It’s time for action

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2011 (5468 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another day, another lost educational opportunity at Brandon University.

While we wonder if the unseasonably warm late fall has helped prolong the picketing around the campus, the president’s house and the small campus in Winnipeg, we are sure Manitoba’s labour-friendly NDP government has had plenty to do with the length of the strike.

Premier Greg Selinger and his cabinet have sat on their hands for this one, refusing to take any meaningful action to end the strike.

Sure, the province appointed a mediator. But as we report in today’s Brandon Sun, that route was declared a failure by the mediator himself on Thursday evening. Unless the two sides finally sit down and play nice together, it’s time for the province to step in.

But why would the province intervene?

It’s not like the NDP is going to lose any seats out here in the 2015 election — the party only has one, and Brandon East isn’t going anywhere — and this a great time for the party to show support for the collective bargaining process.

If this had happened before last month’s election, there’s little chance it would have been allowed to drag on for so long.

But Fortress Winnipeg prevailed in the election, playing a huge role in returning the NDP back to power.

So in this post-election period, the NDP apparently isn’t all that concerned about angering a bunch of rural folks and their kids.

And since the radical Brandon University Students’ Union has thrown its support behind the striking profs, there really isn’t any political benefit to end this thing, is there?

We find it disheartening to hear this week that Labour Minister Jennifer Howard said she would not get personally involved in the negotiations.

The Winnipeg Free Press quoted the minister — who we note is a former BUSU president — saying she doesn’t know the issues surrounding the strike and hasn’t talked to the parties.

All the labour minister could muster is an observation that arbitration could be of some benefit.

“Arbitration is definitely a possibility — it’s something people should think about,” Howard said.

In arbitration, the two sides set out their positions and an arbitrator makes a decision that is binding on the parties.

“I haven’t been part of the negotiations. When people like me get involved, we can do more harm than good. The most constructive role I can play is to not get involved,” Howard continued.

“Keeping people talking is the most productive thing we can do. Our role is to put in place a process and the people to help them reach a deal.”

So how exactly is that working out? Not so great.

And Howard would not discuss the possibility of legislating an end to the strike.

The Brandon University strike, which began Oct. 12, has now lasted more than longer than the 2008 strike that ended after 17 days.

We agree with a group of Opposition Progressive Conservative MLAs from Westman who, in a letter to the editor in the Brandon Sun this week, called on the Selinger government to support the university students in Brandon.

“Greg Selinger’s NDP government prides itself on standing up for youth. Yet Brandon University, a gem in the Westman area, is failing to give students the education they deserve and have paid for,” the MLAs wrote. “It is unfortunate to see this government refuse to stand up for students in their time of need.”

It’s also unfortunate that the NDP’s only MLA in the region, Drew Caldwell — himself a former BUSU president — has basically absolved the province from any responsibility to step into the fray and force a settlement.

“I don’t think the province does have any business broadly speaking, interfering in a collective bargaining process,” Caldwell told the Sun last month.

Mr. Caldwell, when that process repeatedly goes off the rails — like yesterday — the province certainly does have the responsibility to intervene.