SFU’s Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) has decided to escalate job action by withholding numerical and letter grades from their students.
This is the second escalation since March, when 92 per cent of union members voted in favour of the strike.
The first action included an overtime ban for the foreign language instructors at Harbour Centre, taking three to five minutes out of a tutorial to update their students on the bargaining process, and stickering student assignments with the TSSU logo and a message that said “marked” or “taught” by a TSSU member.
George Temple, spokesperson for the TSSU, explained, “We’ll still be teaching and marking work as normal, we just won’t be providing any number or letter grades on any assignments and we won’t be [entering] grades into any SFU systems. This way, it’s the least disruption to students.”
The secondary escalation was initiated after the TSSU received no response to a letter sent to the SFU administration on June 10. The letter outlined four bargaining demands with a deadline of June 16. As a result, the TSSU cancelled the bargaining session that was scheduled for June 17 and moved to escalate job action on June 19.
According to a press release issued by the TSSU on June 17, SFU administration has “instructed TSSU members to break their strike.”
TSSU Chief Steward Reagan Belan stated in the press release, “Instead of bargaining meaningfully on our core issues, SFU Administration has directed our members to hand in grads in direct contravention of our legal strike action.”
SFU issued a statement to The Peak, expressing how administration was “very surprised at these threats, given the positive progress made at the last meeting on June 3, and the potentially significant negative affect this would have on the TSSU’s own membership.”
The statement explained, “We believe the Union’s course of action contravenes the Labour Relations Code and constitutes a failure to bargain in good faith and have asked leadership to reconsider their position.”
The first of the four main bargaining demands made in the TSSU’s June 10 letter to the administration was for the addition of “a member of Senior Administration to their bargaining committee with the authority to conclude an agreement.”
TSSU Chair Derek Sahota said that, “When SFU sent a Senior Administrator to the table in 2012, we signed a contract within 48 hours.”
SFU’s statement explained that the demands made by the TSSU are not enough to halt the bargaining process under the Labour Relations Code.
On June 16, the Graduate Students Society (GSS) issued a letter to President Andrew Petter, indicating their support for the TSSU and concern over the lack of “meaningful dialogue on major issues.” The letter urged the administration to “negotiate more productively with the TSSU.”
The TSSU identified three of the four concerns raised by the GSS — guaranteeing access to work, merging the TA (teaching assistant) and TM (tutor marker) language in the collective agreement, and paying workers on time — as three of their major concerns. TAs and TMs are currently on two different payscales, although the TSSU argues the jobs have become increasingly similar.
SFU’s statement acknowledged the letter from the GSS, stating, “We understand the GSS recently expressed some concerns around current progress in bargaining. We share these concerns.”
Temple expressed the frustration with the bargaining process, “At this point [. . .] we haven’t even proposed monetary issues, we’re not even discussing — for most of our members — pay and benefit yet. They’ve just refused to bargain with us on language issues.”
The TSSU hopes to reach a collective agreement sooner rather than later. “We know SFU is planning a huge celebration on September 9 of its 50th anniversary,” said Sahota. “It would be a shame if we had to escalate even more before then, maybe even see picket lines on that day. I think that would be a really awful thing, but we do need to get to a contract.”
TSSU bargaining demands made in June 10 letter to SFU admin
1. “Add a member of Senior Administration to their bargaining committee with the authority to conclude an agreement.”
SFU and the TSSU came to an agreement within 48 hours of VP Academic and Provost Jon Driver joining the bargaining committee in 2012.
2. “Add another faculty member to their committee who has taught in the past three years.”
There is currently only one member of SFU’s bargaining committee who is a teacher, who Temple says has not been able to attend most of the bargaining sessions.
3. “Schedule back-to-back bargaining dates that do not end at 4 p.m.”
Derek Sahota explained, “It’s sort of like a Cinderella experience, where they have to leave at four-o’clock, no matter what is going on.”
4. “Withdraw SFU Administration’s concessionary proposals for Instructors in ELC/ITP.”
There are approximately 30 ELC/ITP employees working at at Harbour Centre. SFU has proposed to decrease their benefits and seniority due to unexplained budget cuts.
