Students frustrated as AU strike enters second week

By Wendy Elliott

The Advertiser/NovaNewsNow.com

Acadia Students’ Union president Kyle Steele says he sees frustration levels among students beginning to peak.

As a result, “the ASU will be organizing a get back to the table rally next week either on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Steele says students are leaving, and “according to a poll on our website, out of 300 voters, 70 per cent would consider transferring to another school if the term gets cancelled.”

This is a strong indication that students are worried, Steel noted, and are becoming frustrated that both sides cannot come to a deal that benefits everyone.

An informal poll by the ASU last week suggests that about half of the university’s students are riding out the faculty strike in Wolfville, while 31.3 per cent headed home and another 14.7 per cent went elsewhere.

Some are catching up on their reading, others went on a hike to Cape Split and over 70 senior students are tutoring their peers in an ASU organized program.

Last week, there were several parades along Main Street, but a Wednesday evening negotiation session was short lived.

“We are very disappointed with the board’s most recent offer, as well as their decision to walk away from negotiations almost immediately after our team indicated that the offer was unacceptable,” said AUFA president Peter Williams.

“All along our wish has been to get back to the bargaining table,” Williams said. “We took the invitation to restart negotiations two days into the strike as a hopeful sign that the board was committed to ending the strike and moving forward. But their offer provided almost no significant change from the offer that our members overwhelmingly rejected in June and again in September.

“We think it is particularly unfair not just to our members but also to our students and their parents, to get people's hopes up for what turned out to be an offer that was clearly not designed to negotiate an end to the strike,” he said.

In their offer, the board’s team did indicate that they were prepared to allow the word ‘equity’ to appear in the contract. However, the financial package contained no improvements, and would increase inequities among faculty members. The board offered to add a fourth year to the contract, but the lengthened contract would still see Acadia faculty salary grids fall further below regional averages.

Andrew Biro, ASU spokesman said faculty and librarians, were pleased to see support for the faculty association has been coming in from numerous sources. More than 100 Acadia students participated in a student-organized march last Wednesday and then on Friday flying pickets from across Canada showed their support for AUFA on the picket line.

University spokesman Scott Roberts said Friday that he is aware of the worry surrounding the campus. “We’re all working hard,” he said. “It’s not easy on either side.”

Roberts noted that he has heard from a number of parents and they encourage both sides. “We’re trying to get through us as quickly as we possibly can.”

No talks are scheduled, he added, but Roberts remains hopeful that some will be.