{"id":41,"date":"2023-04-14T03:30:15","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T03:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/?page_id=41"},"modified":"2023-09-19T19:30:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T19:30:29","slug":"why-tssu-voted-to-go-on-strike","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/why-tssu-voted-to-go-on-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is TSSU on Strike?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has been over a year since the <strong>TSSU\/SFU Collective Agreement expired on<\/strong> <strong>April 30, 2022<\/strong>. For the renewal of the 2019-2022 Collective Agreement, we\u2019ve had <strong>over 40 bargaining sessions<\/strong>. At these sessions, TSSU has time and again made proposals to address our members\u2019 needs, and the response from the Employer has been to say <em>no<\/em> outright, to delay, or to insist improvements would have to be offset with monetary concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TSSU&#8217;s proposals aim to address 3 core demands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Cost of Living Adjustment<\/strong>: We want<strong> wage increases tied to inflation and to ensure that graduate student workers see increases in their take-home pay.<\/strong> While the Employer claims to be offering the maximum available under their PSEC mandate, the reality is that their wage proposals do not keep up with inflation; <strong>they are proposing a pay cut<\/strong>. When we look back, our wage increases since 2009 total 17% while inflation was nearly double at 33%. Our members cannot fall further behind.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stop Wage Theft<\/strong>: We need to <strong>modernize the compensation model for teachers<\/strong>, whether TAs or Sessional Instructors, so that bigger class sizes, more administrative tasks, blended, remote, and other forms of instruction are fairly compensated. We also need to <strong>eliminate antiquated \u201cequivalencies\u201d<\/strong> in some departments that pay less for more work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A Better Future for Instructors<\/strong>: Instructors need <strong>paid professional development opportunities and pensions<\/strong> so they can retire securely. We are fighting for ELC\/ITP\/ITA Instructors to have <strong>continuing jobs with full teaching years<\/strong> and to improve Sessional Instructors\u2019 bridge to temporary Faculty jobs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Employer opened bargaining by proposing numerous concessions, the vast majority of which we&#8217;ve battled off the table with our collective power. A few of the major concessions, however, still remain<\/strong>. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Removing the scholarship<\/strong> portion of TA pay, which would <strong>decrease the take-home pay for graduate students<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Further, the Employer&#8217;s <strong>monetary proposals remain below the rate of inflation<\/strong>, effectively forcing a pay cut on our members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to these concessions and the Employer\u2019s unwillingness to bargain meaningfully with TSSU\u2019s proposals, <strong>the membership voted with a 91% mandate to go on Strike<\/strong> in June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given the movement on mental health benefits and the withdrawal of the Employer&#8217;s many, many concessions, it is clear to us that the only way to get to a new Contract is through Strike Action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">How can you support the strike?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-ee856660 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-75\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/supporting-as-an-undergraduate-student\/\">Supporting as an Undergraduate Student<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-75\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/__trashed-2\/\">Supporting as a Faculty Member<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-75\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/supporting-as-a-community-member\/\">Supporting as a Community Member<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been over a year since the TSSU\/SFU Collective Agreement expired on April 30, 2022. For the renewal of the 2019-2022 Collective Agreement, we\u2019ve had over 40 bargaining sessions. At these sessions, TSSU has time and again made proposals to address our members\u2019 needs, and the response from the Employer has been to say [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-41","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263,"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions\/263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.tssu.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}