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Day 6 begins on the UNBC FA Picket Line March 12th, 2015

It has been a busy week since the UNBC Faculty Association (UNBC-FA) strike began on March 5.  As of yesterday we had received messages of support not only from the faculty associations mentioned in my previous post, but also from FAs at numerous other Canadian institutions, including Queen’s, St. Thomas More, Wildfrid Laurier, Concordia, Acadia, Ryerson, OLAD, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Saint-Anne, Moncton, Nipissing, the Federation of New Brunswick FAs, and the BC Teachers Federation.  Many of these groups have sent our FA cheques to help us weather the storm.  Yesterday, to our sheer delight, a large group of BC Pulp and Paper Workers joined us on the picket lines, lending us some serious street cred (those folks know how to make passing cars honk their horns!) and creating an exuberant atmosphere.  It was a wonderful morale booster, for which I was deeply grateful.  This morning, after a nearly week-long standoff, negotiations will resume between the UNBC administration and faculty association.  I’m hopeful the two sides will begin to find the common ground needed to end the strike.  On Friday evening we’ll be holding a party at strike headquarters to honour our flying pickets (who are arriving from across the country to support us on the line).  As the UNBC-FA’s unofficial bard (I’ve sung in two events during the past week), I’ll be performing a set of labour songs and hosting an open-mic talent show at the event, all in the service of morale boosting and solidarity.  Hopefully the gathering will be a celebration of our new collective agreement rather than a pep rally type of event, but if not we will carry on nonetheless.  As my fortune cookie yesterday stated, “You will obtain your goal if you maintain your course.”  Best fortune cookie ever.  Solidarity forever!