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National Issue

An increasing number of teachers at Canada’s colleges and universities are trapped in precarious contract and part-time work. Contract and part-time work has quietly gone from a short-term stepping stone to a career-long condition. Many earn less than a living wage.

Thousands of professors are denied the opportunity each year to participate in (and be paid for) all aspects of academic work – research, teaching, and service. This has serious implications, not only for contract academic staff, but for students, their regular academic staff colleagues, and the integrity of postsecondary institutions.

We can change this, by improving the working conditions and job security of contract academic staff.

FEW Campaign

Fair Employment Week is held in October each year. CAUT members across Canada are hosting events on campus to support fair treatment of all academic staff. This year, Fair Employment Week takes place from Oct 16-20, 2023. You can check out what’s taking place on CAUT’s website.

Over the years, the FSA and our Caucus on Part-Time Studies (COPTS) as participated in the campaign in a variety of ways. Here are just some of the ways we’ve worked to acknowledge the issues facing precarious post-secondary workers and campaigned for better conditions. This enhances and builds upon the work done by our labour relations team to protect and advances the rights of members in Part-Time Studies (PTS).

Additional Reading

Everyone’s experience of precarious post-secondary work is different. We hope some of these materials will help us all learn about the many ways this kind of work affects us all. Let us know if you have more to add here!

There are many articles, blogs, and resources regarding this area. This is just a sample. Please let us know if you have anything else you think would be of interest.