UNBC students, who have not been able to attend classes or complete assignments for over two weeks as the faculty strike continues, are once again rallying in support of their professors.
Over 100 students gathered at the entrance to the Prince George campus this afternoon (Nov. 25) to voice their frustrations and concerns with the ongoing negotiations.
UNBC President Dr. Daniel Weeks, provost Dr. Dan Ryan and UNBC chief negotiator Barb Daigle took the brunt of the criticism from the students at the rally.
“Since the start of this strike students have been limited solely to skewed one-sided information from the UNBC administration,” says Ann Duong, who has been studying and researching at UNBC for the last five years.
“The open meeting with Daniel Weeks at UNBC has been cancelled. The public Board of Governors meeting that was supposed to happen last Friday was postponed, but on the other hand, the faculty have been here every day of the week from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and we can come and talk to them and ask them about the issues.”
She also said silence from organizations like the Northern Undergraduate Student Society and the Northern British Columbia Graduate Student Society, which are two organizations that have the ability to contact all students, has left students with a lack of understanding as to what’s happening.
Student Melissa Bellwood criticized UNBC’s proposal to offer non-refundable financial credit to students affected by the strike should it continue past Dec. 3.
“What are graduating students supposed to do when they are leaving school and they don’t have a cash value?” she asked the crowd. “If we don’t make it into classrooms by Dec. 3, what is this going to look like?”
Aaron Larsen, who is completing his third degree at UNBC and has been attending the university for eight years, spoke passionately to the crowd before leading a march to the university’s administration building.
“Here in the midst of my third degree, I find myself in the second strike caused by the administration of UNBC failing to listen to our faculty in the best interest of this university,” says Larsen.
“We have had enough of the publicity stunts of this administration team releasing half-truths about unaccepted offers. We’ve had enough of the university’s chief negotiator Barb Daigle scolding the University Faculty Association for being disrespectful simply by using the urgency that the situation demands or doing something as simple as asking for pay equity for all faculty members regardless of their gender.”
The Faculty Association (UNBCFA) is criticizing UNBC’s latest offer, which the university released publicly on Nov. 22, for its effect on gender pay structure.
“Saturday marked a sad day for UNBC and its students’, says Stephen Rader, UNBCFA President in a news release.
“We simply don’t understand why the Employer would ask our members to accept a pay structure that exacerbates the gender pay gap relative to our proposal. Instead of working with us to ensure a fair and equitable compensation model, the Employer has prolonged the strike by another day and a half. Students, staff, the community, and especially our female faculty demand that they table an offer that does not worsen pay equity at UNBC.”
In the statement, the UNBCFA says the school's bargaining team broke off discussions when this issue was raised and informed UNBCFA they were not interested in further discussions.
The UNBCFA's bargaining team says it has repeatedly attempted to resume negotiations but so far received no response.
After the speeches, students marched to the administration building, calling for Daigle to come and speak with them, but were not met with an immediate response from anyone in the building.
“We will stand by you however long it takes to get the fair deal you deserve, we will weather this storm together and when day finally breaks we will return once more to your classes ready to share in this unique experience at the beautiful house of learning we have built together,” says Larsen.
PrinceGeorgeMatters has reached out to UNBC administration for further comment.
