Ira Basen‘s documentary “Class Struggle,” featured on CBC Radio’s Sunday Edition on September 7, 2014, explores the plight of Sessional Lecturers in Canada. CBC also published recent article on Canadian universities’ growing reliance on members of the “Precariat.”
These news items highlight many of the issues we will be addressing in collective bargaining with University administration.
CUPE 3287, the U of S Sessional Lecturers’ Union, is about to enter into collective bargaining with the University of Saskatchewan administration. Our last collective agreement ran from 2010 to 2014.
We are professional academics who focus on teaching. Our members are highly trained professionals. Some are from the outside community. Others are career instructors, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.
We provide a valuable service to the University. In fact, the University could not operate without having access to this pool of qualified lecturers.
We receive a stipend for each class taught but we get much less per class than full-time faculty. We do not have pensions, or job security. Our employment is irregular, and those of us who depend on sessional work sometimes have trouble making ends meet.
We are asking the University administration to recognize the important role of sessional lecturers in the education of students and the work of the University. We want a reasonable wage increase and improvements to job security.
We are asking for your support.
