incoming SRA Social Science representative.

“As in any round of bargaining we hope to better job security, and better wages and benefits for our members,” said McCall.

Dina Fanara

Assistant News Editor

 

Led by professor Sam Vrankulj, the students of Labour Studies 2A03 (Unions) were given a rare opportunity to participate in a Policy Resolution Convention simulation on Nov. 1.

The event normally occurs whenever a union changes a resolution and allows all members to vote on the changes made in a union-wide gathering.

According to Vrankulj the exercise was part of the department’s “innovative approach for teaching students about unions.”

Each class member is placed in either a Union Local role, representing a specific type or worker within the union, or a Union Committee, responsible for organizing one aspect of all Union Locals.

Each group was responsible for presenting a policy resolution to be approved or rejected by the rest of the class, as well as a support and opposition for a pre-assigned resolution of another group. The union created within this classroom environment is called the Canadian Union of Diversified Workers (CUDW).

According to Vrankulj, “The primary goals of the course are to provide students with some insight into the collective action dilemmas faced by unions, the tensions involved in achieving consensus around policy and bargaining issues amongst diverse groups of workers and the reasons why unions see collective action and involvement in politics as crucial for advancing the interests of working people.”

This is the sixth year that the convention simulation has run. As per tradition, Vrankulj invited influential members of local union life to guest-host this event.

Guests included Matt Root, president of CAW Local 555, which represents McMaster support staff, Tom Atterton, secretary of the Hamilton and District Labour Council, and Mary Long, president of the Hamilton and District Labour Council. Long is proudly the first female elected to the position of president.

While the experience was designed to provide students with experience of the inner workings of a union, playful twists were also placed on the event.

Humourous false names were given to the executive board: Ida Know as Union Trustee, Bill Fold as National Secretary Treasurer, Les Ambishus as Vice President, Ivona Powers as President, Ike Ountem as Convention Teller, and finally, Hugh Morless as Sergeant at Arms.

These positions were held by the two class teaching assistants, Professor Vrankulj, and the three guest hosts.

Also, donuts and carbonated beverages were provided for the entire class by Vrankulj.  This was explained to be part of the Union culture, and a staple at all Union meetings and gatherings.

In her introductory speech to the convention simulation, Long explained to the class that the goal of this conference and class’s experiencial setup is to define union priorities, balance membership needs and preserve “the rights that our parents and grandparents struggled to win.”

Vrankulj added, “The participation of union leaders in the simulation increases learning by enhancing realism, and building student familiarity and understanding of the local labour movement while simultaneously cultivating crucial links between the broader labour movement and the Labour Studies Programme.”