York students over politics

York University advertises itself as an “international hub of research and knowledge,” and a “community primed for your academic and social success.”

A great many current students, no doubt, have far less flattering things to add to that rosy summation of their campus. After two months without classes — thanks to the latest faculty strike — they are far from primed for academic success. Instead, they’re watching their term disappear and, along with it, the jobs they’ve lined up for the summer.

After so many labour disruptions at York University, parents can be forgiven for starting to have second thoughts about sending their kids there at all. With teaching staff walking the picket line for the fifth time in two decades, it’s increasingly looking like the university where there is no guarantee of an on-time degree, no matter how hard students work.

Provincially appointed investigator William Kaplan came to the conclusion on Friday that with this labour disruption there is no hope of a negotiated deal between the 3,000 contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate assistants (represented by the Local 3903 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees) and the administration.

So on Monday, the provincial government did the only responsible thing it could and attempted to pass back-towork legislation to end the strike and force the parties into arbitration.

Unfortunately, the NDP refused to the give the unanimous consent required to get such legislation through quickly.

Typically, the NDP oppose and stall back-to-work legislation for as long as they can. But in this case, time is of the essence — for the 40,000 students affected by the strike and the provincial legislature.

The Liberals should try to pass strike-ending legislation again Tuesday in what would be their final act of government, with the writ dropping on Wednesday for the June 7 election. And this time, the NDP should support it. With voters heading to the polls a month from now, this is a chance for Andrea Horwath to demonstrate her party’s capacity to govern for the greater good by putting the interests of students ahead of its loyalty to unions.

York students have suffered for far too long already. They don’t deserve to be caught up in this intractable labour dispute.

The provincial government can and should end this strike. But it’s York University and its unions that need to tackle the systemic issues that make made the university so prone to strikes.

As Kaplan says, the administration and contract faculty “have completely different world views that are informed by completely different academic and institutional aspirations.” So long as that continues, so will the strikes. And every time that happens, students and the university’s reputation suffer.

This is a chance for Andrea Horwath to show the NDP’s capacity to govern for the greater good