Commentary on York U strike by Globe and Mail

Globe and Mail:

The labour party

Howard Hampton, the outgoing Leader of Ontario’s New Democratic Party, has some nerve calling for compensation for York University students who have seen their school year savaged by a strike by 3,500 teaching assistants and contract faculty. It is the NDP that has denied the Ontario government unanimous consent for back-to-work legislation, prolonging a dispute that is in its 12th week and aggravating the hardship facing 50,000 students. Will the Ontario NDP contribute toward any compensation?

These students deserve compensation

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

After a day spent perusing the various websites, pro and con, devoted to the still-ongoing York University strike and the anonymous meanness it has everywhere spawned, finally, there comes a lovely bit of clarity.

Unsurprisingly, it comes from neither the university nor the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903, which represents the 3,340 striking contract faculty and teaching, graduate and research assistants. Neither side has distinguished itself during the now 83-day-long strike except by putting its own respective interests ahead of those of 50,000-plus students, and that unhappy conduct continues unabated.

Balancing the right to strike with the right to learn

MURRAY CAMPBELL

There is one question that hangs over the messy, long-running labour dispute at York University: Where is the adult supervision?

The 12-week strike by contract faculty and teaching assistants has unfolded like a pyjama party in the basement when the parents have gone out and the babysitter has fallen asleep. The kids really do intend to turn off the television and head to bed but they don’t get around to it.

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