The Cord Weekly (May 26, 1988)

CORD THE29, WEEKLY Volume Number 1 Thursday, May 26,1988 WLU Faculty to unionize By Bryan C. Leblanc Labour Relations Board. According to WLU President moved towards certification". Gough. The certification process be- Dr. John Weir, a tripartite com- Dr. Dwight Edmonds, Presi- Currently, 60% of the pro- Talk of unions has been cir- gan after a breakdown in negotia- mittee was set up in order to find dent of WLUFA, said "the atti- posed bargaining unit has signed culating throughout the WLU tions between the WLU adminis- "a way of settling wage disputes". tude of the membership is union cards. The required per- campus for the past month. The tration and WLUFA. According The committee "seemed to be reflected in the Executive Com- centage for filing an application Wilfrid Laurier University Facul- to Dr. Joyce Lorimer, Registrar of making progress" said Weir. mittee's actions. The intent is to for certification is 50% plus one. ty Association (WLUFA) has WLUFA's certification About a month ago, the nego- move towards certification". The unionization move, how- taken steps towards unionization. campaign, "negotiations began to tiation committee lost several Dr. Barry Gough reported to a ever, has many opponents within On Friday, May 20, 1988, signed establish binding impasse resolu- members. The WLUFA Execu- general membership meeting of WLUFA. In a letter to faculty union cards and the necessary tion for salaries". WLUFA made tive was asked to recommend WLUFA that there existed "sig- members, Dr. Terry Copp said forms for initiating this action a proposal which "the administra- new members in order to keep the nificant support among the full- "No issue I have heard would were delivered to the Ontario tion didn't accept at all". discussions going. Weir said "the time professional employees in lead me to support a strike or executive of the Faculty Associa- the Library for certification along respect a picket line, so I will not tion decided not to appoint new with the faculty". This would be signing a union card". English 102 abolished members". mean the definition of the pro- In a related issue, the Wilfrid Lorimer describes the situa- posed bargaining unit would ex- Laurier University Staff By Frances McAneney Associa- tion differently. According to her, pand beyond the current definition has recently received the negotiations stalled on the issue tion of membership in the Faculty results of a survey which indicate English 102 was officially replaced with a non-credit Writing of dispute settlement. "Negotia- Association. Should this occur, that 67% of staff support the in- Centre at the May meeting of the Wilfrid Laurier University 11 tions broke down totally. At that the WLUFA definition "would be vestigation of a unionization ef- Senate. point, the Faculty Association automatically amended", said fort. The proposal was introduced at the meeting by Dr. Arthur Read, Dean of Arts and Science, in conjunction with the English Depart- ment. As the reason for the change, Dr. Russell Muncaster, Vice Presi- dent: Academic, stated that"... English 102no longer filled the needs of the students." Dr. Andrew Stubbs, the newly appointed Director of the Centre, said "(the) writing centre is designed to meet the needs of students for basic writing skills." An English Achievement Test, administered to all first year students and students transferring from part-time to full-time studies, will be used to determine whether a student will be required to report to the Centre. "As a result of testing, an individual will be instructed to go there... if it was felt their (writing) abilities were not adequate," said Muncaster. Students may also be sent to the Writing Centre by any faculty member whenever they feel it necessary, regardless of the student's individual testing results. When asked whether he expects students to be sent to the Writing Centre more than once by the same faculty member, Muncaster replied "we expect our faculty to act like rational human beings." The six week program will consist of "lots of writing, workshops, (and) seminars" said Stubbs with an emphasis on "paragraph (and) sentence writing skills". The Centre, expected to open in September, will require students to attend for a period of six weeks. If the instructor feels it necessary, due to absenteeism or persistent writing problems, a student may be Blossoms blossoming... A sure sign that spring has arrived at Laurier. required to continue on at the Centre until such time as the Director Cord photo by Bryan C. Leblanc approves their release. Once a student has completed their training at the Writing Centre and has been dismissed, it will be recorded at the Registrar's office. When asked whether the University should be able to require stu- Health plan problems dents to attend non-credit courses Read said "I think it's unfortunate that students (would) see it that way ....ifa student doesn't co-operate, By Bryan C. Leblanc necessary for students who such as MSW and MBA students, it's to their own deficit." He continued, "if a student doesn't wish to wished to claim prescriptions un- and students from other univer- go ...we'll have to require the student to attend ...(or we'll) probably The Wilfrid Laurier Univer- der the plan to fill out claims sities who are only taking sum- not accept further registration from the student." sity Students' Union's Health forms and send them to the insur- mer courses have wanted to take The program, available only to those students who are required to Plan has come under fire from co- ance company. "This caused advantage of the plan. We are op- attend, is free of charge but does require those students involved to op students currently on a school major administrative problems", ting them all in at a cost of purchase a text book. term and Masters students who said Archer. She went on to say $8.00". The confusion arose due The Centre's Director estimates a time commitment of approxi- have just begun their terms. Prob- "there has also been complaints to "poor communications with the mately three hours per week for the full six week period with "in- lems have arisen due to adminis- about slow and late payment of insurance company", said Wisch. struction from trained, experienced writing teachers" said Stubbs. trative errors both within claims. To my knowledge, "We didn't anticipate problems The normal appeal procedures, which consist of either the Senate WLUSU and within the insurance though, all claims have been such as opting-in students as late Student Appeal or petitioning the appropriate faculty involved, will company, University Health and satisfied". as May". be used if any student feels that their required attendance at the Accident + Life. Gesa Wisch, the newly ap- Fourth year co-op students Centre is not justified. The health plan, approved in a pointed Health Plan Co-ordinator, have been complaining about an "Students always have a right to appeal," said Read. student referendum in 1987, was said "the biggest problem is that over-payment of health plan fees. The present placement test, which has been used in the past to full of problems from the begin- it is the first year we've been The cost of the plan is $8.00 for determine whether or not a student must enroll in English 102, will be ning. According to Jill Archer, doing it (the health plan). We one or two terms, but jumps to replaced with a new English Achievement Test. It is not certain if it WLUSU VP: University Affairs, didn't anticipate problems". Ar- $16.00 for year-long coverage. will be available for use in September. "students were receiving their cher added that "more informa- The University "collected $16.00 out by Each student who has been required to enroll must complete the cards (which enabled them to tion could've been given with tuition like we asked them to instruction in the Writing Centre before the end of the academic year receive free prescriptions) too late the Students' Union". do for any other student. What One of the major problems in which they were ordered to attend. and not all students received they planned to do was credit the WLUSU was confusion "(We) anticipate two hundred students (will be) required to go to cards". The bulk of students faced by extra $8.00 to next year's plan. in December. over the opting-in process. were collected in Jam the Writing Centre," said Read. received the cards These fees made it "People starting school in May, continued on page 3. The tentative location of the Centre is in portable three. This dirth of cards The Cord Weekly 2 Thursday, May 26,1988 THE CORD WEEKLY I can't believe May 26,1988 Volume 29, Number 1 Editor-in-Chief Cori Ferguson there are STILL NEWS Editor Bryan C. Leblanc Associate Frances P. McAneney Contributors Ferguson positions Cori some COMMENT Contributors Emet Wilde Anna Naranowicz available FEATURES Editor Erika A. Sajnovic Contributors ENTERTAINMENT Editor Neville J. Blair Contributors Cori Ferguson Anne-Marie Tymec SPORTS Editor Brad Lyon Contributors Serge Grenier Kirk Nielsen DESIGN AND ASSEMBLY Production Manager Kat Rios Assistants Sandy Buchanan position vacant Systems Technician Paul Dawson to the on the 2nd Floor the Copy Editor position vacant Come up offices of position vacant Contributors Student Union Building during the summer Chris Starkey David Wilmering Andrew Dunn and apply for one of these fall positions: PHOTOGRAPHY Manager position vacant Technician position vacant Graphic Arts Olivia Nolan of Contributors "'Director: Board Student Publications (2) Cori Ferguson Derek Blair "'Circulation and Filing Manager Bryan Leblanc Joan Sandberg Andrew Dunn Kat Rios "'Advertising Representative (2) ADVERTISING "'Classifieds Co-Ordinator Manager Bill Rockwood Classifieds position vacant '"Photo Manager Production Manager Scott Vandenberg Ad Reps position vacant '"Photo Technician: The Cord position vacant National Advertising Campus Plus '"Copy Editor: The Cord (2) (416)481-7283 '"Production Assistant: The Cord CIRCULATION AND FILING '"Accounts Receivable Manager Manager position vacant '"Production Manager: The Eight month, 24-issue CORD subscription rates arc: $20.00 for addresses within Canada Keystone and $25.00 outside the country.

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