By the time this issue of The Uniter is published, the decision to strike will have been made by the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association (UWFA).

Whether or not a strike is averted, however, the long-standing structural issues endemic to the labour conflict between the UWFA and the University of Winnipeg’s administration show no signs of dissipating.

The lead up to the strike has seen a litany of salary issues come to the fore. The UWFA claims it is chronically underpaid relative to their colleagues at other Manitoba post-secondary institutions.

Dan Hurley, administration spokesperson and U of W associate vice-president (external affairs), has fluctuated between claiming salary increases would have to be paid for by higher tuition fees and that the underfunding of the U of W on a per student basis is to blame.

The U of W’s strike information website page initially claimed that meeting the demands of the UWFA (an 8.4 per cent wage increase over three years) would require a 10 per cent increase in tuition fees.

Students have had to rely on Hurley’s assertion that each per cent wage increase translates to a one-and-a-quarter tuition fee increase as proof.

Hurley illustrated a clearer picture of what constrains the administration’s position on this matter earlier this week on CBC Radio, when he noted that the U of W receives less than two-thirds of government funding per student relative to other Manitoban universities. Recent figures put this number at $6,800 per student.

This fact speaks to a larger issue which has been plaguing universities across Canada for decades: the decrease in provincial and federal government funding of post-secondary institutions, and the subsequent pressures this puts upon universities to meet their budgetary requirements.

While students have primarily focused on the effects this has had on the bottom lines of their tuition payments, labour disputes such as the one between the UWFA and U of W administration should make students and community members ask whether forcing universities to find other corporate revenue streams and chronically underpaying its faculty is a worthwhile decision.

So far, the media battle waged between the UWFA and the administration has centred on veiled accusations of greed on either side.

The administration plays the tuition card and the UWFA counters with a call to reduce six-figure administrator salaries – that sort of thing.

There are many larger issues regarding the state of the university in Canada at play here, and at the moment, the U of W provides a particular focal point.

Principal amongst these are the problems of underfunding, tuition fee fear mongering and the hollowing out of university departments and devaluation of faculty members.

Even if a strike is averted or proves to be a short one, an agreement between the UWFA and the U of W administration on wage increases does not solve other deep-seated issues beyond the control of either party.

It is high time to begin a discussion about the external forces pushing universities towards the types of labour disputes witnessed these days at the U of W.

As well, it is important to wade through the mudslinging which has been featured in the media to this point in order to gain a better understanding of the problems which plague the U of W specifically.

Are U of W administrator salaries too high? Are there too many of them?

What are the hard numbers on the salaries of faculty and administrators?

Is a rise in tuition fees the only way to pay for increases to faculty salaries?

Look for these questions and others to be addressed in the coming weeks, both within the pages of The Uniter and online at www.uniter.ca.

Published in Volume 65, Number 22 of The Uniter (March 10, 2011)