Daily Bulletin

Tuesday, February 27, 1996

Students and the strike

"Hopefully the disruption will not be a lengthy one," said a statement yesterday from co-op director Bruce Lumsden. "For many this will be a difficult time and it is important that common sense prevail as we work toward a satisfactory resolution of the differences."

These "guidelines" were issued by the co-op department yesterday, not just for the civil service strike but for any situation in which a co-op employer is faced with a strike:

• In any instance where a strike or labour disruption is anticipated, students should discuss the situation first with their employer then with their co-op Co-ordinator who is the contact for the employing firm. The student should also discuss with the employer what the expectations are with respect to crossing a picket line. In many cases alternate arrangements for work can be arranged between the employer and the student.
• The length and timing of the disruption will determine whether or not credit for the work term can be allowed. Generally speaking, students who have completed eight weeks of a work term experience will be given full credit for the term.
• If it is clear that the student's work term will be jeopardized by a prolonged strike and the student chooses to leave the job then the department of Co-operative Education & Career Services will make every effort to find the student another position. There is no guarantee, however of substitute employment.
• Payment of wages for students during a labour disruption is the decision of the employer if the employee elects not to report or is unable to report for work. For those students employed directly by the company or under contract arrangement with the University of Waterloo it will be up to the company to determine whether or not pay is provided during the strike period if no work is performed.
• It is important that there be constant communication between students and Co-ordinators during a labour disruption. The department will make every effort to monitor the situation both at the individual student level and in general with the industry or the employer.

Other co-op notes

The Students Advising Co-op group has called a meeting for 5:30 today (Needles Hall room 1030) to talk about possible changes to the organization of the co-op department. All interested students are welcome.

Reminder about the health plan

Beginning April 1, staff and faculty in the health and dental plans must submit all claims directly to Prudential (health claims) and ManuLife (dental claims). Also beginning in April, to make dental reimbursement more efficient, dental cheques will be sent directly to employees' homes. "If you have moved in the past year and have not notified Payroll or Human Resources," says Sandie Hurlburt in the HR department, " please send a memo to Payroll as soon as possible with your new address, so that dental cheques will not be lost in the mail."

If you have not yet received your Eclipse pay-direct card for prescription drugs, you can call Tricia Loveday at ext. 3134.

Making the sun shine in

Talking about newsgroups

The chair of the working group, Richard Wells of the kinesiology department, offers this summary of the report:

An ad-hoc working group of the University Computing Committee (UCC) released its draft report on newsgroup management this week. Difficulties in coping with the steadily increasing flow of news onto the campus prompted the UCC to strike a small working group to propose solutions. The draft report reviews the issues and proposes discontinuing some of the larger news groups which are of least value to the University community.

The group invites the input and suggestions of the University community on the proposed solution. It will hold at least one open public forum in February. If your group or society has input, members of the working group are willing to come to you. The group is especially interested in how to judge the value of a newsgroup to the University community. The group can be reached via its Chair, Richard Wells, at wells@healthy.uwaterloo.ca.

Happening today on campus

• John Gray of the Globe and Mail speaks at 2:30 (Humanities room 334) on "Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the Soviet Union".
• David Lorge Parnas of McMaster University speaks at 4:00 (Davis Centre room 1302) on "Software Engineering: An Unconsummated Marriage".
• Mary Malone of St. Jerome's College gives the first of this year's St. Bede Lectures at Renison College, tonight at 7:30. Her topic: "Roads, Rendezvous and Ritual -- A Pilgrim's Way". Malone was much in the news earlier this month after publicly stating that her disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church, especially over the status of women, are so strong that she can no longer describe herself as a Christian.

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca

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