The teachers at the Royal Conservatory of Music have been working without a contract for over two years. Management has been increasing fees for students, leading to the observation "The administration’s current focus on exciting and trendy new ventures has been at the expense of lost studio spaces, a lapsed collective agreement and faculty resignations. Furthermore, the skyrocketing fees have turned the school from one for the musically talented to the financially elite."
From their October newsletter (Vol. 1, Issue 2):
The Bargaining Unit Table Team met with management on Sept. 16 and 24. A few items were agreed to; however, substantial items remain for further discussion (membership, seniority, teaching and examining entitlement) while other critical ones (working condi- tions, benefits, compensation) have yet not been bargained.
Music lessons should be accessible to all! Fees should be low, and teachers should receive proper compensation for their contribution to the health and well-being of our citizens and future musicians. Again, from the newsletter:
For some years now we have striven to attract promising young professionals to the Glenn Gould School. Almost all of them will do some, even a great deal, of teaching in their careers. If this treatment is what they and future generations have to expect, there will be even less reason to enter the profession!
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