Matt Dionne | Editor-in-Chief
Featured image | Emilie Miranda
York has a history of labour disputes; 1997, 2001, 2008, and most recently 2015 have all seen teaching disruptions on the York campus.
Another could occur if York’s administration and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3903 unit, who are currently meeting twice a week, fail to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. If a strike commences, it will be the fifth strike in the last 20 years—which averages to one strike every four years.
In 2015, the strike lasted a little over a week for the contract faculty. However, while classes resumed for some, many professors decided to hold off from teaching out of solidarity for the remaining union members still on strike. The strike officially ended 27 days later, which resulted in the semester getting pushed into May.
So, does this history of labour disputes mean York’s staff are being treated unfairly? Not if you look at their average salaries. In Canada, the average salary for a teaching assistant (TA) is just under $35,000 a year, which averages to about $18 an hour. At York, the average TA salary is $33 an hour, and it can be as high as $55 an hour, more than double the national average.
According to Barbara Joy of York’s Media Relations, “at the January 12 negotiations, an agreement was reached on two items—however, CUPE 3903 rejected all of the University’s proposals, including allowing students to communicate with TAs by email.”
According to CUPE 3903’s Facebook account, “the employer seems to be investing more resources and energy into a misleading PR campaign than negotiating. It is becoming increasingly clear that without a show of strength, CUPE 3903 will be forced to accept concessionary contracts.”
CUPE 3903 also claims York has refused many of their key demands: “Overall, there has been no response or movement on the issues that the membership has identified as key bargaining issues: job security, securing graduate funding, and equity.”
However, York has very clearly stated they are willing to go to third-party binding arbitration at any moment, which means a strike is entirely unnecessary. “The University believes there is no need for a strike, and to avoid one, we have stated that we are always prepared to have outstanding issues decided by an independent arbitrator, who would be able to make binding decisions on both parties,” adds Joy.
Excalibur reached out to Greg Long, the conciliator appointed by the Ministry of Labour in the interest of an unbiased opinion, but he declined to comment.
Invariably, when a strike happens, it’s the students who are caught in the middle. While both sides have people working for what they want, there is no one working for the students’ best interests.
Excalibur decided to ask students how they feel about a potential strike.
Lianna Metauro, third-year Mathematics for Education student
As a student thinking about the possibility of an upcoming strike, I am worried about how it would affect my semester. I saw how the Ontario colleges strike negatively affected the college students, and I wouldn’t want the same to happen to students at York. It upsets me to think my learning could be disrupted for such a long time, when all I want is to receive the education I am paying for. I respect both sides—however, I do hope that during negotiations the needs of students are a priority. Myself and other students are here to learn, and I fear the strike would only disrupt that.
Ibrahem Alheyali, fourth-Year Political Science student
These strikes hurt international students the most. The tuition for international students is already ridiculous. Any strike that suspends classes would place a lot of financial burden on these students, something they quite rightly didn’t plan for. There needs to be a way for CUPE 3903 to place pressure on the administration that does not harm the students, either financially or academically.
Abdeali Saherwala, second-year Environmental Politics, Justice and the Arts student
I believe that a looming strike is an absolute disservice to the undergraduate population of York, even though they are the largest portion of the student body at York. This university’s track record for preventing strikes is pathetic, and I believe that just like paramedics, doctors, or bus drivers, universities should be fully functional with ongoing classes in order to prevent a disruption for students, even if they are negotiating for a better deal. These strikes do not waste our money, but cost us our time, graduation dates, and stress. Also, York provides more services or benefits to these professionals than to other universities; hopefully CUPE 3903 will take this into consideration.
Alan Tang, second-year Computer Science student
I think the “Strike to Win, No Concessions” rhetoric from CUPE 3903 is off-putting. It doesn’t inspire support from undergraduates; it makes them question whether CUPE 3903 has been bargaining in good faith. York has a reputation as “the university that has strikes a lot,” and with the message CUPE 3903 has been putting out, I don’t think that image is going away anytime soon.
Julia Galle, fourth-year Screenwriting student
I’m in fourth year, and this will be the second strike I’ve been through at York. I want everyone to have benefits and job stability, but I wish there was a way to do it that didn’t have such a negative impact on us.
Aastha Bansal, fourth-year Applied Mathematics student
I am against the strike, of course. I am planning to graduate this semester, and I am pretty sure this university strike won’t help me reach that goal anytime soon. The last strike (March 2015) was easy on me, as I was a first-year student—it was not a big deal for me then. Needless to say, we missed a lot of classes and tried to cover the syllabus as quickly as possible, which lead to a lot of missing chapters and sections. I am an international student, and it costs me a lot more to study here than other students. I cannot afford to miss my studies, and I don’t want a gap year on my resume!
Kiran Farooqui, fourth-year Children’s Studies and Sociology student
I understand the need for fair pay the other demands the TAs and other contract workers have. However, I already went through a strike in my first year, and it would really disrupt my plans to graduate this year. If I had a choice, I wish there wouldn’t be another one to suffer through.
With files from Emilie Miranda and Jodie Vanderslot
Ooh boy, here comes the graduate students are overpaid argument! An oldie and a favourite of the York Admin.
Consider that graduate students pay full time tuition EVERY semester to York University in order to get the *benefit* of employment. Consider then, that the hourly wage you’re proposing is totally off base since we owe money to York every three months $1,854.34 x 3 = $5563,02 paid to York every year, from our so-called salaries.
My monthly pay at York as a doctoral student was $1720.25 (in 2016) and that income was ONLY for Sept-April, so 8 months. In the summer months, the lucky ones who were admitted circa 2010-2011 received 1200 for four months, and that income is totes gone now, thanks to admin cutbacks 😀 So my yearly take home was $18 562, of which 5562,02 was owed to YorkU, so that’s a 13k salary per year. How much is my hourly wage then? I was paid to work 10 hours a week, but marking your papers and prepping hour long tutorials and working office hours takes more than 10 hours a week. Nevertheless, the hourly wage for 10 hours a week is 25 dollars. That may seem high, but then consider the cost of living in Toronto (rent at Finch and Sentinel for a 1 bdrm is now 1200/month!) , the cost of food, and the cost of professional development (conferences, research trips). That adds up to wayyyy more than my so-called poverty.
Consider too that York University has the LOWEST graduate student fees in the COUNTRY (save for Quebec) and that we go on strike so that YOU, the undergrads, will get to keep this low fee. In other words, when you get your MA at York (because the MA is the new undergrad) you can thank us for striking for you. We strike so you can afford your education later on. You’re welcome.