University Strikes

Currently (November, 2021) there is a strike going on at the University of Manitoba. This means that many professors are not at their jobs right now and that may mean you, as a student, will not have classes. 

What is a strike though? Why do they matter? And how does this affect you as a student?

Strikes

A strike is a form of protest by workers. To demand better treatment, wages, or benefits workers will not work until they get their demands met. 

In university strikes this means that professors and university administrators stop working and having classes. They usually go out on the streets with signs to protest. This puts pressure on the University University to listen to the professors demands and to come to some sort of deal with them (give them higher wages, better treatment, or more benefits).

Not all professors will go on strike when one happens. The professors can decide for themselves whether they go on strike.

How does this affect you as a student?

The most obvious way this will affect you as a student is that many of your classes will be paused for a while. 

When your classes are paused that means all your lectures, assignments, etc. will be stopped too. If you had a due date for an assignment or test, then this will no longer matter when your classes pause (the due dates will be rescheduled after the strike stops).

After the strike ends, the classes that are temporarily paused will be resumed and will likely go through the break after the semester ends (so you likely won't have a break between this and the next semester). If it goes on for longer other arrangements will be made.

The University will likely not give back refunds but they will make sure you are able to finish your classes and get the credits you need.

What can you do as a student during the strike

Strikes can be stressful to students so the best thing to do is to make sure you're still keeping up with the readings and assignments. If you don't do them now, then you will have to do them all at the same time at the end of the semester. So better to do it now! 

If you want to support professors, you can go protest with them as well. The choice on that is yours.

Additional questions

You may have many more questions about the university strike. Strikes affect students in many different ways so if you have a specific question then click the link here to find your question and have it answered.