GAs and TAs vote against proposed strike
By Natasha Marar
News Editor
February 13, 2008
 A little over half of UWindsor graduate assistants (GAs) and teaching assistants (TAs) voted in favour of a new collective agreement–a decision that sees their planned Feb. 17 strike unlikely.
CUPE 4580, which represents approximately 900 graduate and teaching assistants has been bargaining their collective agreement since it expired on August 31, 2007.
The union held a strike vote last Wednesday at 6 p.m. that resulted in 56 per cent of members in favour of not striking and 44 per cent against the revised contract that was proposed.
“We were hoping that members would want more than a two or three per cent wage increase,” said CUPE 4580 president, Diane Wright, who was upset at the lack of support the strike received.
Wright believes the lack of votes for the executive-approved strike is due to membership in the union being short-term given the nature of graduate and teaching assistantships. “I think it was a real learning curve not just for members but also the executive. Sometimes you need more longevity to understand the process and educate the union members,” said Wright. “We need much stronger lines of communication.”
“The collective mentality is not there–people are thinking about themselves,” she added. “We haven’t provided them with that sense of belonging .”
First year English master’s student, Stefanie Hedge, who voted in favour of the proposed agreement, thinks the lack of communication and communal feeling among union members is the result of poor organization by the union executive. “For the most part I was unimpressed with the union in general. I didn’t think they were convincing and fair in their speeches and the whole meeting seemed a total mess. It seemed like they were anti-university. [The meeting] was incredibly unorganized and unprofessional.”
“They wouldn’t let us vote by proxy. They said we had be [at the meeting], but I was in a graduate class,” added Hedge. “They had...master lists of all the GAs [and TAs] that they were checking people off of, so people didn’t even get [into the meeting] until 6:30. If that’s how they are going to run a meeting how are they going to run a strike?”
Regarding the details of the agreement, Wright remarked that the University did not offer the union a concrete package but provided given several options. “The last offer was a two per cent [wage increase] from August of last year, and on Mar. 1 we would get a one per cent increase, and then three per cent per year.”
Wright is concerned, however, that the proposed wage increases are not sufficient given the rising cost in living expenses and the tuition increase that students incurred this September when the University instituted its largest ever, one-time increase in tuition fees from 4.5 per cent to 41 per cent. Tuition is also expected to increase for the 2008-2009 school year.
“We are not happy with it as an executive,” said Wright of the revised agreement. “TAs are making $5 or more on average in other universities.”
Wages for assistants at Windsor were $31.17 per hour for master’s students and $34.73 per hour for PhD students during the 2006-2007 school year. At Ryerson University, however, a master’s student will earn $33.35 an hour this year, and PhD students $36.25 an hour.
“I think that most of the international students are going to have a problem with [the proposed wage increase],” said Wright. “They need more money in order survive here because international tuition fees have gone up 41 per cent [this year].”
“I don’t think we get paid fairly, but I think a strike would hurt more people in the end,” explained Hedge, who believes that current wages are “unfair to international students.”
“I would worry that they would cut the number of GAs to pay each one more,” said a concerned Hedge. “I don’t know where the University would get the money to pay us more, because they are claiming they can’t pay us more now.”
Wright admitted, “[The University] only has so much of a budget for TAs and GAs, but that is adjusted with demand.” She indicated, however, that “[Increasing wages] is not going to come from cut backs, [the University] projects in the future that there is going to be an increase in wages.”
Wright believes, however, that the concerns over assistant cut backs have some validity. “That’s a threat that certainly the administration would use, but they need us so why would they cut us back?”
Graduate students in particular often find it difficult to maintain a second job or they are persuaded by their department not to do so, despite the fact they require additional income. “I know that in my department you’re not suppose to have a job outside of your graduate assistantship,” said Hedge of the English department. “It is suppose to be enough money so you don’t have to get another job, you’re suppose to be devoting time to your study.”
Hedge feels that awards, bursaries, and scholarships should be offered to TAs and GAs, especially to those who are international students, who require more financial assistance.
She does not believe that increasing wages is the answer to making sure the graduate and teaching assistants’ needs are met. “If tuition fees were lower this wouldn’t be a problem. Tuition should be free quite frankly, the system is flawed from the start.”
“I have a hard time supporting a strike that fixes one of the symptoms when the overall cause isn’t being addressed,” Hedge added.
Bargaining on the revised contract will continue on Feb. 20, after which time, CUPE 4580 will approach its members for a ratification on the new package.
“There will be further negotiations but [the union] was pretty clear there was little they could do at the negotiation table if we weren’t willing to strike,” said Hedge. “They kept saying they don’t have a leg to stand on.”
The possibility remains that the graduate and teaching assistants could go on strike if they reject the next proposal.
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