For the purposes of full disclosure, I am both a once failed executive candidate and non-voting member of the Student Union Society board (as a representative from CIVL Radio). What that means is I have to both refrain from coming off too salty, picking sides in the upcoming election, or commenting on items that have come up directly at the board level. What I can do however, is considering that this week is the nomination period, offer out some ideas into the zeitgeist that might prove useful in decision making for anyone deciding to run and hopefully for the hundreds of you who will decide to vote.
Something to straighten out, for all of us really, is our expectations of what our union should be. First time I ever heard the word was in my parent’s living room, hearing the latest news from a Punjabi AM station about the ongoing strike at the factory my father worked at. Didn’t work out for them how they wanted, as a compromise they got an “association” and some of the jobs stayed locally, but not the full benefits they deserved. Sold out by “champcha men” as he called them, spoon-fed by management. So whenever I hear the word, I’m naturally inclined to see it as adversarial to corporate interests or whoever really controls the purse springs, that there is a fight to be had.
But a factory worker’s union has different contexts and history than that of a student’s, which has broader mandate considering its inevitable turnover in membership. We’ve taken on a lot of services, some extremely warranted like healthcare, but there are others (and it’s going to be up to the future membership to take a look at what they value) that are either adopted even though they are beyond our capacity or they take away from the responsibilities UFV has as an institution.
There’s a balance to be had though, with balancing services with advocacy for students. There is only so much time, energy, and money that can be spent — the more we focus on engagement, clubs, or other areas of overlap with UFV and Student Life the less we are putting towards meaningful advocacy at home and provincially. I mentioned some of these issues before: course variety and availability, standards in instruction, services and setbacks due to a multi-campus environment, rising fees, and lack of meaningful student consultation. These don’t have to necessarily be fights with UFV, they can be areas we work on together, but the student body certainly doesn’t see these discussions in transparent processes that we trust will go somewhere.
This is an election year, the provincial government controls not only education funding but also that for services related to many of our programs and future fields. I’m not saying we take a partisan stance by any means, but that the expectations of a union held by the membership might influence how it acts and behaves. We’ve had years of frustration and lower expectations; let’s set the standard higher but also clearer.
