ethne

ethne

9p

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15 years ago @ Macleans OnCampus - Students take a stand ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Stephanie, I am aware of the tragic healthcare situation in the US and of the intense debt that student acquire to attend university there. It is the same principles that gave Canada its universal healthcare system, uniting together for the common good, that gave rise to unionized labor. In the case of Canada's healthcare system, we all sacrifice a little of our earnings so thatevery personcan get medical treatment when required. In the case of unions, workers pay union dues under the premise that by banding together against large institutions individual and collective rights are maintained. I would argue that even a reduction in President Shoukri's entertainment budget ($80,000) could be re-directed towards the pressing need of increased childcare facilities at York (one among many of CUPE 3903's non-monetary demands). As for a part-time job, we are actually prohibited by the Universityfrom working more than 10 hours a week. If we work more, we are not compensated at an hourly rate. Even if a person subverted the rules and got an outside job, there is intense pressure to finishthe degree (yes, I am a student, rightly acknowledged) within a timeline. This same kind of pressure is not placed on undergraduates to the same degree. So, in a nut-shell, we are told by the University that we can't work more than our TA-ship, but we're not given enough to cover indexation (the cost of living vis-a-vis inflation)....I acknowledge that a reference to the poverty line might itself be misleading...but no doubt many3903 members are living on literally pennies every month. The recent offer made by the Administration, when inflation is accounted for, is actually a wage decrease. The University is a money-making enterprise, increasing enrollment of graduate programs by 30% but keeping funding for health, etc at the same levels....taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for courses and paying the contract faculty who teach them comparatively littlemonetary compensation and providing them with next to nothing in job security. Finally, I'm not entirely sure what you intend to argue with the Admin 'paying their dues', they may 'run' the University, but they are employees like everyone else. Just because they once had to pay tuition and make their way through the system does entitle them to subvert the bargaining process. Call on the University to stop the disingenuous PR campaign and put a reasonable counter-offer on the table....they're making six figures, and they are accountable to you. They suspended your studies, they are not counter-offering in good faith, you should demand more from them as the primary stakeholder in this situation.

15 years ago @ Macleans OnCampus - Students take a stand ... · 1 reply · +1 points

From a TA who loves her students, who works extremely hard to see her students succeed, who pushes her students to think critically about their worlds and challenge dominant representations of their realities, who makes even the driest course material fun and interesting, who treats her students as human beings and as peers, I call upon all frustrated undergrads, those I teach, and those I do not, to demand accountability from York's Administration to stop the disingenuous campaign of misinformation and distorted facts, reducing the legitimate grievances of the teaching body that carries this university (CUPE members do more than 50% of the teaching load, and then some) into a PR campaign. A laughable proposition: the third largest university in Canada, who has made a business out of education (for a 60 student course, York makes $100,000 and pays Unit 2 contract faculty $14,000) is now the hardup underdog. If we're really in such hard economic times, why don't the six figure VIPs (with comparable levels of education) also take a pay cut? But they won't, not a penny. So now you know who is truly greedy and towards whom you should demand an end to the stalling.

15 years ago @ Macleans OnCampus - Students take a stand ... · 0 replies · +1 points

I support the right of undergraduate students to protest the suspension of their classes. I understand that many of your are extremely frustrated and I support your right to vent that frustration in constructive ways.

I am in favor of an end to the strike through the legitimate bargaining process, drawing on YorkU's own rejection of binding arbitration in 1997, I paraphrase: binding arbitration employs an outside body to adjudicate on terms inside an institution for which it is not accountable and has no vested interest (impartiality has its drawbacks). Arbitrators "do not have to find the money to meet the costs of their judgments, nor must they live with the impact of their decisions." A bargained settlement in good faith between York and CUPE is substituted by a decision that neither party owns. I would add that binding arbitration will lead to a settlement based on other collective agreements, a settlement that will not account for the academic demands at York specifically and the cost of living in the GTA generally.

15 years ago @ Macleans OnCampus - York University strike... · 0 replies · +1 points

With all due respect, teaching university level courses (I mean teaching because, at least for TAs, many profs put the bulk of course maintenance on our shoulders) is not easy. As for contract faculty, I know several who juggle multiple courses at multiple institutions, and do it with an intense amount of professionalism and organization. Let's not cloud the issues with simplistic representations of reality based on dubious knowledge.

15 years ago @ Macleans OnCampus - York University strike... · 2 replies · +1 points

Regrettably, so many issues are clouded in your response. Actually, contrary to popular belief, as attested to much blog output, university teaching positions (whether contract or faculty-level) are extremely hard to come by, if you manage to secure one, you want to keep it...even if that means commuting between Waterloo and Toronto. Commuting for contract faculty is not a choice, it is matter of survival...but this is a side issue.

York's unappreciated teaching staff know full well about, as you put it, "working hard, being a productive member of society", but they are unfortunately not "rewarded for that hard work". Incidentally, I am a 29 year old working mother of a toddler, I TA at YorkU and commute between Waterloo and Toronto. In addition to the full-time care of my son, I manage to find 25+ hours to study and 15+ hours to do my TA work. I get compensated a princely sum of approximately $1200 for this, $400/month goes to tuition. I only stay afloat because my partner has a stable job, but many of my peers are not so fortunate.

15 years ago @ Macleans OnCampus - York University strike... · 2 replies · +1 points

I can definitely understand your frustration and the desire to vent it. You are experiencing many inconveniences (to put it lightly) and face the prospect of possible loss of opportunities in the summer.

But, again, with all due respect, I think you have been informed by York University's disingenuous skewing of the issues. The Canada that I know and love, the one that instituted universal healthcare, for the common good of all is not a Canada of neoliberal economics that pits individuals workers against large corporate bodies and says "here's your job, now take it and shut up." If I were an McDonald's employee and I worked as long as some contract faculty at York have worked (say upwards of 25 years), I would most definitely want a pension. You have to remember that CUPE represents different workers, some that work as graduate student TAs and others that have finished their Ph.Ds and are working as contract faculty for comparatively little given they have the same level of education as their full-time faculty peers (and don't just tell me that they got the 'short end of the stick' so just deal with it).