To the Editor,
Even though I support collective bargaining, and have benefitted from it myself in the past, at this point in the Vancouver Island University dispute, it would appear that this method is not working for the three parties involved, the faculty, the administration, and especially not for all the students.
They have committed their time to work on their future, taken out loans, while they are now faced with the real possibility of losing all this investments in both time and money.
And this while the two parties continue to quarrel, like kids in a sandbox, that is, if they are actually talking to each other.
In order to settle this dispute before it is too late for the sudents to salvage their lost time, give the two quarreling sides five days to settle their differences before implementing binding arbitration.
It may not be the most delicate way to solve this problem, but preventing lasting damage to the students’ future may be good enough reason.
Erik Warners
Nanaimo