Sound Off — Nov. 26, 2011

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/11/2011 (5447 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Board meets today

What is truly amazing about the strike between Brandon University and the teachers is that the board of governors has not met since the strike began. Can you say plausible deniability? But I guess that’s the kind of legal protection you get (that we have all paid for) when you hire a union-busting lawyer to do nothing but help drive the institution into the ground.

SELINGER SHOWED NO INTEREST IN ENDING STRIKE

For the unsuspecting voting public, it appears that Premier Greg Selinger did the politically correct damage control by meeting with the concerned BU students and parents in Brandon. Unfortunately, however, they quickly realized that Mr. Selinger had no interest or intention in ending the strike. According to other politicians in attendance, Selinger could very easily have notified the members of the legislature, had a morning session the next day and returned the students back to class that afternoon.Regrettably, he chose not to take action. These are your NDP tax dollars at work, people! Please remember this the next time you vote!

Has Mr. Dolecki run out of people to blame yet?

He has blamed the university, its president, the administration’s lawyer, the media (Brandon Sun), the government, and now, specifically, the labour minister. As we learn in grade school, when you point your finger, three fingers are pointing back at you. Now he is demanding pay for time not worked and overtime to complete the semester. You can’t have it both ways. Faculty — please vote to end this strike.

Have you gone into hibernation?

After 43 days of strike and still nothing being said from Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell. Are 3,000 students not in your constituency? Even Wiarton Willie of Groundhog Day fame sticks his nose out of the hole more than you, Mr. Caldwell.

LAWS NOT GOOD ENOUGH

The premier says Manitoba’s existing laws are good enough to resolve the BU strike. How many people would agree with him? The existing laws permit widespread hardship and chaos.

NDP could have done more

The NDP government is capable of ending the strike before the legal mandate for legal arbitration. If the NDP would have brought legislature back into session, they could have legislated the faculty to work before the 60-day law of arbitration. Normally the Manitoba government legislature is in session at the present time, making it a remarkable coincidence that the strike and legislature not being in session occurred at the same time.

I feel sorry for the BU Profs — not!

There is a long history of strikes at Brandon University, so it is evident they have not been happy for many years. It would appear that wages are the big hurdle in the present negotiations. Unfortunately, money cannot buy you happiness. You are educated people and you should know that. You have already indicated that you will strike again in two or three years, implying that you are not going to be happy in the future. So rather than have thousands of students, who chose to receive their education at BU, leave, I suggest that the profs pursue employment opportunities elsewhere.

Feelings not mutual

It broke my daughter’s heart to see her favourite BU professor walking the picket line on Monday morning. She always tells me this lady is one of the most intelligent people she knows and they had a great student/teacher relationship. Our daughter just wants to be back in class soaking up the knowledge this prof has to share with her students. Unfortunately, it would seem like the profs do not care about the students as much as the students thought. It is very sad.

Thanks for the lessons taught

The first strike at BU was the best thing that happened to my daughter. She transfered universities and she could not be happier. To the professor who cold-heartedly told her to look for a different career rather than provide the help she requested in his science course — I hope you are not asking for a raise. By the way, she is on the president’s honour roll tutoring the very course she did poorly at under your teaching — and still in the same field of study!

Turning students away

I am not a student or an employee of Brandon University, but two things are clear to me. The university administration has never had any intention of negotiating with its employees (calling for arbitration from day one) and it has gone out of its way to make the faculty look greedy and uninformed. Both of these are going to be bad for the university. Please come to your senses and be reasonable with your employees! How will you ever be able to attract students and faculty to such a toxic environment?

Never again

After attending the meeting recently that BUFA held and reading Mr. Dolecki’s comments about “being as patient as possible to get a proper agreement,” it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this strike could be end of the term for BU’s students. As a parent of a fourth-year student, I am disgusted that we have had to go through this twice in four years. Our other daughter will be attending University of Manitoba next fall now because of the ongoing turmoil at BU. The damage that has been done to BU and the City of Brandon will never be repaired.

Poff has a credibility problem

After the strike of 2011 at Brandon University concludes, one of many challenges the president will have is restoring her credibility with colleagues she has been intent on debasing to the community through communiques. I can only assume the privileged position she took in the communiques were felt as pin-pricking domination, abuse of personal power, utter paternalism, open contempt and total indifference to those with whom she had committed to collegially govern.

Where will BU be five years from now?

The lawyer will return to Winnipeg, the community will be left with a struggling university and the president will ride off into the sunset. Collective bargaining is a right. Why so many people seem to think binding arbitration is the only way to go is a complete mystery to me. It hasn’t shortened the strike — it has just been used as another delaying tactic by the administration in the ongoing war with BUFA.

BU profs’ demands are out of line

As a Manitoba government employee, we accepted zero, zero for the first two years and now I hear the government is asking to give us zero in the third year as well to help offset the flood expenses they incurred. We never received any signing bonus — we are not allowed to strike. Stop wasting the students’ and government’s money and get back to work and be glad you have a job that pays so well. Yes, you worked hard to be where you are at, but so have the rest of us, and we have to concede our “wants” — so why not you?

How is this a better BU?

BUFA is striking for a better Brandon University. Three years ago, their signs on the picket line said the same thing. Their contract then was negotiated without arbitration, yet here they are once again striking for a better BU. For who? Obviously not the students. If they truly want a better BU for the students, they would accept arbitration and give the students the education they have paid for. They claim they want to negotiate a contract, but maybe they should look up definition of negotiate. It doesn’t mean always getting everything you want all the time.