AW@L Radio - Precarity in higher learning: Neoliberalism and contract faculty contract negotiations at WLU

As the contract faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) negotiate a new contract, many within the union have recognized their struggle as another moment in the widescale resistance to neoliberal ideologies. With WLU and other universities operating with a capitalist business model, the schools are furthering their reliance on contract faculty. While teaching more classes than their full-time counterparts, contract faculty are paid considerably less than full-time faculty, receive no benefits, and are not paid for the research they must undertake to produce quality work in this competitive "publish or perish" atmosphere.  

With universities accepting more students and charging more for tuition than ever before, there have been marked increases in the number of high-level administrators running the schools, and in the remuneration they receive, however, at every contract negotiation for the workers, "cost-saving" measures are forced on support staff and faculty.

In this interview, recorded December 30, 2016, we speak with Stephen Svenson (@DocSvenson), a contract faculty professor teaching at Wilfrid Laurier University, and a member of the communications team for the faculty association there. We speak about the contract negotiations at WLU through a lens critical of neoliberal ideologies and with a discussion of their impacts on communities and lives.

As the final edits were being put on this interview, word was received that a second round of conciliation has led to a tentative agreement being reached between WLU and the contract faculty within the faculty association. Details have not emerged about the deal, but check the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association website, Facebook, and Twitter for updates on the ratification of the deal.