Co-management arrangements off the table for U of L
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on February 17, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The University of Lethbridge won’t consider co-management arrangements preventing it from independently prioritizing the interests of stakeholders such as students, said the U of L in a Wednesday statement on its bargaining page.
The university says its striking faculty association is not mandated to consider the interests of students or other stakeholders in the post-secondary institution.
In Wednesday’s statement, the U of L says the ULFA’s exclusive authority is to “negotiate and enter into collective agreements with the board on behalf of academic staff.”
The statement said the university’s main mandate is to “ensure students are provided an exceptional, and most importantly, affordable education. We are currently in a challenging economic situation that requires difficult choices. Our university governance is positioned to make those choices based on the input of many stakeholders, including faculty.”
The university says while it seeks – and incorporates – input from faculty on important management decisions, co-management agreements would create conflicts of interest “that run counter to the principles of effective post-secondary governance.”
“ULFA’s most recent salary demand repeats a pattern of inconsistency that has only widened the negotiating gap. This prevents progress at the bargaining table and prolongs the strike, which negatively impacts students,” says the U of L.
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Is co-management a Neo-liberal word for the principle of collegial governance, which ensures the primacy of freely teaching and conducting research in a university?