Category Archives: Organizing

At social media command centre, U of S student in eye of storm of #IdleNoMore

Erica Lee, photo by Richard Marjan

Jeremy Warren, StarPhoenix, 16 January 2013: Erica Lee is at the centre of Idle No More and has witnessed the best and worst of the made-in-Saskatchewan national movement.

Lee, a 22-year-old University of Saskatchewan student, manages the movement’s main Facebook page, which serves as Idle No More’s unofficial headquarters. It’s the hub where people from around the world go to find help organizing rallies, share stories and support the cause.

The Idle No More page is also where people go to vent and berate. Lee spends much of her day checking it to remove racist and violent comments.

“A teenage boy sent me a message calling me a ‘squaw,’ ” Lee said while scrolling through comments at a computer in the U of S Aboriginal Students’ Centre this week. “I’ve deleted messages that say, ‘Quit drinking Lysol.’ That’s a really common one.”

Lee, who also sits on the Indigenous Students’ Council, is never without a cell-phone and she regularly checks it between classes. The page reached 1.5 million people in the week leading up to Friday’s meeting between First Nations leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, according to Face-book measurements that account for views, “likes” and “shares.”

There are also posts that inspire, Lee says. She is particularly fond of a picture someone posted of a lone person standing on a building in Palestine holding an Idle No More poster.

Lee deletes much of the racist comments, but she doesn’t shy away from criticism. Many people have questions about the goals and activities of Idle No More and honest dialogue might lead to some good, Lee says.

“We don’t want to remove dissenting comments because we want a good discussion,” she said.

“If you delete a question, people will never learn. There’s still so much misunderstanding about First Nations in Canada.”

Read more: StarPhoenix

Sylvia McAdam @ U Regina on #IdleNoMore

Global News, 14 January 2013. At a presentation to University of Regina students on Monday, Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam wasn’t afraid to air her own criticism of how some in the mass media have portrayed her grassroots movement.

“I have an issue with media. There is this automatic idea that indigenous people and leaders are misusing funds. That is not true,” McAdam told students, referring to allegations of mismanaged funds on Chief Theresa Spence’s Northern Ontario Attawapiskat reserve.

McAdam was also quick to point out that while they may share common goals, Chief Spence is separate from the Idle No More movement.  Her message to future journalists, besides making sure to get the facts straight was that more dialogue is needed.

Idle No More wasn’t present at the meeting on Friday between Stephen Harper and First Nations Chiefs. McAdam says they weren’t invited, but had they been, they would have probably not attended anyway because the government had made it clear Bill C-45 would not be repealed.

When asked if the movement will soon likely run out of steam, she replied, “Resistance is creative. It’s very creative. I don’t think it will slow down because on January 28th we’re having a worldwide Idle No more call to action, so it’s still growing.”

U of R professor Leonzo Barreno invited McAdam to speak to his Indigenous People and the Press class. He says it’s important for the students to hear all sides and to be able to sort out a very complicated and sensitive issue, but hesitates to liken Idle No More to other recent popular movements…

Read More Global News: Global News | Idle No More co-founder speaks of movement’s effectiveness

See video of Sylvia McAdam, Idle No More co-Founder, at the University of Regina (sponsored by The event was jointly sponsored by the School of Journalism, University of Regina, and the Indian Communication Arts program at the First Nations University of Canada).

Pamela Palmater :: Why We Are Idle No More

Pamela Palmater is a Mi’kmaq lawyer and professor in Ryerson University’s Department of Politics and Public Administration, and Director of the Centre in Indigenous Governance. For Idle No More, she argues that the Canadian government can no longer sustain its status quo relationship with First Nations people. “It’s supposed to be nation to nation,” she said yesterday.  “What we’re going to do is show you how to be a respectful partner… If they refuse [Canadian government], that’s their choice, but there will be consequences.” Her lead article in the Ottawa Citizen articulates some of the key reasons why indigenous people and allies in solidarity will be Idle No More:

Ottawa Citizen 28 December 2012. The Idle No More movement, which has swept the country over the holidays, took most Canadians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government, by surprise.

That is not to say that Canadians have never seen a native protest before, as most of us recall Oka, Burnt Church and Ipperwash. But most Canadians are not used to the kind of sustained, co-ordinated, national effort that we have seen in the last few weeks — at least not since 1969. 1969 was the last time the federal government put forward an assimilation plan for First Nations. It was defeated then by fierce native opposition, and it looks like Harper’s aggressive legislative assimilation plan will be met with even fiercer resistance.

In order to understand what this movement is about, it is necessary to understand how our history is connected to the present-day situation of First Nations. While a great many injustices were inflicted upon the indigenous peoples in the name of colonization, indigenous peoples were never “conquered.” The creation of Canada was only possible through the negotiation of treaties between the Crown and indigenous nations. While the wording of the treaties varies from the peace and friendship treaties in the east to the numbered treaties in the west, most are based on the core treaty promise that we would all live together peacefully and share the wealth of this land. The problem is that only one treaty partner has seen any prosperity.

The failure of Canada to share the lands and resources as promised in the treaties has placed First Nations at the bottom of all socio-economic indicators — health, lifespan, education levels and employment opportunities. While indigenous lands and resources are used to subsidize the wealth and prosperity of Canada as a state and the high-quality programs and services enjoyed by Canadians, First Nations have been subjected to purposeful, chronic underfunding of all their basic human services like water, sanitation, housing, and education. This has led to the many First Nations being subjected to multiple, overlapping crises like the housing crisis in Attawapiskat, the water crisis in Kashechewan and the suicide crisis in Pikangikum.

Part of the problem is that federal “Indian” policy still has, as its main objective, to get rid of the “Indian problem.” Instead of working toward the stated mandate of Indian Affairs “to improve the social well-being and economic prosperity of First Nations,” Harper is trying, through an aggressive legislative agenda, to do what the White Paper failed to do — get rid of the Indian problem once and for all. The Conservatives don’t even deny it — in fact Harper’s speech last January at the Crown-First Nation Gathering focused on the unlocking of First Nations lands and the integration of First Nations into Canadian society for the “maximized benefit” of all Canadians. This suite of approximately 14 pieces of legislation was drafted, introduced and debated without First Nation consent.

Idle No More is a co-ordinated, strategic movement, not led by any elected politician, national chief or paid executive director. It is a movement originally led by indigenous women and has been joined by grassroots First Nations leaders, Canadians, and now the world. It originally started as a way to oppose Bill C-45, the omnibus legislation impacting water rights and land rights under the Indian Act; it grew to include all the legislation and the corresponding funding cuts to First Nations political organizations meant to silence our advocacy voice.

Our activities include a slow escalation from letters to MPs and ministers, to teach-ins, marches and flash mobs, to rallies, protests and blockades. The concept was to give Canada every opportunity to come to the table in a meaningful way and address these long-outstanding issues, and escalation would only occur if Canada continued to ignore our voices. Sadly, Prime Minister Harper has decided to ignore the call for dialogue just as he has ignored the hunger-striking Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.

Although Idle No More began before Chief Spence’s hunger strike, and will continue after, her strike is symbolic of what is happening to First Nations in Canada. For every day that Spence does not eat, she is slowly dying, and that is exactly what is happening to First Nations, who have lifespans up to 20 years shorter than average Canadians.

Idle No More has a similar demand in that there is a need for Canada to negotiate the sharing of our lands and resources, but the government must display good faith first by withdrawing the legislation and restoring the funding to our communities. Something must be done to address the immediate crisis faced by the grassroots in this movement.

I am optimistic about the power of our peoples and know that in the end, we will be successful in getting this treaty relationship back on track. However, I am less confident about the Conservative government’s willingness to sit down and work this out peacefully any time soon. Thus, I fully expect that this movement will continue to expand and increase in intensity. Canada has not yet seen everything this movement has to offer. It will continue to grow as we educate Canadians about the facts of our lived reality and the many ways in which we can all live here peacefully and share the wealth.

After all, First Nations, with our constitutionally protected aboriginal and treaty rights, are Canadians’ last best hope to protect the lands, waters, plants and animals from complete destruction — which doesn’t just benefit our children, but the children of all Canadians.

Pamela Palmater is chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University and an indigenous activist with Idle No More.

Read more: Ottawa Citizen

Idle No More @ Universities

University administrators in Canada are bracing as Idle No More energizes students, staff, and faculty members dissatisfied with business as usual. Protests have been fluid, with flashmobs and scaled demonstrations moving from streets to campuses and back. Massive demonstrations across the country were held today in solidarity with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, now one month into a hunger strike, and other First Nations chiefs.

Carleton and Ottawa universities for the past week have seen a series of round dance flashmobs, and activism from the People’s Council of representatives of the movement, Indigenous students and communities, and the wider student movement. On 8 January, the Indigenous and Canadian Studies Students’ Association (ICSSA) of the University of Ottawa raised the following five demands for decolonization of the campus:

  1. That Omaniwininimowin (the Algonquin language) and Kanien’keha (the Mohawk language) be taught every semester, and that this leads to the creation of a minor in both these languages.
  2. A substantial increase in scholarships for Indigenous students by the administration of the University of Ottawa, in recognition of the treaty rights of Indigenous nations to higher education.
  3. An Indigenous portal on the University of Ottawa website, including a statement recognizing that our campus is built on non-ceded Algonquin nation territory.
  4. A commitment to the recognition of the Algonquin nation in the physical landscape of our campus, for example through the naming of buildings.
  5. The immediate and substantial increase in the allocation of resources to the Aboriginal Studies program in the Faculty of Arts, leading to the creation of an Institute of Indigenous Studies and Decolonization.

The Idle No More student movement is holding steadfast: “Higher education is a treaty right guaranteed to Indigenous nations that has been consistently violated by Canada. It is time for students and Indigenous nations to stand together and be IDLE NO MORE.”  The emphasis is on a “commitment to the struggle for justice in both higher education and the wider Indigenous and settler societies.”

Read more: Idle No More Community and Idle No More website

Pro-Labour NDP Open to Real Bargaining with Unions in BC

Feeling pressures of government intervention and the net zero worker mandate of the Liberal Government’s Public Sector Employer’s Council (PSEC), CUPE 2278 Teaching Assistants curtailed job action and the University of British Columbia ratified an Agreement yesterday.  The 0%, 0%, 2%, 2% wage increases for the 2010-2014 contract is in line with the average annual increases of just 0.3% for public employees in the province, the lowest in Canada.

With an upcoming election in the spring of 2013, at this point unions are better off deferring settlements and betting that the 99% have had it with the BC Liberals and will elect an NDP government on 14 May 2013.  After years of the Liberals suppressing wages under PSEC’s net zero worker mandate, which made wage negotiations with employers a fiction, bargaining with the NDP will actually be bargaining.

NDP leader Adrian Dix has demonstrated the signs necessary to lead a pro-labour party to election victory and was quite candid about this in a recent interview with BCBusiness:

Public-sector unions have tolerated “net-zero” wage controls in recent years, but tolerance seems to be wearing thin. Would you be in favour of substantial “catch-up” wage hikes?
You negotiate at the bargaining table and what we’ve had over the last period was real inconsistency from the current government in the way they’ve treated public-sector unions. You’ve had, contrary to specific promises, the tearing up of contracts. Can you imagine engaging in that practice on the business side and that being good for the economy? The [current] government’s bills 27, 28 and 29, which were singularly important in health and education bargaining, were found to be illegal in the courts. That’s their approach. We had to pay for those actions. So I think you need to be balanced in these things.

These are difficult fiscal times and I expect negotiations to be difficult and challenging. Remember, the government at the bargaining table right now is offering wage increases. Should they be offering wage increases? I think the Liberals have answered yes. In order to get agreements in these next two years they’re offering wage increases right now as we speak. So they’re no longer at net zero. You only have one government at a time and they’re negotiating right now. My recommendation to all parties is that they negotiate at the bargaining table.

Read more: BCBusiness November 2012

“Disappointing” tentative agreement reached by UBC TAs

The CUPE 2278 bargaining team for Teaching Assistants at the University of British Columbia has recommended a tentative agreement for ratification tomorrow. Comments on the 2278 Facebook nearly unanimously describe the tentative agreement as “disappointing.”  One week into job action and rolling picket lines the Union bargaining team signed on to mediation with Vincent Ready. Now with a tentative agreement to accept 0%-0%-2%-2% for 2010-2014, it would appear that mediation failed the students, which is to say, UBC missed an opportunity to finally recognize and validate, in wage increases, the work of its TAs. Granted, the 2278 tentative agreement is perfectly in line with the agreements of other CUPE locals but there should have been an exception made for the TAs for any number of reasons.

Managerial salaries excepted, the University stands solid with the Government’s depiction of public employees as net zero workers. The BC Liberals’ promise to make net zero=0% at the end of this month made it easy for the University and put tremendous pressure on the 2278 bargaining team. The TAs will average this out at just 1% per year. At a national level over the past 3 years, BC employees have received the lowest average increases in the country, averaging just a bit over 0.3% per year.

Open letter from SFU faculty in support of striking workers

Open Letter on the SFU labour dispute:

We, the undersigned SFU faculty members, are in solidarity with the TSSU and CUPE in their struggle for better working conditions.

The workers represented by TSSU and CUPE deserve a better deal — they deserve better working conditions, they deserve a better wage, and they deserve more respect from their employer for the work they do.

And they deserve a real contract, having been without one for two years now.The campus unions’ struggle, however, goes beyond their immediate bargaining demands. The primary mission of this public university — to teach its students well — is not accomplished only in the classroom. It is also accomplished by the example the university sets.

The university should be an engaging and engaged intellectual environment, and a good and fair and decent place to work. But working conditions at SFU have been worsening for years. Wages have been frozen while workloads have risen.

The educational system is under increasing stress, from reduced faculty numbers to larger classes, from rapidly rising fees to streamlined academic programs.

Students are paying more for reduced programs, and graduate student workers are being paid less for doing more work. Everyone is told to “do more with less.” But that is another word for austerity at SFU and in the university sector in BC at large.

The university administration is passing on the burden of austerity to its workers. While administrators raise their salaries at a rate faster than faculty and staff salaries, while resources are diverted to areas of the university that are not of direct benefit to its education mission, SFU’s most vulnerable employees — TAs, sessionals, contingent faculty and staff — are being hit the hardest.

The TSSU and CUPE struggle is a struggle against this austerity. It is more than a demand for better wages for the unions’ members; its aim is more than better working conditions.

Its aim is for a better university, a university worthy of being called a place of higher education. It is a demand for a university that is truly engaged in the world and that is a truly engaging place to work and teach and learn.

In other words, TSSU and CUPE’s struggle is a struggle that concerns every member of the SFU community and we should all, wholeheartedly, support and engage in this struggle.

Signed,

UBC TAs: “I strike for 2 hours and I TA for 2 hours”

CUPE 2278 President Trish Everett advises pickets at the Physics Building

CUPE 2278 Teaching Assistants at the University of British Columbia are continuing with rolling pickets across campus and the picket lines continue to grow. Pickets at the IK Barber Centre / Library on Friday and the Physics Building on Monday drew large numbers of 2278 members, supporters, and students refusing to cross the picket lines.  The Union’s Bargaining Team heads into mediation with Vince Ready today. “In the mean time,” the Union advises, “job action on campus will continue.”

One graduate student summed up the situation: “I strike for 2 hours and I TA for 2 hours.” She is joined by hundreds who have now moved on to the picket lines. Another decried: “I love being a student but my bank account does not.” CUPE 2278’s information leaflets indicate the basic issues for bargaining and striking: A fair wage increase; Tuition waiver to protect increases from immediate claw back; TA job security for the graduate students; and child-care assistance. Child-care fees on campus have risen by 20% while TA wage have remained stagnant or lost ground to inflation over the past seven years. Geography TA Alejandro Cervantes explained these challenges: “The yearly fee for daycare is more than I get as a TA.”

See Videos and Slides:

CUPE 2278 Graduate Teaching Assistants Picket Line (Physics Building) at the University of British Columbia, 5 November 2012 (SlideShow) Election mix… oh well!

 

UBC: From “Place of Mind” to “Mind Your Place”

For the current CUPE 2278 strike, the Teaching Assistants have adopted UBC “Mind Your Place” as an operative theme, playing on UBC’s Strategic Plan logo “Place of Mind.” Like another domino of logos and brands, this one has now fallen. UBC “Mind Your Place” is CUPE 2278’s not so subtle reminder of the TAs’ struggles for the fair working conditions that might allow them to be a part of what Hannah Arendt called in 1973 “the life of the mind.” It’s too easy for University managers to enjoy their perks and salary increases and raise flags to the great “Place of Mind” while passing the “Mind y/our Place” buck to scapegoats such as PSEC. The money is there and will be there, in house at the University, to settle with the students on 5% per year over at least four years.

Many of us recall the previous administration’s campaign brand and logo, “Think about It,” as it fell into some disrepute and was eventually abandoned around 2003-2004 and CUPE 2278’s last strike. The brand had toppled, as graduate student Kedrick James put it at the time, from “Think about It” to “Build on It.” Priorities and power shifted to UBC Properties Trust. Nowadays,the four top Executives of UBC Properties Trust enjoy a cumulative $1.3m in salaries, including perks for cars

SFU shut down second day behind CUPE 3338 Picket Line

Simon Fraser University is shut down for the second day in a row. “Our picket lines are working,” reports CUPE 3338 Members Services Coordinator Jan Gunn. “We met with university administration this morning and they are feeling the pressure.”  The 1,000-member union has been escalating job action in an effort to get the university administration back to the bargaining table. The workers have been without a contract for more than two years.

CUPE Local 3338 support workers have planned “an all-out, all-campus withdrawal of services” for next Wednesday. Picket lines will go up at the Burnaby Mtn, Surrey and downtown Vancouver campuses. The escalation and pending all-out strike has generated solidarity across unions, including the Teaching Support Staff Union (TAs), tutor markers, sessional instructors (SIs) and language instructors), and the SFU Faculty Association, which are both facing their own struggles to reach a fair Agreement.

CUPE 4627 Support Staff at VCC Voice Concerns with BC Government

CUPE 4627, support staff at Vancouver Community College, reported bargaining delays traced to the BC government Public Sector Employers’ Council (PSEC). Despite increases in salaries of managers, PSEC insists on holding the balance of public employees in the province to a net zero worker mandate. CUPE 4627 report

In an unusual move, the employer helped out by closing the facilities and putting up notices that there would be no classes. The faculty association is also on side. Visit the CUPE gallery for photos of CUPE 4627 members on the picket line.

CUPE 4627 head steward Jo Hansen says the problem isnt the employer, but the BC Liberal provincial government. She says negotiations were completed months ago and are only being held up now by government advisor Lee Doney and the Public Sector Employers Council. The local has been without a contract since 2010.

CUPE 2278 Quiet Picket has Loud Effect at UBC

CUPE 2278 Picket Captain and Grievances Committee Chair Molly Campbell and President Trish Everett leading members and supporters

With warnings from the University to tone it down on the picket lines so as not to disrupt neighboring buildings and businesses, CUPE 2278 Graduate Teaching Assistants began the day’s job action quietly. The quiet picket had a loud effect and by 3:00 2278 members we weren’t exactly tip-toeing to orders. At that point, at least one hundred undergraduate students had crowded in support by choosing to not cross the picket line. The chant continues to be ‘They say raise tuition, We say no submission,’ which obviously draws solidarity of the undergraduates.

CUPE 2278 represents 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are hired as teaching assistants or markers at UBC; or sessional instructors who primarily work in the English Language Institute. The Union has been in bargaining for over two years and were redirected into mediation from April to October 2012. Although UBC management enjoys average 5% annual increases (the UBC President enjoys an annual $50,000+ housing perk), its last offer to the TAs was 0%, 0%, 1.5% and 1.5% for 2010-2014. That’s ridiculously unfair.

See Videos and Slides:

CUPE 3338 Support Staff Shut Down SFU

Behind CUPE 3338 picket lines, Simon Fraser University is completely shut down today. Save for the Union members and supporters picketing, the main campus on Burnaby Mountain is desolate. CUPE 3338 members have been without a contract since 2010 (SFU clerical staff, library assistants, technicians, lifeguards, financial aid advisors, building technologists, programmer analysts, buyers, stores clerks, information specialists, control clerks, and programmers). CUPE 3338 President Lynne Fowler says the escalation in job action follows a meeting with SFU president Andrew Petter and senior university executives on Monday. “We received no indication from the administration that they are willing to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a settlement,” says Fowler. “That leaves us no alternative but to ramp up job action to pressure them to bargain in good faith until we have a deal.” Escalating to other campuses, the Union advises: There will be a full withdrawal of services at Surrey campus Friday, Nov 2, 2012 between 8:30 am and 4:30pm. There will be a full withdrawal of services at Harbour Centre and Woodwards building of the Vancouver campus on Saturday and Sunday, November 3 and 4th.

Concordia University president’s salary raises eyebrows

Photo by Phil Carpenter, Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL (11 October 2012) — Many on the Concordia University campus are singing the praises of new president Alan Shepard — but news of his generous compensation package on Thursday still sparked some controversy.

With a base salary of $357,000 a year plus plenty of perks* — including eligibility for a performance bonus of up 20 per cent of the annual salary, a housing allowance of $4,200 a month, a monthly car allowance of $1,200 and French classes for him and his family — Shepard’s compensation once again underscores the issue that universities crying for money nevertheless seem to find the resources for highly paid administrators.

“Administrators are paid quite a bit in institutions that are struggling for money,” said Erik Chevrier, a graduate student representative on Concordia’s board of governors.

“This is a problem throughout Canada,” said Lex Gill, another board of governors representative.

Universities say they need to pay market value for good administrators.

McGill University principal Heather Munroe-Blum earned $369,250 in 2011 plus an extra $120,481 in compensation.

But university fiscal mismanagement has been a growing concern; last March, former education minister Line Beauchamp fined Concordia $2 million for unwieldy fiscal management.

Read more:
Montreal Gazette 

*Comparatively, UBC President Toope’s salary was for 2010-11 depending on which UBC report is used, $528,504 (UBC’s Financial Information Act Report for Year Ended March 31, 2011) or $378,000 +   $50,000 Incentive Plan + $58,408 Housing perks + others = $580,978 (UBC’s Public Sector Executive Compensation Report, 2011/12). For access to information across Canada, see How Much Does Your University President Make?

CUPE 2278 TAs Escalate Strike at UBC

CUPE 2278 President Trish Everett leading the Union to a fair settlement

CUPE 2278, Teaching Assistants at the University of British Columbia (UBC), escalated their strike with picket lines at the Geography and Math buildings. The strategy at this point is rolling picket lines, increasing momentum across the campus. The energy was evident as the numbers of the TAs on picket lines continue grow and get increasingly visible and vocal. Geography TAs Catriona Gold and Sam Robinson were upbeat about giving the University a wake up call. Gold noted that “we’ve had some really good responses from students” while Robertson stated that “a lot of this is just about getting your voice out there at this point.”

 See Videos and Slides:

CUPE 2278 UBC TAs: “We’re Here to Put the Pressure On the Employer”

Teaching Assistants (CUPE 2278) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) picketed the main building (Buchanan Tower) of the Faculty of Arts this afternoon, effectively disrupting and shutting down business as usual. In solidarity, the graduate students were joined on both sides of the tower by CUPE 116, CUPE 2950, and faculty members of the FAUBC.

CUPE 2278 President Trish Everett explained that the current proposal from UBC “just isn’t going to cut it,” and asserted that the graduate students were on the picket line “to put the pressure on the employer.” The Union approved two strike votes in the last six months, indicating a sustained will to escalate for a fair settlement.

For videos, see:

 

CUPE 4627 Picket Line at Vancouver Community College

Support staff at Vancouver Community College (VCC) set up picket lines before dawn this morning. CUPE 4627 represents library technicians, clerical workers, administrative, technical, warehouse, program assistants and cafeteria workers at VCC. The Union explains:

  • The key feature of the Cooperative Gains Mandate is that it provides public sector employers with the ability to negotiate modest wage increases using savings found within existing budgets.

We believed the college had done their submission to the government and all this would just be a formality.

After speaking with our friends at CUPE National, we discovered that the real date for the Ministry to withdraw the mandate is rumoured to not be the end of November but very early in November. We don’t believe the College has mislead us, but we believe we have been mislead. There isn’t a lot of time to stop the inequity that is being delivered. We will most likely not be the only support staff union at a College who is prepared to fight this. There are a few others and they are just a week or two behind us in regards to bargaining. We have a short window to get their attention and have them right this wrong.

Menzies: The longer the picket, the shorter the strike

Photo by Kai Jacobson

Right now, teaching assistants at UBC are gearing up for a strike. They have been patient in their negotiations to a fault. But now they’ve served strike notice and the picket signs are being made ready. Expect picket lines outside your classroom soon.

Teaching assistants are a key part of a great education. In a gigantic lecture hall, it’s more likely the TA, not the prof, that a student gets to meet on a regular basis. The TAs lead discussion groups, hold office hours and meet with students. I know: I’ve been a TA and I teach a course with four TAs. The TAs who have worked with me over the years have all been dedicated, hardworking teachers and scholars. They do this without very much pay and oftentimes do more then they are expected to.

The TA union is concerned that their action will have an impact on students, staff and faculty. I am sure it will. But every important social justice win has required some small amount of sacrifice. The TAs struggle is really a struggle over the type of education system we have and want. Do we want a system that only those with the money to pay can attend? Or do we want an education system that is available to those who have the capacity and desire to learn?

Most graduate students are only able to afford their graduate studies because they get a chance to have a teaching assistantship. It doesn’t pay much, but it makes the difference and opens the doors to a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to take a post-graduate degree. My own graduate study was funded in large part by being able to work as a teaching assistant and a research assistant during my two post-graduate degrees. Without that kind of funding, I wouldn’t have been able to continue my studies. That’s the case with many of the teaching assistants here at UBC as well. When it comes down to it, TAs aren’t really asking for much — just the chance to have a fair contract that values the hard work that they do.

We can quietly sit by and hope that nothing happens, or we can actively support the teaching assistants in their struggle for a just settlement. Of course, UBC admins will remind us that we have a responsibility to do our normal jobs even if there is a strike. The tone of these reminders may even, at times, come across as vaguely threatening. Don’t be cowed. There is strength in numbers.

I, like many other faculty, will be honouring the TAs picket lines and making sure that no student, no colleague, no TA will be discriminated against because they have the courage to stand up for social justice. Remember — the longer the picket line, the shorter the strike.

Charles Menzies is an associate professor in the department of anthropology.

Ubyssey, 29 October 2012

CUPE 4627 Mobilizes for Strike at Vancouver Community Collage

Support staff in CUPE 4627 at the Vancouver Community College (VCC) are mobilized for a full strike beginning Tuesday morning.  CUPE 4627 chief steward Jo Hansen says the 420 members are tired of waiting for the government’s Public Sector Employers’ Council (PSEC) to approve the college negotiating in good faith for a settlement. Their last contract expired more than two years ago in 2010. The union notes that “the goal of our picket line is to help gain the attention of the provincial Government to convince the Public Sector Employers’ Council (PSEC) to allow us to achieve the settlement that they have already given to so many others in the post secondary education sector.”

FAUBC Encourages Members to Support TA Strike

Message from Nancy Langton, President, Faculty Association of UBC

The Faculty Association Executive strongly supports CUPE 2278 and the job action that it will begin this week… show your support for them in whatever ways you can doing their job action. Fair wages and fair tuition increases are the hallmark of great universities.