Monday marked a sad day for workers’ rights and the quality of university education in Ontario. It also scored a great victory for high-priced public relations firms and their sophisticated ability to control what people hear in the media. It’s a wonder why so many are cynical about mainstream news media.

Premier Doug Ford’s government tabled back-to-work legislation on Monday that will likely bring an end to the strike at York University — the longest post secondary strike in Canadian history. Many are likely to cheer, believing this to be good for the students whose academic year was disrupted because of the strike.

What most people don’t realize is what those students and all Ontario post secondary students have already lost in the quality of education they receive. What has been lost in all the coverage so far is the significant sacrifices these workers have made in their attempt to improve the quality of education York students actually receive.

Compared to all other provinces, Ontario universities receive the lowest per student government funding. This has led to a substantial drop in full-time professors. Sixty per cent of the teaching at York is now done by teaching assistants, graduate students and contract faculty — the members of CUPE 3903.

These workers never know, from year to year, whether they will be teaching or even what courses they will be assigned — leaving little time for them to prepare the actual courses. Though they are given responsibility for shaping the minds of the future, most make below poverty wages. Most have to pick up courses at different universities or take on other part-time jobs and can’t be on campus to provide the extra support many students need.

A degree is just a piece of paper — it’s what you learn earning that degree that is important. The way York’s administration manages its students learning environment has brought down the quality of that degree. The members of CUPE 3903 have been trying to work with York for years to improve the quality of education at the university. In the past they were able to make some progress, but under the current administration everything has moved backward.

No one ever wants to go out on strike, but with significant concessions on the table these workers were given no choice. They believed in their fight for better quality education and they never imagined the university would refuse to bargain with them.

There has been much attention given to the difficulties students faced as a result of the strike — all of which is true — but no one has talked about the sacrifices these workers have made.

Some had to walk away from research projects they were strongly invested in. Some lost their chance to graduate this year and the job opportunities that came with graduation.

Being painted as radicals in the press, they have all put their own future academic careers at risk. Funding for future research projects will be much harder to come by. In some cases, relationships with their academic advisers on the management side are fractured and put their entire degree at risk.

Then there are the daily hardships — aggressive verbal attacks and threats on the picket lines, relying on food banks to eat, some have even faced eviction because they couldn’t make their rent.

Why would anyone choose to go through what these workers have faced?

York University would have us believe that these workers are unreasonable trouble makers who don’t care about the students, when the exact opposite is true. It’s because they care so much about the quality of the education students are getting that they felt they had to stand up to the university’s administration.

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Now, after more than four months in which the university voluntarily sat down at the bargaining table for less than two days, the new premier is doing what York has wanted all along. His government is tabling draconian back-to-work legislation that violates the Charter rights of these workers and washes York’s hands of their responsibility to negotiate with the people who know exactly what is on the line for students.

The legislation may bring an end to the strike at York University but it will do nothing to solve the deeper problem of the quality of education — and, it will definitely not end our members efforts to improve post secondary education for all students.

Fred Hahn is president of CUPE Ontario.

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