Another setback

Woody Guthrie wrote a song that repeated, "Oh, you can't scare me, I'm stickin' with the union, I'm stickin' with the union...'til the day I die."  We sang it back in the 70s when we went through our various job actions with School District U-46 in Illinois but recently there is cause to sing it here because little Salone has done what the mighty Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education's professor's union, APSCUF, has never been able to muster.  The lecturers at Njala University (both the Bo and Mokonde campuses) voted last Friday to go on strike for just wages.  Strategically, it was planned and announced the day before final exams were to begin and though that has put a huge squeeze on the student body, it will also illicit what is hoped to be a speedier resolution than the three-week strike that occurred last April.  As of this writing there has been no news and we are patiently sitting here waiting; waiting for any tidbit: like whether both sides are at least at the table, or if there is a hopeful comment on any progress made, or if there is a tentative agreement of some kind in the wind.  Thus far, we've heard nothing.

In this, I am totally out of the loop.  Sure, I'm a lecturer but since I'm Peace Corps, I am not allowed to attend any of the meetings, rallies, or other union functions; in fact, Peace Corps wants us to remain totally out of the fray.  The truth is, I only heard about it last Friday when one of my students called to bemoan the fact that everything had been put on hold.  Nobody else, supervisor or fellow lecturer alike, bothered to inform me of this action.  

What I do know is that the Student Senate is planning on meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, February 13th, to discuss this latest snafu and, from what I have heard amongst numerous students, take a stand for or against the lecturers in an effort to jumpstart negotiations so finals can begin.

Of course, this sets us back (almost a week thus far) and that is not including the three weeks allotted for the exams themselves, then the two weeks for grading (and student break) before we can commence the spring term.  It would seem this semester is never going to end and I was thinking to myself last night that everything that could have gone wrong this fall term has.  We started almost five weeks late, we took a two week break for the elections with another week added for the students to actually return to campus, then two weeks later we had Christmas break for three weeks, and now this.  

More news when it happens...