Precarity Penalty Report

The Precarity Penalty, a newly released report on poverty and precarious jobs confirms the sad reality that more and more people in southern Ontario are joining the ranks of the working poor. Universities have traditionally been places for good – that is relatively secure and well paying – jobs. No more. They are very much one of the drivers of this trend. At Laurier, our Collective Agreement limits the ratio of Fulltime, permanent to Contract Academic faculty. But that hasn’t been enough to prevent a growing reliance on low-wage, short-term faculty in our classrooms – faculty who have little room for transitioning into fulltime permanent positions, and no protection from layoffs, as is clear from the dramatic cuts to course stipends earlier this year. We call upon the Laurier Administration to take leadership in Ontario’s post-secondary sector, and commit greater resources to improving the working conditions of CAF (and through that, for all faculty) at Laurier.