Reach out to your peers to inform them about the strike and encourage them to support picket lines! There is a template for these messages below or you can write your own message:
Hey [peer’s name], this is [your name] from [shared class/department/etc]. I hope you’ve been doing well! I just wanted to message and ask what your thoughts are on the TSSU strike?
I support the strike and feel like it’s really important that undergrads like us don’t cross the picket line and join the pickets when we can. TAs, sessional instructors, etc do more than 50% of the teaching work that goes into our education. Without them, the school wouldn’t function, yet SFU continues to steal their wages, refuses to adjust their wages to account for rising costs of living, and denies them the possibility of pensions, and consequently, a route to secure retirement. It’s true that the strike will disrupt many things, but that level of disruption is needed because SFU has refused to listen to their reasonable demands over 41 bargaining sessions! While we may be temporarily inconvenienced, it is nothing compared to how badly our SI’s and TA’s are treated when they are the ones whose work makes SFU run on a daily basis. The stronger TSSU picket lines are, the faster TSSU will win a fair contract — one which will guarantee that present AND future instructors have better working and living conditions. This means that some of us would benefit from the hard earned rights that TSSU will win if we choose to pursue our postgraduate studies in SFU!
All that said, would you be interested in joining me on the picket line on [date] at the [location] campus? I will be there from [time], thank you and see you there! 🙂
