steve kwan user experience designer

The BCIT Union Strike

(January 21st, 2005 - 9:23PM)

A bit of background: the support workers at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) are striking for higher wages. This affects me as I am currently taking part-time courses at BCIT (in addition to being a graduate). I recently signed up for a course, and my first class, which I paid $600 to attend, was cancelled due to strike action.

Obviously I'm not happy that my class was cancelled. However, that doesn't mean I blame the support workers. If they feel they are being underpaid, I don't fault them for taking action to raise their salary.

This is not just a failure on the part of the support workers. This is a failure on the part of both the managerial and support workers, as they should have worked an arrangement out before students became affected.

It's easy to take the attitude that these union members don't deserve the money they want. However, it's important to remember why unions exist: to give workers a fair chance against their employers. I'd guess that most people speculating on the BCIT labour situation don't really know what it's like working there.

Do the support workers deserve more money? I don't really know, but I don't fault them for attempting to better themselves and improve their living conditions. These support workers are ensuring that BCIT's management remains in check, and I think that's valuable enough to merit a strike.

Trying to write off these union strikers as support workers unworthy of more money is a really unfair attitude to take. I have had the benefits of a good education and I have a good job. However, that doesn't make me better than anyone else. I am well aware that I had many advantages in my education that others didn't, and that is likely the sole reason I was able to get through BCIT. Other people, who are more intelligent than me, may not get the same opportunities and therefore may wind up with lower-paying jobs.

I fully realize that support and administrative work is difficult and requires a great deal of skill. It is anything but an "unskilled" job. In fact, in many ways it can be more difficult than "skilled" labor; after all, if support work is so easy, why are support workers always so miserable? If these support workers think they're worth more money, I don't think I'd disagree.

It's likely that tuition fees will be raised to accomodate new support salaries should they be increased, but again, I think it's a worthwhile investment.