Part-time teachers are picketing on the streets, and there is more at stake than just their salaries, benefits and a collective agreement. Six years without a contract for part-time teachers is hardly an attractive prospect for professors looking for potential positions at Concordia, and even from a business point of view, the practice is hardly the model for a good service provider. One cannot expect good returns on a lackadaisical investment. Concordia is no longer an institution of higher learning; it is selling education as if it was a commodity - a product that can be bought cheap. However, the dispute transcends economics and number crunching, because as the president of the part-time teacher's union has repeatedly said, it is pedagogical. Put simply, universities are not companies, they do not sell products and they do not have customers. They are private, non-profit corporations. The university's position so far has shown the commoditization of teaching at Concordia, with greater emphasis on the bottom line than on the quality of education provided. It is no secret that Concordia is looking to expand enrolment, the construction of two brand new buildings downtown is tangible proof. As students, our concerns are only growing, in part because the university is unwilling to settle with underpaid professors and is seeking to expand the online course regiment, e-Concordia. Appropriately, increasing class sizes is one of the main grievances that CUPFA is seeking to address at the bargaining table. The $5,400 Concordia's part-time teachers receive per semester for a 3-credit course may seem a sizable salary if one takes on a full complement of courses, but not when compared to the $7,000 their counterparts are paid at the Université du Québec à Montréal and at the Université de Montréal. If our practice of undervaluing teachers is here to stay, then we have no hope of ever competing with Canadian Ivy-League giant McGill located just minutes away. Many blame radical protests in recent years for devaluing Concordia degrees, but the administration is just as culpable with the number of publicized labor disputes which have made their way to the Quebec Appeals Court in CUPFA's case. According to union president Maria Peluso, who also sits on Concordia's Inter-Union Council, at least three other labor unions are about to start their collective bargaining. History would indicate that they will not be simple or swift. If Concordia is truly a non-profit organization, which it legally is, then maybe it should behave like one. Though we are not surprised that a corporate-style of governance is coming from a collection of top-level executives in major corporations in Quebec, it must be said that the Board of Governors has to realize at some point the intangible factors of running an educational institution. We can have shiny new buildings made of sturdy concrete, decorated with shiny glass panes, but, unless things change, their classrooms and hallways will always be filled with discouraged teachers and apprehension of the next labor dispute. Students should decide for themselves whether they should cross the picket line, but if no significant decision is reached by September, then we will all have to come together and stand-up for our right to decide how our university is governed.
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