Tag Archives: Unions

EU melting down in capitalist crisis

Posted on November 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.

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Posted in Economics, Government, International, Protests, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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Faculty and Staff withdraw services at BCIT

Posted on November 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Faculty and Staff withdraw services at BCIT

Following strike approval of its membership last week, the Faculty and Staff Association (FSA) at the British Columbia Institute of Technology have withdrawn services this afternoon. Seen as a wake-up call, job action will escalate until the Union reaches an agreement. Like a number of other locals in the province, the Union’s contract expired 30 June 2010. “Better salaries and working conditions are needed to attract career-seasoned professionals from industries where wages have kept pace with inflation,” FSA executive director and chief negotiator Paul Reniers said in a press release. “Fair wages will ensure that BCIT can hire and hold on to the kinds of professionals who built this important institution.” The FSA represents over 1,400 BCIT employees including technology and part-time studies faculty, assistant instructors, technical staff, researchers, curriculum development professionals, librarians, program advisors and counselors.

Reniers noted that “low wages are already impacting BCIT’s programs. Our rates for night school are among the lowest in the region, yet 60% of BCIT registrations are in Part-Time Studies. We are losing instructors to other colleges and universities.”

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Posted in Advocacy, Employment rights, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Technology, Unions, Working conditions

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“Disappointing” tentative agreement reached by UBC TAs

Posted on November 14, 2012 by | 1 comment

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.

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Posted in BC Education, Employment rights, Government, Organizing, Salary/Economic Benefits, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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UBC President’s Salary raises questions

Posted on November 6, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.

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Posted in Accountability, Administration, Budgets & Funding, Corporate University, Employment rights, Faculty, Salary/Economic Benefits, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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Open letter from SFU faculty in support of striking workers

Posted on November 6, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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,

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Posted in Advocacy, Employment rights, Faculty, Organizing, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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

Posted on November 6, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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!

 

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Posted in Advocacy, Employment rights, Organizing, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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

Posted on November 2, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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

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Posted in Advocacy, Budgets & Funding, Employment rights, Organizing, Salary/Economic Benefits, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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Solidarity Looks Like This (Behind Picket Line at SFU)

Posted on November 2, 2012 by | 1 comment

Prime Time at SFU (Behind CUPE 3338 Picket Line)

Should one wonder what it looks like behind a picket line, look at the web cam photo at SFU at prime time. For the administrators, here, two meeting in the mall, it’s lonely and a time to reflect on how to run a University with no staff, students, or faculty. Or here at SFU, how to give the employees, such as the CUPE 3338 workers on the picket line, the hard earned wages they deserve. Or what else could these managers be wondering?

…and the employees’ and supporter side of the picket line looks like…

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Posted in Advocacy, Employment rights, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions, Working conditions

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SFU shut down second day behind CUPE 3338 Picket Line

Posted on November 2, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.

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Posted in Advocacy, Employment rights, Organizing, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions, Working conditions

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CUPE 4627 Support Staff at VCC Voice Concerns with BC Government

Posted on November 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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 isn‘t 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.

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Posted in Advocacy, BC Education, Employment rights, Government, Organizing, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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CUPE 2278 Quiet Picket has Loud Effect at UBC

Posted on November 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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:

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CUPE 3338 Support Staff Shut Down SFU

Posted on November 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.

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Posted in Advocacy, Employment rights, Organizing, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions, Working conditions

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CUPE 2278 TAs Escalate Strike at UBC

Posted on October 31, 2012 by | 1 comment

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.”

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CUPE 4627 Picket Line at Vancouver Community College

Posted on October 30, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.

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Menzies: The longer the picket, the shorter the strike

Posted on October 30, 2012 by | 1 comment

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

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Posted in Advocacy, Employment rights, Organizing, Solidarity, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Student Movement, Students, Unions, Working conditions

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CUPE 4627 Mobilizes for Strike at Vancouver Community Collage

Posted on October 29, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.”

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CUPE 2278 TAs at UBC Appeal for Faculty Solidarity

Posted on October 29, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.

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CUPE 2278 FAQ for undergraduates about Job Action

Posted on October 28, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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?
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CUPE 2278 TAs Give Strike Notice at UBC

Posted on October 26, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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.

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ICES Speaking Truth to the Power of Employer Bargaining Reports

Posted on October 25, 2012 by | Comments Off on ICES Speaking Truth to the Power of Employer Bargaining Reports

In British Columbia, in late July 2002, the Liberal government amended the Labour Relations Code to increase the scope of what employers could communicate to employees. Section 8 was amended from granting managers “freedom to communicate to an employee a statement of fact or opinion reasonably held with respect to the employer’s business” to “the freedom to express his or her views on any matter.” Employer speech within captive audience settings attenuates the freedom of the employee to not listen.

One result at UBC has been a deluge of bargaining reports broadcast to employees. Sure enough, today came the University’s Bargaining Bulletin #48, bemoaning failures of bargaining with the Faculty Association of UBC: “The University is extremely disappointed… the University tabled a salary offer of a 1.5% increase for all Faculty spread over two years… the Faculty Association tabled a general wage increase proposal of 5% in each of the next two years commencing July 1, 2012. A general wage increase of 5% per year is significantly out of step with other wage settlements in the Province, and with recent staff settlements at UBC.” And so on.

Thankfully, E. Wayne Ross countered with an employee broadcast to correct the record:

  • UBC faculty salaries rank #19 in Canada.
  • UBC faculty professional development funds are lowest in BC.
  • UBC administration promotes the idea that the university is “world class”
  • UBC administration offers faculty 0.4% then says it’s “extremely disappointed” an agreement can’t be reached?
  • I guess we’re supposed to feel lucky because we’re not teaching in the NHL …
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