Tag Archives: Students

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

EU melting down in capitalist crisis

With a day of general strikes, Italy, Portugal, and Spain joined Greece in anti-austerity protests and blockades. For the last moth, the theme in Greece has been “enough is enough” as the worst capitalist crisis in Europe since the Great Depression fuels uncertainties and moves students and workers toward unity. In May, students launched mass protests across Spain while faculty members followed with their own strikes. The financial crisis is the tip of the iceberg. For example Spain, with an unemployment rate 25.8% and a youth jobless rate of 54.2%, faces the deepest budget cuts on record with cuts to spending on health, education and benefits, and increases in sales taxes and levies on income.

“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.

UBC President’s Salary raises questions

Ok. There have been questions raised concerning a post on administrative salaries and increases over the past 6-7 years at the University of British Columbia. The UBC President’s Office had the Faculty Association retracting a component of a CUPE 2278 letter forwarded to faculty members, which ended in a public apology by FAUBC President Nancy Langton for not fact-checking the Union’s summary of UBC President Toope’s salary increases. So here are some facts…

One question concerns a net increase in administrators or managers in the University and average 5% annual increases in their salaries while the BC Liberal government has designated most public employees as net zero workers. 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. Are administrators’ salaries at UBC increasing, or how can they be, at an average of 5% per year? And why are these same administrators intent on suppressing already excessively low wages, against inflation, raising tuition and costs, etc., of Teaching Assistants?

As GTA wages at UBC have been stagnant (i.e., 0%), administrative salaries have skyrocketed. 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 comparative information across Canada, see How Much Does Your University President Make?). Using UBC’s Financial Information Act Report, from 2005, the year UBC began to basically roll over CUPE 2278 contracts, to 2011, the last year of accessible data, the President’s salary rose from $434,567 to $528,504 (22% increase). The Provost’s salary increased from $230,887 to $321,023, a whopping 39% increase! These two are comparison’s between 2005 and 2011 in the differential of salaries for the positions (e.g., President Piper’s outgoing salary and President Toope’s ongoing salary, which is a fair comparison and similar to the way initial appointment salaries are handled). The new Concordia University President’s salary ($357,000) raised eyebrows recently in Quebec on the heels of the largest and most sustained student strike in Canadian history.

Comparatively, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s salary was for 2011, $317,574 (inc. car perk) + benefits + house perk 24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa). US President Barack Obama’s salary was for 2011, $400,000 + $50,000 expense account + $100,000 travel account + $19,000 entertainment account = $569,000). Of course, these salaries pale next to private sector University President and corporate Chief salaries. The four top Executives of UBC Properties Trust enjoy a combined $1.3m in salaries, including perks for cars.

The salary of VP Human Resources, who manages bargaining for the University, jumped between 2005 and 2011 from $191,793 to $230,704 (20% increase). The Director of Faculty Relations’ salary rocketed from $119,615 to $198,209 (41% increase). And so on. Deans have made certain that there is similar progress with their salaries. For example, the Business Dean’s salary bounced from $334,196 to $422,304 (26% increase) while the Education Dean’s salary leaped from $216,519 to $261,732 (21% increase). Through 2010, the Arts Dean’s salary quickly grew from $191,408 to $249,816 (30% in 6 years). It is no mystery why the ranks of managers at UBC have swelled in numbers over the past few years. The transition of Associate Deans and others to management via the 2010-12 Collective Agreement merely instrumented trends and ambitions.

Another question raised is why are these same administrators intent on exploiting Sessional faculty members at UBC and suppressing their already pitifully low wages? For example, the Masters of Education Technology revenue generating program at UBC, which has basically bailed the Faculty of Education out of a dire financial crisis (e.g., 130% or  $1,893,015 over budget for its 270 Sessional faculty appointments in 2008-09), uses Sessionals to teach about 85% of its courses and pays them a piecemeal $242.28 per student wage. Denied office space, the Sessionals often work below the minimum wage ($10.25 / hour) after gross hours in and net wages out are calculated.

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

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:

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:

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

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.

CUPE 2278 TAs at UBC Appeal for Faculty Solidarity

A Message from CUPE 2278:

Like our sister locals—and no doubt the Faculty Association—we are frustrated and disappointed that the university claims that it is unable to afford a reasonable wage increase for its employees.  Despite Vancouver’s ever-increasing cost of living and yearly tuition rises, we had accepted no increase in wages or benefits over the past two years because of the provincial ‘net zero’ mandate.  So it was especially galling for us to discover that senior administrators had substantial increases in remuneration during the same period of time.  We understand that this remuneration came in the form of bonuses and merit clauses (including an increase in excess of 9% for our university president), but why has Human Resources flatly denied us even the possibility of seeking similar forms of protection against future government mandates?

Contrary to what you might have heard, our expectations regarding wage increases are quite realistic. In January of this year, we asked for the equivalent wages and job protection as the TAs at the University of Toronto.  UBC administrators are in the habit of comparing UBC to UofT, and we agree that the comparison is apt.  Although we do take as much pride in our work as UofT TAs (and believe we perform comparably), we also saw this as an opening gambit in a process of negotiation and bargaining.  To be frank, there has been little bargaining.  Despite forcing us into Labour Board mediation in April, UBC HR refused to even table an offer to the mediator until August 24. And the offer was 0%-0%-1%-1% (2010-14) and ‘no’ to all other costed items including greater job security for our members.  After we made significant concessions in our package – concessions the employer acknowledged – they upped their offer to 0%-0%-1.5%-1.5% and the possibility of 5th year preference for PhDs (but they would not discuss the language on this until we had agreed on wages).  That was when we realized mediation was going nowhere.  We do not have the option of going into arbitration, so we are left with the only tool we really have that might make Human Resources treat us with a modicum of respect – job action.  We do not take this step lightly.

The other CUPE locals settled for 0-0-2-2% raises, but we cannot accept 0-0-1.5-1.5 and nothing more.  Because paying tuition is a condition of employment for teaching assistants, any wage increase is immediately clawed back, given the university’s habit of raising tuition by 2% each year (and 3% for international students this year).  A 2% increase for other collective agreements effectively amounts to a zero for many of your TAs, and in fact, becomes a net loss in disposable income because we live in a city with skyrocketing housing costs, high child care fees, and high inflation in general. Our membership has decided that if the employer expects us to accept any wage increase on par with other bargaining units, it will need to guarantee it with some measure of tuition protection. Nothing less will be acceptable. We hope you support us in this, as we support your struggle to get a fair agreement too.

CUPE 2278 FAQ for undergraduates about Job Action

FAQ for Undergraduate Students at UBC
on Teaching Assistant Job Action

  • What is a union and why is it important? 
    • A union is an organized group of workers who come together to make decisions about the conditions of their work. Through union membership, workers can impact wages, work hours, benefits, workplace health and safety, and other work-related issues. Historically, because of the work of unions, we now have awesome things we kind of take for granted like weekends, the 40-hour work week, compensation if you’re injured on the job, unemployment insurance, job safety standards, minimum wages and so on. By coming together unions give a group of people a stronger voice in trying to advocate for themselves with their employer and to achieve collective benefits. Think of the student union for instance who advocate on your behalf to keep tuition and fees lower, provide space for student groups on campus, advocate for students’ rights on campus etc.
  • What are the big issues for the TAs at UBC?
    • TAs have asked the university for the following key items
    1. An increase in wages (which have not changed since 2010, and were first agreed to back in 2005)
    2. Job security in the form of extended hiring preference (because the average time it takes to complete a masters or doctorate degree is way longer than the two or four year contract currently in existence.
    3. A tuition waiver of some kind (because we must be students to work as TAs so a tuition increase means a de facto pay cut)
    4. A Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for wages so that the province cannot freeze TA wages arbitrarily as they have done with their “Net Zero Mandate” that covers 2010-2012. (Management at UBC got an average of 3% increases each year in remuneration during this time because of their contract language, while TAs got nothing.)
    5. Assistance with childcare costs, which have gone up dramatically in the last few years at UBC and pose a substantial burden on young families that is often the economic equivalent of an additional rent payment each month.
  • What is a strike?
    • A strike is “any cessation or refusal to work by employees, in combination or accordance with a common understanding, where the goal is to restrict or limit service to the employer.”  (Labour Relations Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 244, s. 1)
    • This can encompass everything from a refusal to work overtime, to rotating strikes (where only part of the union is on strike at any one time), to creative ways of drawing attention to our labour power. This can also mean a full-blown stoppage of work. Each Job Action/Strike is different and depends largely on the specifics of the union engaging in such activity.
  • What does a strike entail?
    • Remember, it is the university’s responsibility to ensure that you have a stable teaching workforce who are adequately compensated for their experience and training. You might consider adding your own pressure by contacting the university and demanding they offer a fair deal so a settlement can be achieved and life can get back to normal.
    • Depending on what job action the union members are doing on a given day you may experience nothing unusual, you may come across a picket line, you may get fliers and hand outs, you may see parades and marches, who knows… each strike is different and each union does it differently.
    • For most grad students, being a TA is the best part of the experience! As such, we hope to minimize disruption to the learning environment as much as possible while still getting the attention and the respect of the university. If there is no cooperation on the part of the university, pressure will likely increase over time as the job action escalates and you may feel a bigger effect.
  • What is a picket line?
    • Picketing is a form of protest in which people (called picketers) congregate outside a place of work or location where an event is taking place. Often, this is done in an attempt to dissuade others from going in (“crossing the picket line”), but it can also be done to draw public attention to a cause.
    • It can have a number of aims, but is generally to put pressure on the party targeted to meet particular demands and/or cease operations. This pressure is achieved by harming the business through loss of customers and negative publicity, or by discouraging or preventing workers and/or customers from entering the site and thereby preventing the business from operating normally. Picketing is a common tactic used by trade unions during strikes, which will try to persuade members of other unions and non-unionized workers from working. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picketing_(protest))
  • What does it mean to cross a picket line?
    • Crossing a picket line means you ignore the union’s demonstration and go into the building or place they are picketing. off. You are legally allowed to cross a picket line and no one should prevent you from doing so, but they may try to convince you to support their cause.
    • Crossing a picket line is something you should not do without first considering the effect it may have.
    • The point of a picket line is to draw attention to a group’s cause when they feel they are being treated unjustly. By ignoring that, you are telling the group and their employer that you do not support their cause and that the status quo is okay. If you do not agree that the CUPE 2278 workers deserve a living wage and job security, then let your conscience be your guide.
    • If you absolutely need to get past a picket for some reason, but still support the cause, seek out the picket captain who is in charge and explain to them what’s going on, especially if it affects your studies, and you will be allowed to cross with their ok. Ultimately the decision to cross a picket or not is a personal choice and we can’t tell you what to do, so please give this some thought before you come across a picket.
  • I don’t want to cross the picket line. What do I need to do?
    • See http://vpstudents.ubc.ca/news/strike-action/#3for more information from UBC
    • If you choose not to cross the picket line, you must inform the Dean of the Faculty in which you are registered that you intend not to cross the picket line. Students choosing not to cross picket lines must, within two working days of the commencement of a strike or prior to their first exam, whichever comes first, inform the Dean of the Faculty in which they are registered or in the case of graduate students, the Dean of the Faculty offering their program of study. Students must inform the Dean in person or in writing (i.e. letter or e-mail,) that they will not be attending classes or writing examinations during the strike.
    • Students must provide: their full names, their UBC student IDs, and the course(s) in which they are currently registered. You may not declare your intentions retroactively. If you do not inform your Faculty, the University will assume that you are attending all examinations, classes and course-related activities.
    • Please note that even if you decide not to cross the picket lines, you are required to come to campus to determine whether there is a picket line at all entrances to the building in which your exam is scheduled at the time of the scheduled class or examination, or if there are picket lines set up at all entrances to the University.
  • How long will this last?
    • This is impossible to predict. The strike will end when the union and employer agree on a new contract or when bargaining resumes and is deemed productive by both sides.
  • Why should I support the TAs?
    • Nobody wants to strike and nobody likes the disruption job action has on a campus, but the TAs are asking for reasonable improvements to their job contract with UBC and the university and the province are not respecting the needs of this large group of highly trained workers. TAs are a large group on campus, about 3000 or so, and not respecting their right to demand a fair contract perpetuates an unequal and unjust community on campus.
    • A TA who is economically secure and who feels respected and valued by their employer can focus more of their energies on giving YOU, the undergraduate students, the best educational experience possible, the best guidance, feedback and advice on labs, papers, projects, and future endeavours. We care about our students and look forward to getting back to work under respectful working conditions so we can continue to be a valuable and committed part of your UBC education.
  • Where can I find out more information about this?

CUPE 2278 TAs Give Strike Notice at UBC

CUPE 2278 served 72 hour strike notice late this afternoon.  The TA Union at the University of British Columbia advises to “expect job action on Monday.” From all indications, the University has pushed the students and pressed its luck for too long.  Contracts have been rolled over since 2005, effectively freezing wages for employees who are trying to cope against rising tuition, supply costs, the cost of living, and housing while administrators enjoy 5% annual increases. CUPE support workers at UBC will stand in solidarity with the graduate students while librarians, faculty members, and undergraduate students are encouraged to do the same.

CUPE 2278 TAs Approve and Mobilize for Strike at UBC

The count is in and the Graduate Teaching Assistants in CUPE 2278 at the University of British Columbia, readily and predictably approved an escalation of job action to strike. The Union Executive advised:

Dear [CUPE 2278] members,

We conducted the vote yesterday, and the results: 76% were in favour of
taking job action.

Therefore, we will be booking out of the Labour Relation Board mediation, and we will serve the employer with a 72 hour job action notice when ‘booking out’ is confirmed.

Continue your normal duties until further notice.

Please stand by for more information, and keep checking the website,
facebook and twitter for updates.

In the meantime, the Faculty Association of UBC , which gave up its right to strike moons ago, advised its faculty members that it was preparing for a round of binding arbitration with the University.

CUPE 2278 TAs Have Everything to Gain with Strike Vote at UBC

On Wednesday, 24 October, CUPE 2278 teaching assistants at the University of British Columbia (UBC) will take a strike vote.  For each and every one of the graduate students, this should be a ‘no brainer’ yes, to escalate labour action: Yes to solidarity with CUPE 116 and SFU’s CUPE 3338 support staff on strike; Yes to migrating the student movement from Quebec to BC; Yes to taking a stand for equity and fairness, and yes to the future of education.  This escalation comes at a strategic time across the province as CUPE support staff collectively takes stands against years of employer and government suppression of wages.  Universities and government have for too long designated the likes of public school teachers, support staff, and teaching assistants as net zero workers.

As GTA wages at UBC have been stagnant (i.e., 0%), administrative salaries have skyrocketed.  From 2005, the year UBC began to merely roll over CUPE 2278 contracts, to 2011, the last year of accessible data, the President’s salary rose from $434,567 to $528,504 (22% increase).  The Provost’s salary increased from $230,887 to $321,023, a whopping 39% increase!  The salary of VP Human Resources, who manages bargaining for the University, jumped from $191,793 to $230,704 (20% increase).  The Director of Faculty Relations’ salary rocketed from $119,615 to $198,209 (41% increase).  And so on.  Deans have made certain that there is similar progress with their salaries.  For example, the Business Dean’s salary bounced from $334,196 to $422,304 (26% increase) while the Education Dean’s salary leaped from $216,519 to $261,732 (21% increase).  Through 2010, the Arts Dean’s salary quickly grew from $191,408 to $249,816 (30% in 6 years).  It is no mystery why the ranks of managers at UBC have swelled in numbers over the past few years.  The transition of Associate Deans and others to management via the 2010-12 Collective Agreement merely instrumented trends and ambitions.

Some faculty members’ salaries have kept pace, basically for those in Business or jumping at chances for an administrative stipend or retention fund.  Like CUPE, it has been tough slogging for the Faculty Association of UBC and Business made ground only through its own, elite faculty association.  If it were in my power, I would give the TAs 5% per year, no questions asked, and freeze administrative salaries, with a new net zero worker mandate for management fat cats living large, for a decade as a slap on the hand for irresponsibility and status quo.  CUPE support workers deserve the same 5% increases that administrators are receiving on average.

Against this rather comfy scenario for administrators at UBC, who want to leave well enough alone, undergraduates and graduate students, with 0% increases in TA wages, have struggled in or on the brink of poverty.  Students have been burdened with pronounced increases in inflation, tuition costs, supply costs (e.g., textbooks), housing costs, and debt over the decade, and it is getting worse in an economy that itself is top heavy and stalling with inflation, cutbacks, and debt.  The vast majority of PhD students face the worst job market for University faculty employment in Canada in generations— since the Great Depression.  Is there anything for the graduate students to lose by escalating job action?  There is everything to gain.

Inflation or cost of living increases at about 2% per year with larger increases in the densely populated cities such as Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.  Tuition has risen nearly each year over the decade, with the BC government now forced to regulate increases at 2% per year.  The result is more than a doubling of tuition fees over the past decadeTextbook costs have inflated 10%-30% for some years during the decade.  In BC, landlords likely added about 4% to student rental housing this year and can add about the same next year.  Of course, these rises have been accompanied by unprecedented student debt.  Cumulative student debt across the country is now well over $15 billion with an average debt sentence for graduates in BC at $27,000 and rising.  This potential sentence and a bleak job market for youth make implications profound for already poverty-stricken families.   Graduate students in BC leave with a bit more debt on average– $30,000 – $35,000.  Fair enough some might say, students can readily sign for new credit cards with only 18% interest.

The average age of the professoriate in Canada is 50; in my Department, it’s closer to 55.  The writing on the wall is that faculty jobs have stagnated and are at an all time low.  Month after month in Education, a PhD graduate will pick up the Careers section of University Affairs or the CAUT Bulletin and find the column under “Education” and its related disciplines empty or with just a few openings across the entire country.  In BC alone, an estimated 75 PhDs graduate from Faculties of Education each year.

It is no wonder that the UBC AMS filed an Article #13 complaint to the United Nations on 25 November 2009.  The undergraduate students appealed that the BC government be held responsible for “gross human rights violations” in failing to control tuition, provide sufficient financial support, and provide adequate funding to post-secondary education.  It is no wonder that the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC sent a letter to the BC Minister of Advanced Education on 7 September 2012.  The letter, co-signed by 24 supporters including the President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees-BC (CUPE) concluded: “Like institutional Presidents, our various organizations see the continued underfunding at our institutions as a serious threat to not only local students and local communities, but also a serious undermining of BC’s future.”

The extraordinary steps taken by students in Quebec between February and August of this year will pay dividends for the student movement across the country.  With models of direct democracy, the students managed to topple a government and win immediate concessions by the new government—in its first day of office the PQ government cancelled the pending tuition hike and repealed an anti-protest law that curbed basic freedoms of expression.  That’s inspiring democratic action.  Again, for UBC TAs, is there not everything to gain by escalating job action and moving from the classroom to the streets of campus, Vancouver, and Victoria?

CUPE 2278 TA’s Mobilize for Strike at UBC

Teaching Assistants at the University of British Columbia, represented by CUPE 2278, will take a strike vote on Wednesday, 24 October. The University narrowly averted a TA strike in mid April (80% of the TAs in favour) through legal means of mediation.  Mediation predictably failed  and merely deferred job action.  Seven months later the union is once again mobilizing for a strike.  The University has fallen back on a comfortable  excuse that the graduate teaching assistants are net zero workers, and accordingly has offered 0%, 0%, 1.5%, 1.5% in increases to TA wages for the years 2010-2014.  As with CUPE 116, the university’s and government’s sentiment has been: ‘Let them negotiate, let them bargain,’ as long as they remain net zero workers.  For the TA’s facing tuition hikes and carrying increasing burdens of responsibility for the University, the 0%, 0%, 1.5%, 1.5% is blatantly unfair.  This is ever more the conclusion given that the University has been merely rolling over contracts for the TA union since 2005.

How did Quebec Students Mobilize Hundreds of Thousands for Strike?

Cal State students begin hunger strike to protest cuts

The New York Times: At California State, Protesters Start a Fast

Angry about tuition increases and cuts in courses and enrollment, a dozen students at California State University have taken their protest beyond marches — their usual tactic — and declared a hunger strike.

On Thursday, the second day of the fast, supporters were preparing a kale, apple and celery juice concoction for the protesters at the Northridge campus. The students have pledged to forgo solid food for at least a week, perhaps longer if the administration does not move to meet some of their demands, which include a five-year moratorium on student fee increases and a rollback of executive salaries to 1999 levels.