Written by: Petra Chase, Arts & Culture Editor
When the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) initiated a full work stoppage and began picketing SFU campuses to demand a fair contract, it lasted nearly a month. Uncertainty loomed for everyone in the community. For undergraduates, some classes were cancelled indefinitely, while others continued to run, putting the burden on students to make difficult decisions about their grades and morality. Students have a right to feel angry that their education has been disrupted, especially with a hefty tuition at stake. However, blaming TSSU instead of SFU for this outcome misses the mark entirely.
While there’s been overwhelming support for TSSU during the strike, I’ve also seen growing contempt. Those calling TSSU entitled or childish didn’t consider that TSSU had done everything to avoid this scenario. Negotiations began with SFU in March 2021, after SFU delayed it for 10 months, although TSSU has been fighting for improved contracts and against unpaid labour since as early as 2014. It took far too long to reach a tentative agreement. Although SFU claimed they were working toward “movement on key issues,” records show they purposefully stalled the process. Focusing on unimportant grammar motions, cancelling sessions, and even not showing up are some of the ways SFU has shown disregard for TSSU’s demands. Similar tactics were used back in 2014.
The rhetoric that strike workers enjoy a paid vacation is uninformed. Strike pay exists to ensure workers have the ability to support themselves should they decide to strike, which is a matter of democracy. And it’s not distributed on a whim: “97 out of 100 collective agreements are negotiated by unions without a strike.” Furthermore, members get paid for the hours they work on the picket line, which caps off at $400 for 24 hours or more a week — at most, that’s $16.60 an hour (a living wage in Vancouver is around $24 an hour). Picketing is not a fun time. Just because you saw striking workers eating pancakes and cracking a few jokes, doesn’t mean TSSU didn’t work hard for fair pay. It’s physically, mentally, and emotionally strenuous to strike.
While it’s frustrating that our education was disrupted, our education shouldn’t come at the cost of exploiting TAs and sessional instructors.
Strikes are the last resort, and they happen when the majority of members agree the things they’re asking for are “worth the sacrifice.” TSSU is also made up of students whose education and careers are being affected, with their livelihoods at stake. While it’s frustrating that our education was disrupted, our education shouldn’t come at the cost of exploiting TAs and sessional instructors. To those complaining that strikes were loud and inconvenient: that’s the point! TSSU accurately showcased that the university cannot function without them.
SFU claims their students and faculty are their priority, but it’s clear profit and power come first. They had the money to pay private investigators, continued to stall, and increased tuition in spite of their massive surplus ($22 million last year). Not paying their workers properly is a deliberate choice, much like paying their five board members nearly $2 million last year.
Unfortunately, there were reports of harassment happening to students, including intimidation, physically blocking students from accessing residences, and some members disrupting lectures. This shouldn’t have happened. However, this behaviour doesn’t mean TSSU members are suddenly undeserving of a living wage. Sessional instructors and TAs work hard and are losing money fighting for their livelihoods, and their efforts shouldn’t be discounted.
SFU benefits from the rhetoric that TSSU is entitled and aggressive, because it allows them to deflect accountability. Dilson Rassier, provost and vice-president, academic sent an email to the student body informing about and describing an influx of strike incident complaints, followed by resources for support. Rassier also wrote that SFU has asked TSSU twice to put the strike on pause while negotiations resume for them to “get paid and students and faculty to resume their regular learning and teaching activities.” This makes it seem like TSSU is unreasonable. However, it’s SFU’s responsibility to show TSSU that they are ready to take them seriously. SFU continued to falsely reassure students that they were working hard towards a contract, while TSSU hadn’t received a response on any of their proposals. It didn’t need to take this long for SFU to reach an agreement with them.
We cannot allow the actions of some TSSU members to discount what they’re fighting for, and must also recognize that SFU’s dismissiveness is deliberate. It is violence: SFU could afford to prolong the strike, especially when the SFU community continues business as usual, but TSSU doesn’t have the same access to resources that the university does. The longer TSSU endured uncertainty and lack of pay, the more desperate they might’ve become — and it’s hard to say whether what has been agreed on is fair when the agreement hasn’t been published yet. In a union-buster’s dream come true, the employees would become worn down and settle for less. Or, the community would become fed up with the situation, and place blame on the people they see on the ground, while the employers hide behind vague and dishonest statements.
This is why we shouldn’t cross picket lines, because SFU didn’t care until it affected them and their reputation. Students shouldn’t be academically punished for respecting picket lines, and professors shouldn’t bear pay cuts for cancelling classes. The responsibility shouldn’t have to fall on students and non-TSSU staff to make these sacrifices, however, it’s unfair that TSSU needed to strike in the first place.
If you’re rightfully angry about the cost of tuition amid the chaotic and uncertain environment, be angry at SFU. There was absolutely no reason for this to happen except greed.
