On Jan. 15, the NAIT Academic Staff Association (NASA) held a strike vote where 83 per cent of the votes cast were in favour of authorizing a strike.
Although this does not necessarily mean a strike is imminent, it is the closest NASA has gotten to an actual strike after more than a year of bargaining with NAIT.
This was a bargaining process characterized by delays, disagreements and impasses. I would like to think that I am supportive of the right of workers to strike. I know the labour movement’s history.
I am aware that many of the basic rights enjoyed by workers today, as well as advances in labour legislation, are owed to organized labour — particularly militant movements — since the Industrial Revolution. Moreover, I believe a vibrant labour movement strengthens democracy. I come from a country where any movement that identifies with the political left is culturally demonized due to obsolete Cold War-era politics. In the Philippines, labour activists even risk being killed.
I’ve seen how workers go against their own interests because of intimidation and an irrational distrust of labour unions. All this has resulted in a relatively weak labour movement that is, in many ways, powerless in preventing the erosion of democracy as corrupt oligarchs continuously dominate national politics. And so when this news of a looming strike reached me, I admit to feeling disappointed in myself because my first thought was, “This will potentially ruin my graduation.”
In fact, I must have thought of five other potential inconveniences before I remembered that I am supposed to be supportive of organized labour.
The idealist in me has this desire to see NASA give their 72-hour notice and watch pure democracy unfold as their strike progresses. On the other hand, the part of me who is a struggling international student hopes they will not go that far.
One of the challenges international students face is that they need to abide by a precarious schedule that extends beyond graduation. A schedule that, if disrupted in a major way, might result in a worst-case scenario: leaving Canada or facing deportation proceedings.
Now that I am in a situation where a strike might actually affect me, I suddenly find myself hesitant to give my full support, and this hesitance annoys me.
This is the first time that my pro-labour inclinations are put to the test, and I’m afraid I might have discovered that I’m a hypocrite. In my home country, it was so easy for me to be vocal about my support for unions and strikes because I’ve always found myself in jobs without unions; there was nothing personally at stake for me.
Now that I am in a situation where a strike might actually affect me, I suddenly find myself hesitant to give my full support, and this hesitance annoys me.
In response to the recent developments, NAITSA released a statement expressing that while they respect NASA’s right to strike, they are urging both NASA and NAIT to “get back to the table” to negotiate. The me of three years ago would have been turned off by this because I would have seen NASA as the obvious underdog in a “David vs. Goliath” battle, and that they needed to be supported. Actually, I still do see it that way.
But now that I am an international student who is vulnerable to the real-life consequences of a strike, I find myself agreeing with NAITSA’s message of safeguarding the students’ interests. This is the best possible statement they could have made, regardless of how anyone feels about the situation: “Get back to the table, stay at the table, and show students and Albertans that you’re capable of getting this done.”
Feature photo via NAIT
