Activists and academics flocked to York last week to discuss the uneasy relationship between academia and labour, as part of the Academics and Workers’ Movements Panel hosted by York’s Global Labour Research Centre.
“The current relationship between labour and academia is one of wariness,” says Naveen Mehta, director of human rights, United Food and Commercial Workers.
“The labour side feels as though they are a group that has been oppressed by academics, and it has created a sense of distrust toward academia,” Mehta adds.
“The mistrust of academia is well-earned because universities didn’t develop to meet the needs of education for the working class. They developed to educate the next generation of rulers,” says Ryerson sociology professor Alan Sears.
Meanwhile, students continue to suffer. According to Sears, tuition has increased, job prospects are declining, and students are graduating with a nearly insurmountable amount of debt.
Sean Smith, mobilization coordinator, Unifor Local 2002, says the nature of education and the workforce has changed to the point where high school students can no longer find employment after graduating.
“In the past, university was more about enhancing oneself. It wasn’t a necessity for getting a job,” says Smith.
“Academics are now entering the workforce, but they’re doing the same jobs that people used to get paid to do for free, in the hope that they will get a reference out of it that will get them a job in the future,” he adds.
Smith states that a recent disagreement between the airport workers’ union and management led the union to seek the aid of academics in changing policies and procedures.
Knowledge is key to activism, according to Sears. CUPE 3903’s strike was an example of the two communities coming together in a common goal.
“Rather than viewing it as an external partnership between scholars and labour activists, it should be seen as an internal partnership where both sides work together towards a common goal,” says Sears.
Matt Dionne
Contributor
