Colleagues,
The overuse of contingent faculty is a chronic problem throughout the Academy. Every fall, our national and provincial affiliates (CAUT and OCUFA) focus their advocacy efforts on this issue in support of Fair Employment Week. To reinforce these efforts TUFA, in collaboration with CUPE 3908 (the union representing sessional lecturers at Trent), has organized an in-person event at the Symons campus in Peterborough to support our LTA members and CUPE colleagues. This event will celebrate contract faculty and recognize the crucial roles they play at Trent. Our goal in this is not only to build solidarity, but also to educate students about the challenges that contract faculty face in their careers and the extent to which Trent relies on their labour. Any TUFA members who are available to participate are invited to drop by the Student Centre’s parking lot between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm Thursday to show your support.
We have arranged for the Spudster Food Truck to provide free poutine to the first 300 attendees and all attendees will be encouraged to sign (and talk with students about) a province-wide petition in support of post-secondary education and contract faculty. Please feel free to share this invitation and attached poster with your students.
In solidarity
Mara and Marcus
—
Mara Heiber,
TUFA Executive Committee Member-at-Large, LTA
Marcus Harvey,
TUFA Executive Director