CUPE Local pickets while TSSU files a legal complaint against SFU
By Graham Cook
Photos by Mark Burnham
Ongoing job action at SFU by two unions, Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Teaching Support Staff Union, ramped up again this week, as both organizations took further action in their pursuit of a collective agreement with the university.
Much like they did at SFU’s Vancouver and Surrey campuses, CUPE Local 3338, which represents the support staff at SFU, withdrew all of their services at the Burnaby campus last Thursday, Nov. 1. The picket lasted eight hours from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon. The TSSU, who earlier declared their solidarity with CUPE, chose not to cross the line which led to the cancellation of 105 classes, tutorials, and labs. On Thursday, the support staff announced that they planned to walk off the job on Friday, Nov. 2. SFU Surrey was also picketed on the second day. SFU’s Vancouver campuses, including Harbour Centre and Woodward’s, were picketed on Saturday and Sunday. Bus service to the Burnaby mountain campus was not altered during the Thursday picket line.
The TSSU also had an eventful week. On Oct. 29, representatives from the union had a meeting with SFU president Andrew Petter and other members of the administration. The TSSU presented Petter with a letter that read, in part, “We are determined to come to a collective agreement . . . we wish to engage in a constructive process wherein both parties are committed to achieving a resolution, through active discussion of the issues at hand.” In addition, the union has finalized the process for receiving grades now that they are being withheld. Students qualified to graduate this semester, being in imminent danger of deportation, being in the process of applying to a graduate or other accredited program (such as PDP), or requiring the release of grades to maintain a scholarship are eligible to have their grades returned.
A vice president of CUPE Local 3338, Janis Rutherford and Earth Sciences TA and TSSU member Jeff Zurek spoke to The Peak at Friday’s picket line in Surrey. Of the meeting with president Petter, Zurek commented, “It was interesting, it was clear to us that many people in the administration really don’t have a clue how bargaining is going, or what they as the employer have tabled, or what it means for the university.” He added, “We’re essentially making as much noise as possible, so that way, they do take an interest and realize just how detrimental this will be for the institution.”
The TSSU has also filed a legal complaint against SFU with the B.C. Labour Relations Board, alleging coercion. This action stems from an email sent by VP academic Jon Driver, which asked chairs, directors, and deans of non-departmentalized faculties to ask their faculty members and other instructional staff if they intended to cross picket lines. Members were assured by the TSSU that they were not legally obligated to provide any such information. This is added to the complaint already in front of the board from CUPE.
“When we look across post secondary education, SFU is the only employer with one-—never mind two—different things at the labour board against them . . . they’re on their own little island on a hill, both in the sense of geography and with bargaining,” said Zurek of the complaints.
Thompson Rivers University, which has reached an agreement with its CUPE Local, received praise from Rutherford, as she said, “I applaud the workers at Thompson Rivers . . . and the employer at Thompson Rivers.” Rutherford also stated, “All the other universities are settling, they have offers, they have tentative agreements, they’ve had votes to accept their tentative agreements . . . maybe not all the locals have settled yet, but they’re getting offers, they’re at the bargaining table.”
Janis Rutherford spoke of the further actions that could be taken by the union, stating, “We can only escalate beyond this to a full shut down of campuses. . . . We [will] continue on until we can get the university back to the bargaining table and a fair collective agreement.” Rutherford added that while they don’t expect students to not cross picket lines, they encourage them to not cross. “We had a few students walking with us on picket lines because they feel strongly about social justice. We understand that students are paying for their education, and they are going to the classes that aren’t cancelled and keeping up with their studies,” she commented.
Rutherford concluded by stating, “The workers at Simon Fraser University . . . are a highly educated, intelligent work force, and for the university to push us into strike lines is reprehensible.” Zurek added, “We definitely don’t want to be here.”
This previous Friday the TSSU announced that its members had voted to exercise the right to picket, meaning they can now put up a picket line at any time. Zurek said, “It authorizes the use of picket lines to put pressure to get us a collective agreement.” The vote had a large turnout at over 1,000 ballots cast, almost twice as many as the last vote taken. The vote also means that the TSSU will be picketing alongside with CUPE 3338 in the planned action this Saturday and Sunday at Harbour Centre.
The TSSU and CUPE 3338 also returned to the table on Saturday morning, with the TSSU piggy-backing on the mediating session and dealing with the same mediator. As of press time, representatives of the TSSU said they hoped to come to an agreement in this session. Derek Sahota, a TSSU spokesperson, said on Friday night, “Our goal is always a collective agreement, and if we could get it by Sunday night, that would be fantastic.”
Don MacLachlan, director of Public Affairs and Media Relations for SFU, also spoke to The Peak about the ongoing job action. Though he was not able to speak extensively due to the nature of the bargaining process, he did comment that, “we certainly hope for a timely resolution to all this . . . in the meantime, when we have pickets, we hope to minimize as best we can the impact on students, faculty, and staff. But you can see for yourself the impact; there were many cancelled classes.” MacLachlan added, “This is an enormous hassle for students, it is an enormous hassle for people in the unions, it’s an enormous hassle for the university. Let’s just hope that somehow, somewhere, as quickly as possible, we get to resolution.”
At other universities in the province, including UBC, Thompson Rivers University, UNBC, and UVic, the CUPE Locals have either finalized or are close to finalizing a new collective agreement with their respective universities. However, UBC’s teaching assistants have recently decided to begin job action, feeling that they have not achieved anything at the bargaining table in recent months.
