Precarious Work: Contract Faculty in the Neoliberal University

These videos explore the situation of Canadian contract academic faculty and compares their situation to the even poorer conditions American contract faculty face, highlighting the need to more firmly address working conditions in Canada. The second film, “Contract Faculty: Injustice in the University,” focuses on not only the injustice faced by contract faculty but the implications of this injustice for students, the University and higher education in general. The story is primarily told through the words of contract faculty themselves. Where there is injustice there is usually both tragedy and dark humour and the film presents both.

Other resources:

• Links to educational and activist resources
• Tracy MacMaster, “Shaking Off the Part-Time Blues: Fighting for the Rights of Ontario College Workers,” The Bullet No. 1117, 18 May 2015.
• “#StrikeTown: Why Are Toronto University Workers On Strike?,” The Bullet No. 1091, 19 March 2015.
• David Bush and Doug Nesbitt, “Austerity Strangles Ontario: the TA strikes in Context,” The Bullet No. 1088, 6 March 2015.
• Alan Sears and James Cairns, “Austerity U: Preparing Students for Precarious Lives,” The Bullet No. 932, 29 January 2014.
• David Mandel, “The Struggle Has Its Own Dynamic: The Professors’ Strike at the Université du Québec à Montréal,” The Bullet No. 223, 4 June 2009.
• Tyler Shipley, “Demanding the Impossible: Struggles for the Future of Post-Secondary Education,” The Bullet No. 215, 10 May 2009.
• Besmira Alikaj, “Labour Turmoil and the Fight for Public Education,” The Bullet No. 168, 19 December 2008.
• Eric Newstadt, “The Neoliberal University: Looking at the York Strike,” The Bullet No. 165, 5 December 2008.