In Memoriam: Sarah Mann (1985-2023)

Guest post from Mark McCutcheon

Sarah Mann, a longtime member of the AU community, has died. Most recently she was a CUPE Tutor in Labour Studies, but she completed two MAs, one with MAIS, the other at Brock with Dr Margot Francis and RA work for Dr Josh Evans (U of Alberta). Before that, I’d supervised her undergrad English studies. She won many if not most student awards AU offers: she won the 2011 Roberts Memorial Award, for undergrad feminist research, for her essay “Fucking Media: Sex Worker Representation and Resistance in Digital Culture.” To borrow words from Jane Arscott’s recent tribute, losing Sarah is a “bittersweet reminder of AU at its best”; she was, “one of our own.” Her loss leaves a crater in this place. I am destroyed.

As a MAIS student, Sarah worked as my research assistant. Her own grad research used AU’s own social network site, the Landing, to publicly research and archive the contents of the groundbreaking lesbian porn magazine On Our Backs. Sarah presented on her research as the first student contributor to the Faculty’s long running research talk series. Sarah was pursuing a SSHRC-funded PhD at Laurentian and teaching at Brock and Laurentian at the time of her death. We kept in touch, I was always writing reference letters for her and I was thrilled when my AU colleague Bob Barnetson made it possible for Sarah to teach here.

A favourite anecdote about Sarah’s graduate research is that, being publicly available online, her work drew interest from a prospective student from halfway round the world. This student wrote to me asking to take the ‘sex course’ I was apparently teaching. To illustrate their credentials, this person sent several photos of themselves doing nude yoga. But the best part is that all these inquiries—and nudes!—were going first to then-AU President Frits Pannekoek, whose office then relayed them to me.

Sarah was a vital presence in Facebook, where she organized a creative writing group for pandemic coping; her constant updates are how I learned she had been adopted (informally or officially, idk) by an Indigenous family in Sudbury, to help her while she studied at Laurentian. [hope i got this detail right—ed.]

But socials and correspondence are how I also know just how precariously Sarah lived, not by choice, of course, but because poverty, and because personal challenges—barriers and troubles she talked about openly but also, critically, understood as structural challenges, systemic failings of underfunded health care and social services. These formed an important focus for her PhD work, on the mental health needs and supports at Canadian universities.

Dr Francis, Sarah’s mother and I have begun working together on plans to publish and archive Sarah’s extraordinary scholarly and critical writings. Sarah was an excellent writer; she also knew the importance of organizing work. To coordinate these efforts and ensure they give appropriate consideration to the family’s wishes and interests, and to help these projects benefit and strengthen the communities and causes that were important to Sarah, Margot and I invite Sarah’s colleagues, collaborators, and community of creatives to get in touch (about publishers, publishing process, archival practice, etc.) and to get updates on our work (and others’ projects, works we’re trying to locate, opportunities to collaborate, etc.). We’re reaching out via Facebook and by email: howtonotsuckatwriting@proton.me, a secure email we’ve named after her funny, wise essay writing guide, https://howtonotsuckatwriting.ca, which you really must read.

“Queer research is about saving queer lives,” Sarah wrote in 2012, in a debate amongst AU faculty and students over what “safety” means, and for whom, in open learning spaces.

The thrust of my research is that the exclusion of certain queer bodies from public spaces (like this one) is 1) linked to an extraordinary amount of violence that those same queers experience on a daily basis and 2) decided on the basis of how class, racial, gendered and other sexual-social statuses mark some bodies and images as particularly disruptive in relation to heteronormative standards. I would be happy—delighted, even—to talk at length with anyone who is curious about how the heteronormative standards for "safety" from the kinds of sexuality that are imagined as disruptive in fact make a great many poor, trans, racialized, and women queers very unsafe.

Sarah, we intend to carry on this conversation, by celebrating your work, and by sharing and connecting more with the communities you were so lovingly building a better future for.

Rest in Power, Sarah.

Both photos are from Sarah’s MAIS graduation in Athabasca on June 12, 2015.

The photo shows from left to right; Joshua Evans, Janyce Mann (Sarah's mom), Sarah Mann, Mark McCutcheon, FHSS Dean Veronica Thompson. Everyone is close together, smiling, standing in front of a black curtain. Joshua, Mark, and Veronica are wearing their red and black PhD regalia and Sarah is wearing her Master’s graduation regalia.

The photo shows Sarah Mann and Mark McCutcheon standing next to each other and smiling. Sarah has a nametag around her neck. There is a large flower arrangement behind Mark and an Athabasca Unversity banner behind Sarah.

Link to the Go Fund Me campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/paying-tribute-to-sarah-mann

Link to the AU Hub article: https://news.athabascau.ca/faculty/faculty-of-humanities-social-sciences/in-memoriam-sarah-mann/

Link to the obit with funeral info: https://www.simplewishesnorth.com/obituary/Sarah-Mann

Petition: Require COVID-19 preventative measures at FHSS Symposium

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) is hosting a symposium September 22-23, 2022. The Dean’s Office has promoted this event as an opportunity for FHSS to reconnect after a long hiatus, in order to build community and a sense of belonging. However, the lack of directives to make the event safer and more accessible to those who want to participate is at odds with this goal. 

Human Resources has provided no preventative measures related to COVID-19 to be implemented, other than asking those with symptoms to stay home. Preventative measures can include providing and requiring N95 masks, providing HEPA filtration in conference rooms, opening windows, and providing rapid tests to attendees. Requiring all attendees to wear masks and having rapid tests available is a small price to pay to facilitate broader participation.  

Although several members have repeatedly asked about additional preventative measures, the Office of the Dean of FHSS and HR have only agreed to meet the lowest bar possible, as required by Alberta Health Facilities and federal health authorities. Other academic conferences have shown leadership in this area and have taken measures to both ensure better accessibility and protect attendees. For example, last month the American Sociological Association required vaccination, masking, and provided rapid tests for attendees at their conference. Instead of providing these sensible and minimally intrusive requirements, the Office of the Dean has stated that those who “have concerns about large gatherings” should attend virtually.  

Despite the lack of public health measures at the provincial and federal level, COVID-19 continues to be a public health issue. In many places, COVID-related deaths this year have exceeded those from last year (for example, Ottawa). COVID continues to exact a high toll, causing hospitalizations, missed work, and deaths that disproportionately affect BIPOC, disabled, older, and low-income people who are more exposed and less protected. In Alberta, COVID deaths continue to rise, and health experts are predicting a fall surge in COVID cases. 

For reasons of equity and workplace safety, AUFA and the undersigned are now asking FHSS to voluntarily adopt preventative measures to both encourage wider accessibility, and to prioritize the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and their families who are immunocompromised, disabled, or caring for those who are not able to be vaccinated or who are at increased risk. These measures will allow greater participation for members, foster community, and protect everyone who will be attending or working at the event. To fail to provide these measures is to facilitate further exclusions.  

While this conference is for FHSS members, the symposium guidelines can set a precedent across faculties. We invite you to sign this AUFA petition to require preventative measures for the Symposium. 

Resources: 

A blog post by a well-known writer, educator and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice Mia Mingus about the difficulty for disabled people to navigate pandemic while preventative measures are made options (CW: death): https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/you-are-not-entitled-to-our-deaths-covid-abled-supremacy-interdependence/ 

A Twitter thread by Stephanie Tait (@StephTaitWrites), a disability inclusion specialist, about the downloading of risk onto high risk people: https://twitter.com/StephTaitWrites/status/1567593587109666816?s=20&t=diBYBIgz9kq15DAQmd_miQ 

An NPR article about the experiences of disabled people: https://www.npr.org/2022/07/14/1109874420/covid-safety-disabled-people-immunocompromised 

Open letter to Dr. Peter Scott and AU’s Executive Team

Dear Dr. Peter Scott and members of AU’s Executive Team,

As you are likely aware, collective bargaining between AU and AUFA has not been going well.

We fully respect that you are maintaining distance from the process to allow AU’s bargaining team to represent the employer’s interests at the table. However, the current context does suggest that some direction from the Executive Team may be necessary to bring this extended conflict to a mutually satisfactory conclusion.

Specifically, there are significant contextual factors that are important to highlight.

AUFA members want a fair deal

AUFA members recently rejected a mediator’s proposed settlement by 77%, with 91% of members voting. This sends a strong and clear message that the concessions AU has been seeking in this round of bargaining are simply not acceptable.

No one is looking forward to a strike or lockout that could entail significant disruptions for learners. But AUFA members have also demonstrated that they are not willing to accept significant concessions that would erode working conditions, collegiality, and student experiences over time. Despite previous framing of AUFA as the aggressive party in this dispute, AUFA members are fully aware that our true position is that of defending valued protections and benefits from an unnecessarily aggressive employer.

Not all our members agree on every issue—that is the nature of a democratic organization—but our ongoing engagement efforts have revealed some clear themes that provide important context for determining what a fair deal might look like in this context.

We want to be excited about the future of AU

Our members have told us they believe deeply in the mission of this university. The strongest consensus that has emerged from our consultations is that we care about students and about learning. We want to be excited about our work. We want to be innovative, creative, and rigorous. But we feel blocked by a combination of factors and forces.

The most common concern is that our members feel overwhelmed by work and stripped of agency. Professional members affected by reorganization and major change initiatives feel they are denied the chance to do their best work. Academic members worry about the erosion of collegial governance while pressure increases a sense of precarity, especially for those newer to AU. Our members tell us key decisions are made in ways that shut out our expertise, experience, and enthusiasm.

We don’t oppose change and transformation, but it matters how that change happens. We don’t want to feel bullied, belittled, or ignored. We want you to listen to our feedback—really listen—and meaningfully include us in decision-making processes.

AUFA members are realizing that the process of collective bargaining offers a rare chance to assert our own agency. We don’t have to passively accept negative changes to our working conditions. Instead, we can demand the respect we deserve. We have heard from many members who suggest that they don’t want to strike but they will if necessary.

It’s about more than the language on the table

We all know this round of bargaining doesn’t exist in isolation. Our collective agreement has a long history and context and is intertwined with other aspects of our work environment.

There are a wide range of management decisions that influence how we feel about what’s going on at the bargaining table. There are many examples of this, so we’ll only name a few.

• The IT Optimization project was a really negative experience for most of our affected members, many of whom continue to feel devalued and stripped of agency.

• Top-down decisions affecting members in the Faculty of Health Disciplines, in particular, have combined with the pressures of educating front-line workers throughout the pandemic to create significant stress and erode morale.

• Many members have experienced the Near-Virtual initiative as stressful and contradictory.

• Many members have expressed concern about the lack of consultation and transparency during the implementation of the Integrated Learning Environment.

• We routinely field calls from members looking for clarification and support with navigating AU’s own processes, including significant concerns about a lack of support from HR with basic employment needs and an unnecessarily adversarial approach to labour relations.

• Members continue to feel anxious about AU’s threat to de-designate them from the union.

These experiences illustrate why we see a clear signal in our surveys that our members have extremely low levels of trust in AU’s leadership. Trust was already low when we started the surveys during Dr. Neil Fassina’s tenure, and it has only dropped since. In November 2021, only 15% of members surveyed said they agreed with the statement, “I trust the executive team of the university,” while 58% said they did not. AUFA members are not alone in this. Many AUPE and CUPE members have shared similar frustrations.

This low level of trust affects how we interpret communications from AU. Many members describe feeling insulted or outraged when reading AU’s communications, even on topics unrelated to bargaining, and have described it as incomplete, misleading, or disingenuous.

To be clear, this is not a reflection of the way our members who facilitate AU communications do their work. Rather, this reflects frustration and even exasperation with the lack of meaningful, transparent, and timely communication shared by AU’s top leaders.

It’s important for you to understand that our members have learned over the years to be suspicious or skeptical of the information and spin offered by AU’s leadership. What this means is that platitudes and vague promises won’t win our trust back. We need concrete and tangible actions.

You have the power to change course

The AUFA executive and volunteers will keep listening to AUFA members. In the past few weeks, we have heard that many members feel distracted and demoralized, and that most would very much appreciate an end to this lengthy battle. But our members are also focused on safeguarding and advancing valued protections and benefits.

It is clear that the university is the body with the power to change course. You have the opportunity to set a new tone that foregrounds respect for the workers of this university. You have the chance to open a new chapter of improved labour relations and increased collegiality. Give us all—our members, our colleagues, and our students—the chance to look to the future of AU with renewed optimism and energy.

We ask that you send a strong signal that you are ready to acknowledge, respect, and value the work we do. It’s time for you to demonstrate that you’re prepared to empower us to do our best work in service of our shared mission to remove barriers and increase equality of educational opportunity for adult learners worldwide.

Respectfully,

AUFA Executive and Members

This letter, with 130 AUFA members' signatures included, was delivered to Dr. Scott and the AU Executive on April 5, 2022. We are hopeful this will help to encourage the employer to take a different approach to bargaining than we've seen over the past several months.

AU slashes nurses' pay during a pandemic

Last week, AUFA’s membership engagement committee (MEC) hosted a meeting with AUFA members in the Faculty of Health Disciplines. This was the latest in a series of meetings designed to address topics of interest to various departments or sub-groups within AU. These smaller meetings allow for a looser, more open dialogue than is possible in larger and more structured general membership meetings.

There was some discussion of the significant impact that a work stoppage will have on FHD programs and students. Most of the meeting, however, was spent discussing AU’s handling of market supplements and its efforts to reduce the pay of AUFA members who are also Registered Nurses during a pandemic.

Market Supplements

A letter of agreement (originally negotiated in 2002) allows AU to provide up to $15,000 in additional pay in the form of a market supplement to attract and retain AUFA members. Essentially, market supplements make up for AU’s uncompetitive salaries in certain fields and professions. The maximum value of the market supplement has not risen since at least 2006.

AU must consult with AUFA about each market supplement that it awards. Typically, this “consultation” is little more than a pro forma email (“We’re gonna do X; here’s why.”). The value of a market supplement, and whether or not it’s issued and renewed, is entirely within the discretion of the executive officer (most often, the Vice-President Academic).

Approximately 60 AUFA members (~14% of AUFA’s total membership) presently have market supplements. The majority of market supplements at AU are paid to academics in the Faculty of Health Disciplines and the Faculty of Business. Most are for the full $15,000. Historically, when market supplements reach the end of their term (often 5 years), they are automatically renewed.

Recent Changes in FHD

A number of faculty members in FHD have recently had their market supplements discontinued, often with no notification. Many other FHD members have market supplements that will expire over the next few months. They have been told to await a market analysis from HR. (Some new hires have also not received market supplements when all of their peers have).

FHD members have been told there are no plans to cancel or otherwise remove the availability of market supplements. It is important to parse this statement very carefully: there is a difference between market supplements being available and market supplements being awarded. Further, it is not possible to confirm market supplements will remain available because AU has said (1) it wishes to open the market supplement letter for negotiation but (2) has, so far, refused to tell AUFA what changes it wants to the letter.

Finally, it is also unclear under what conditions and at what value market supplements will be awarded or renewed. Discussion with AUFA members in FHD suggests that AUFA members who are Registered Nurses could see significant increases in wages if (1) they returned to clinical practice or (2) sought employment at other PSE institutions (there is presently a shortage of trained nursing instructors). The loss of any significant number of Registered Nurses to better paying jobs elsewhere will negatively affect AU’s ability to retain accreditation of its nursing program.

Over in the Faculty of Business, many market supplement renewals have recently occurred, but for a very short term (e.g., until March 31, 2022). This suggests AU is lining up market supplement renewals with the annual budget cycle. Shorter terms for market supplements aligned with the fiscal year may mean AU is seeking to increase its ability to discontinue market supplements on short notice (e.g., if the budget pinches).

Analysis

The termination of market supplements in FHD appears to reflect a change in AU’s approach to market supplements. It is unclear what AU’s intentions are, but the effect seems to be fewer and less secure market supplements.

The lack of transparency around this change is both disrespectful and distressing to affected members. Some AUFA members are facing a 15% loss in income with no notice. A number of members are openly discussing whether they wish to remain at AU after a 15% pay cut.

It is also distressing that AU is seeking changes to the market supplement letter at the bargaining table but has, thus far, not bothered to tell AUFA what those changes are. All AUFA members deserve wage stability free from what can only be described as arbitrary wage cuts with little or no notice.

David Powell, President

AUPE successfully resists rollback mandate

AUPE and the Government of Alberta recently concluded mediation for a new contract for government workers. This settlement affects most workers employed directly by the government. It does not affect AUPE members employed by AU, other PSEs, or AUPE health care workers.

AUPE is recommending its members accept the new contract. The contract represents the culmination of a long and drawn out negotiation that saw AUPE successfully resist virtually every concession that the government initially demanded, including wage rollbacks, and it instead features modest salary gains for AUPE members. This blog provides some analysis of what this deal means for AUFA.

Government’s Opening Position

Going into bargaining, the government wanted a 4% wage rollback followed by several years of wage freezes. The government also sought further wage reductions in some specific job classifications as well as reductions in shift differentials, weekend premiums, health spending accounts, benefit costs, paid holidays, and overtime. Finally, the government sought to eliminate language about job security.

These proposed rollbacks were consistent with what government agencies, boards, and commissions (ABCs) have been seeking, presumably in response to secret government mandates. In theory, the government could have legislated these rollbacks (as was suggested by the MacKinnon panel in 2019) if it wanted to risk a court fight.

Recommended Agreement

Last week, AUPE announced that it had reached a mediated settlement with the government. The four-year deal (ending March 31, 2024) would have the government withdraw virtually all of its rollback demands (one exception is noted below) and offer some modest gains to government workers. These include:

• A 1.25% salary increase on January 1, 2023 and an additional 1.5% increase on September 1, 2023. Depending on economic conditions, an additional 0.5% increase is possible in September 2023.

• Job security for permanent staff until December 31, 2022.

• An 8% wage bump for some staff (mostly policing) whose jobs have expanded retro to April 1, 2021.

The one rollback is to the grids for three classifications. This rollback will affect new hires only. AUPE frames this as a win, but with job turnover of ~10% per annum, this is really more of a delayed loss. Significantly, this contract also pushes out the next round of bargaining until after the next expected election date.

Analysis

The agreement between AUPE and the government holds several lessons for AUFA. First, the agreement shows that government mandates are malleable. External factors can affect what the true bottom-line is for an employer. In this case, the government’s dismal polling amongst Alberta voters, together with its limited capacity to engage in additional conflicts likely contributed to the government walking away from rollback demands and agreeing to modest gains for AUPE members.

Internal factors can also affect the true bottom line, such as the willingness of a bargaining unit to strike and the negative impact of such a strike on the employer. While AUPE spent a lot of effort building strike capacity in this bargaining unit, it was not at all clear that AUPE could mount an effective strike (i.e., one where the operational disruption and political harm caused by the strike outweighed the cost savings and long-term gain for the government). Nevertheless, these preparations likely contributed to the government making a quiet about-face.

The second lesson is that what unions get (and can keep) reflects what they can win. AUPE managed to fend off almost every rollback the employer wanted and even made modest gains, which is laudable. That said, these gains are very modest. A wage increase of 2.75% (or maybe 3.25%) over four years (during which time inflation will likely run 8%) represents a net loss to their members’ purchasing power.

This may well have been the best deal AUPE could get in the circumstances. Other unions (or AUPE bargaining units) with more powerful strike threats (i.e., they are more likely to go out or, if they go out, the cost for the employer will be greater) may be able to get an even better deal for their members.

For AUFA, this means we need to have a credible strike threat if we want to avoid rollbacks and make gains. More bluntly, AUFA members need to be prepared to strike. And the operational, financial, and reputational consequences of such a strike need to be serious enough that, in the end, the employer would prefer to improve our wages and working conditions than weather a strike.

Attaching profound consequences to change the employer’s behaviour was how AUFA prevented rollbacks during the 2018 round of bargaining. And it was how AUFA prevented AU from de-designating two-thirds of the members of the unit in 2020. Indeed, AU’s interest in widespread de-designation of AUFA can be usefully understood as an effort to undermine the power of AUFA’s strike threat.

Conversely, if AUFA cannot mount a credible strike threat, then there is basically no way for AUFA members to avoid accepting whatever rollbacks the employer proposes. Some AUFA members have expressed discomfort with the potential negative impact that a work stoppage will have on students and on the programs that AUFA members have spent years developing. The employer knows about this very understandable discomfort among AUFA members and it is hoping that these concerns will sap AUFA members’ willingness to strike.

The question for AUFA members is at what point do we stop sacrificing our wages and working conditions to keep the peace and instead seek well-earned and warranted improvements?

Bob Barnetson, Chair

AUFA Job Action Committee

Faculty associations hold solidarity rallies with healthcare workers around Alberta

Athabasca rally

Yesterday academic unions around Alberta hosted rallies in support of the healthcare workers who engaged in an unsanctioned wildcat strike on October 26th. The strike was in response to planned privatization of 11,000 AUPE jobs such as laboratories, laundry, housekeeping, and food services. Workers in dozens of different locations walked off the job, returning to regular duties the next day. This push to privatization disproportionately affects women, particularly women of colour.  

One-day job actions like this one often don’t have immediately visible impact and so can leave people wondering if it was a success or not. It is best to view the walkout as a first major step in building momentum towards further labour action in Alberta, particularly as multiple public sector unions move into bargaining. It was vital that other unions around the province step up to celebrate the bravery of the healthcare workers.

Three rallies took place in Athabasca, Edmonton, and Calgary and were organized by faculty unions with enthusiastic attendance from our sibling unions CUPE 3911 and AUPE 69 in addition to many others. Attendance ranged from around 50 in Calgary to around 60 in Athabasca and upwards of 200 in Edmonton. The Athabasca rally was organized by AUFA, the Edmonton rally by NASA and AASUA at the University of Alberta, and the Calgary rally by the Mount Royal Faculty Association. Attending unions included the above post-secondary unions, The Amalgamated Transit Union, United Nurses of Alberta, Health Sciences Association, and the Iron Workers.

This is in addition to early-morning rallies staged by the AFL on the same day to welcome workers coming on to shift, which also saw attendance from AUFA members.

Solidarity rally in Calgary. Source: AUPE Facebook Page

Athabasca rally

In Athabasca, 60-70 people were attendance marking this one of the largest rallies in town memory. Athabasca is a town of 3,000 people and thus the turnout was significant, bolstered by attendance by community groups. The rally was held over lunchtime with healthcare workers coming out on break to celebrate with the attendees, which included a march in front of the hospital, a few speeches, and an out of tune banjo.

Athabascans march past the hospital calling for no discipline

No discipline

The workers who took part in the job action are all vulnerable to disciplinary action from management, which can include suspension without pay or even termination. In Athabasca, 71 names signed a petition demanding no discipline of the healthcare workers who took part in the strike, which has been sent to senior AHS management.

The Non-Academic Staff Association at University of Alberta have also started an online no-discipline petition we encourage all members to sign here.

Why hold these rallies?

Solidarity is not a buzzword. It is a strategy. The mass privatization of positions faced by healthcare workers mirrors the designation battle that AUFA members face. Around the world, working people of all kinds face the same struggles. Suppressed wage growth, casualization, and erosion of protections and benefits. AUFA members are in a privileged position, and it is incumbent upon us to use that privilege to bolster and empower others. When we act in the interests of other working people, we do so in our own interest as well. Our battles with designation and what may be an extremely contentious round of bargaining are serious ones, and we will need allies to win. By hosting rallies like these, and attending the rallies and pickets of others, we can find those allies and work towards our common cause.

David Powell

President, Athabasca University Faculty Association

Every rally needs a banjo.