Toronto – Fluorescent light glints on the edge of the sharp knife as nimble hands move back and forth. Blood trickles into the gutter. The cutting board gutter, of course.

A George Brown Continuing Education Culinary Arts instructor, who prefers to remain un-named, is at home in her own small galley kitchen. She’s testing recipes she will later demonstrate to one of her evening classes.

“I’m incensed,” she says as she chops and slices. She’s referring to today and tomorrow’s unionization vote for part-time and sessional instructors at George Brown.

She spends about seven unpaid hours a week prepping for classes at home like she is right now. You would think her anger would be directed at management, but you’d be wrong.

“Oh yeah,” she says, “I’m against unionization … I have the support of my management.”

Speaking to this instructor, you wonder why the issue is even being put to a vote at all. “We’re a happy bunch. I have tremendous job satisfaction. The issues [facing Con-Ed instructors] are so minimal.” But she didn’t seem eager to discuss the issues themselves.

Jade Thomson answers the phone with a cheerful “Hello.” Her cockney accent comes through loud and clear. She’s a landed immigrant and has been studying quantity surveying part-time at George Brown for 10 months. She’s the kind of woman who pays close attention to the world around her.

Did Jade know there was a unionization vote this week? “No I did not.”

That’s not all that surprising, though Jade was certainly surprised. In the week of the vote, the ‘News’ section of George Brown’s website proudly displays that the college is among Canada’s top 100 employers, but information about the upcoming labour vote is nowhere to be found, at least nowhere within a reasonable amount of digging.

When asked if she would support the unionization of her instructors, Jade said, “Yes. Everybody should have fair rights. But they shouldn’t be allowed to strike for as long as York did. Teachers are an essential service.”

If there was a lengthy strike, Jade might consider switching to another school. “I have a schedule for finishing my program.” To teachers’ unions who strike for too long, she has this to say: “You can’t throw your pacifier out of your pram and expect people to keep picking it up for you.”

If the anonymous culinary arts instructor is to be believed, Jade has little to worry about from George Brown staff. “The only real frustrations we have are from the daytime staff not doing their job, keeping [the classrooms] clean. We’re also seen as the scapegoats for everything. Something goes wrong, it’s Con-Ed’s fault. We’re seen as second class.”

Would forming a union solve that? “Not at all. The daytime staff are unionized; they’re miserable as shit.”