On a sunny Friday afternoon, Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) members and supporters held a barbeque at SFU. While many TSSU members were grilling hotdogs on June 23, many outside the union showed support and solidarity with the ongoing strike, engaging in conversation and dialogue with union members and organizers.
Since the strike officially started on June 12, TSSU chair Kayla Hilstob noticed many SFU administration members, including president Joy Johnson, seemed “rattled.” She noted Johnson herself has been largely unresponsive for comment on the strike and since has gone on vacation. The “timing is not a coincidence,” Hilstob said, pointing out that Johnson and others are “noticing our actions.”
Amal Vincent is the chief steward of the TSSU and a member of the TSSU’s bargaining committee. In an interview with The Peak, Vincent discussed teaching assistant (TA) wages and scholarships — two ways that TAs are paid. While wages are taxed, scholarships are non-taxable. “Now the employer is proposing to fold this scholarship portion into wages making that taxable as well,” Vincent said, describing this action as “essentially a wage cut.”
“Workers are still working, but the work is unpaid,” he continued. Vincent highlighted many other causes for the TA strike, including larger class sizes, unequal compensation in lab and tutorial sessions, and the integration of hybrid and remote sessions. TAs have not been compensated for this extra workload.
Despite the SFU administration stating their core beliefs in EDI, or “equity, diversity, and inclusion,” Vincent said their “actions speak otherwise.” He discussed how the administration has threatened to strip healthcare coverage, including the International Student Health Fee (ISHF) and extended health and dental benefits, “which would disproportionately affect international student workers and people of colour.”
Vincent said this “proves that all the talk about equity, diversity, inclusion is a farce.”
Vincent also noted that “people are angry” over the unfolding benefit cuts SFU has inflicted, leading to more union support. On whether he believes the strike will lead to success for the union, Vincent said, “We’ve done it before in the past, we’ll do it again.”
This is an ongoing story. For more information on the TSSU, bargaining priorities, and the continuing strike, check out the TSSU’s website: www.tssu.ca/
