Frank Burke, Professor, Queen's Dept. of Film and Media, QUFA President (1996-98)

I am delighted to hear about the Queen's staff union drive. I have seen non-unionized people exploited at Queen's for over 20 years and was happy to be part of the unionization process of faculty here. That helped ease matters on one front. Unionization has done much to improve morale among the teaching and research staff and, most important, it has greatly reduced the ability of the Queen's administration to act arbitrarily and without regard for the value of its faculty.

The same will ensue for support staff if this drive is a success.

It is my understanding that the Queen's administration has placed obstacles in the path to unionization: preventing meetings and postering on campus, restricting email communication, etc. I hope that this kind of mean-spiritedness, which is in direct opposition to the spirit of university life, will backfire. Instead of serving to intimidate, it should provide further compelling evidence of the need to unionize.

You have my enthusiastic support as well as that of all those in QUFA who walked the walk and found it exhilarating little more than a decade ago. Your turn has come!

Frank Burke
Professor, Dept. of Film and Media, QUFA President (1996-98)