Sep 04 2018

National Survey of Contract Academic Staff

Category: Contract Faculty,News,Research — Bob Hanke @ 10:59 am

CAUT releases results of first national survey of contract academic staff

(Ottawa – September 4, 2018) Most academic staff working on contract at Canadian universities and colleges aren’t employed that way by choice indicates new survey results gathered and released today by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT).

According to the survey:

  • Over half (53%) of respondents want a tenure-track university or full-time, permanent college job. This is the case even for contract academic staff (CAS) who have been teaching for 16-20 years.
  • Only 25% said they do not want a tenure-track or permanent, full-time academic appointment. The remainder are unsure.
  • Women and racialized CAS work more hours per course, per week than their colleagues and are more likely to be in low-income households.
  • Two-thirds of respondents said their mental health has been negatively impacted by the contingent nature of their employment, and just 19% think the institutions where they work are model employers and supporters of good jobs.

“Until now, we had no clear picture of the working conditions of CAS across the country,” said CAUT executive director David Robinson. “These results reveal that many CAS are underpaid, overworked and sorely under-resourced. It’s a dismal picture for the majority of these academics, who often feel trapped in a ‘gig lifestyle’ of part-time or insecure work.”

To read the rest of this news release and access the survey results, click here.

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Sep 04 2018

The University as Anxiety Machine

Category: Contract Faculty,Research — Bob Hanke @ 9:37 am

The neurotic academic: anxiety, casualisation, and governance in the neoliberalising university

by Vik Loveday (2018)

Journal of Cultural Economy, 11(2), pp. 154-166.

ABSTRACT

Based on empirical research conducted with academic staff working on
fixed-term contracts, the article explores the subjective experience of
anxiety in the UK’s ‘neoliberalising’ higher education (HE) sector. As HE
undergoes a process of marketisation, and the teaching and research
activities of academics are increasingly measured and scrutinised, the
contemporary academy appears to be suffused with anxiety. Coupled
with pressures facing all staff, 34% of academic employees are currently
working on a fixed-term contract and so must contend with the multiple
forms of uncertainty associated with their so-called ‘casualised’ positions.
While anxiety is often perceived as an individualised affliction for which
employees are encouraged to take personal responsibility, the article
argues that it should be conceptualised in two ways: firstly, as a symptom
of wider processes at work in the neoliberalising sector; and secondly, as
a ‘tactic’ of what Isin [(2004). The neurotic citizen. Citizenship Studies, 8 (3),
217–235] refers to as ‘neuroliberal’ governance. The article concludes by
proposing that the figure of the ‘neurotic academic’ is emblematic of the
contradictions facing the contemporary academy.

To read the article, click Loveday 2018.

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Feb 26 2018

No Academic Temp Worker Solution

Category: Policy Reports — Bob Hanke @ 9:51 am

No Temporary Solution

Ontario’s shifting college and university workforce
by Erika Shaker and Robin Shaban
February 8, 2018

While post-secondary institutions are places of learning, they also employ thousands of people across a broad spectrum of job classifications. This report explores the extent to which workers in Canada’s post-secondary institutions are experiencing precarity. More precisely, it asks whether employment on university and college campuses in Ontario is becoming more precarious, for whom and for what reasons. 

This report combines quantitative analysis of Labour Force Survey (LFS) data with qualitative accounts of the lived experience of precarity from post-secondary employees. Overall, the LFS data analysis suggests that 53% of post-secondary education workers in Ontario are, to some extent, precariously employed. Specifically, the report identifies a rise in work categories that are more precarious (e.g., research assistants and teaching assistants) alongside a decline in others that have traditionally been less precarious (e.g., librarians). 

To read the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report, click here.

To read “Ontario campuses see increase in precarious jobs, study shows” in the Toronto Star, click here.

 

 

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Jun 25 2017

Quality Jobs, Quality Education, Better Futures

Category: Contract Faculty,Online Publication — Bob Hanke @ 3:08 pm

New report highlights the impact of precarious work on post-secondary sector

(excerpted from CUPE National, June 6, 2017)

Precarious work deeply impacts people’s lives, health and well-being, and ultimately, their communities. That’s the number one thing CUPE heard in a series of town halls on precarious work in the post-secondary sector held earlier this year.

In a new report, CUPE outlines the key lessons we heard from our members and our allies. These include important distinctions about what precarious work looks like on campuses today, such as the reality that precarious work is not just about filling temporary vacancies or short-term roles: some temporary employees have been in their positions for years and have even risen to the rank of supervisor or department chair.

Furthermore, our report reveals, more schools are using students for labour without offering adequate wages or protection. In particular, reliance on undergraduates to provide academic and support work is growing.

The growing reliance of post-secondary institutions on precarious work has serious consequences for workers. Precarious workers have higher levels of stress, greater difficulty defending their rights, limited ability to make life choices that many of us take for granted, and lower access to government programs and services. Precarity also makes it harder for workers to be good at their job, as well as making it harder for other workers to do their jobs.

To read the rest of this introduction and access the complete report, click here.

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May 24 2017

The University in the Populist Age

Category: Books and Articles — Bob Hanke @ 2:31 pm

The university in the populist age

by Steven Tufts and Mark Thomas

(excerpted from Academic Matters, May 23, 2017)

Right-wing populism threatens the future of higher education, but remaining passive and retreating to a disinterested vision of the university will actually strengthen the attacks. Faculty have a responsibility to work in solidarity to fight back against these threats.

Right-wing populism has been on the rise in recent years, intensifying following the 2008 global financial crisis. 2016 marked a key moment in the right populist turn, with both Brexit and the US Presidential election constituting formal political legitimacy for right-wing populist leaders and movements. Despite widespread opposition following the election of Donald Trump—itself often taking populist forms—a range of right-wing populist forces continue to push forward. In both Europe and North America, anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic rhetoric and violence has escalated. Populist figures are giving voice to and emboldening longstanding racist and xenophobic currents in western societies. Other variants of authoritarian right-wing populism are also growing. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government in Turkey has now dismissed over 7,000 academics and in some cases jailed scholars.

Not surprisingly, many academics fear populism. Distrust of elites, perhaps the primary defining feature of populism, is a threat to universities as they currently operate. The threat extends to those who make a living in postsecondary education, be they tenured professors, precarious contract faculty, or staff.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

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