By: Sam Heaton 

Carleton students and workers march in support of their colleagues in campus safety March 14. Credit: Filip Szymanski
Carleton students and workers march in support of their colleagues in campus safety March 14. Credit: Filip Szymanski

Nearly 50 campus safety workers at Carleton University walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. on March 10. Half of them are students.

In support of the striking workers, who are members of Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU) local 404, students and workers from the campus community marched across campus, condemning the Carleton senior management for its misplaced priorities.

The March 14 rally greeted the picket line at Bronson and Sunnyside before heading to campus safety offices at Robertson Hall, followed by the River Building, University Centre Atrium, and finally outside the offices of Carleton’s president on the fifth floor of Tory Building.

According to the union, the workers have given Carleton the dubious honour of being the first university in Canada to force campus employees to strike.

The biggest issues raised at the negotiating table by the workers were chronic understaffing and inadequate compensation. The union says that while the campus population and infrastructure have grown significantly since the 1980s, safety staffing has remained more or less the same.

Earlier that day, at the request of teacher and staff unions on campus, Member of Parliament Bob Rae cancelled his appearance at a ceremony to award him an honorary Carleton PhD.

Though negotiations between management and the safety workers began in October 2013 – around five months after the workers voted 97 per cent in favour of forming a union – the union says there has been little progress dealing with Carleton. By January, OPSEU representative Nelson Ross Laguna told the Leveller that bargaining had “come to a halt.”

A study conducted by the union during negotiations also found that both special constables and student safety patrollers take home significantly less pay than their provincial counterparts in entry and advanced level positions. In the case of student safety patrollers, they currently make just over $11 per hour, while comparable positions in Ontario take home anywhere from $16 to $20.

When the campus safety workers resorted to creative means to get their message out, such as union pins, wristbands, and t-shirts, Director of University Safety Allan Burns attempted to ban such items from being worn. In early February, frustrated by lack of movement from the employer, workers voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action.

A student safety patroller, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke on behalf of the collective in describing working conditions to the Leveller: “We work overnights. A lot of us work until 7:00 a.m. in the morning, and we have class at 8:30 a.m.. And we choose that, but it’s also more of a respect thing than the wages.”

She said student patrollers perform first response duties, first aid, and crisis management along with many other duties, and they undergo months of training.

Strike campus safety workers on the picket line. Credit: Sam Heaton
Strike campus safety workers on the picket line. Credit: Sam Heaton

“We’re just looking to show that we are worth a lot to this campus. We do a lot of work, we patrol a lot, and we have to deal with a lot too. The fact that they want to reduce our pay already…”

Student workers say that student safety patroller jobs have been recently advertised at lower pay than previously. At this time, Carleton is advertising the position at $11.39 per hour, around the same as what the student patrollers are currently paid.

Participants in the rally on March 14 pointed out that the safety workers’ fight for better staffing levels and acceptable pay makes them question Carleton senior management’s priorities.

Justin Paulson of the Carleton University Academic Staff Association said, “What we need is not parking garages,” but “an environment that is safe for students to pursue education and research.”

While Carleton has refused to deal with what the workers say is inadequate safety coverage on campus, it has notably spent $34 million to date on building a new parking garage.

The Leveller reported in Sept. 2013 that Carleton senior officials admitted the university has no need for new parking spaces. A Leveller investigation found that the Carleton Board of Governors and its building committee included several key figures behind the redevelopment of Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park stadium.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the City of Ottawa has been negotiating a Lansdowne parking agreement with Carleton University since 2010.

Chris Hurl, a member of CUPE 4600, the union that represents teaching assistants and contract instructors, said that Carleton’s senior management is “clearly a lot more interested in providing a good brand for the university and building parking garages” rather than “the basic operation of the university.”

“That means paying our workers a decent wage… and making sure we’re able to provide quality education and basic services like safety on our campus,” Hurl said.

Since the strike began, some students have had difficulty reaching campus safety in emergencies, according to the Ottawa Citizen. Parents who use the on-campus daycare centre have written to Carleton president Roseann Runte to express their concern.

A new round of negotiations between the workers and university management is expected to take place on March 20.

This article was first published in The Leveller Vol. 6, No. 6 (Mar/Apr 2014).