By: Kelvin Gawley, SFU Student
Editor’s note: While this piece was published in The Peak’s Features section, it was edited by Opinions Editor Michelle Young. This is in place of Features Editor Daniel Salecdo Rubio, who is both a teaching and research assistant, to avoid conflict of interest.
In 2019, research assistants at SFU made a bold declaration: “research is work!”
While that may not seem like such a controversial statement to anyone who has spent hours toiling over a lab bench, poring through archives, or analyzing reams of data — it’s a lesson SFU still refuses to learn four years after the union drive in 2019, where SFU signed to recognize Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) as the RAs’ bargaining agents.
As a member of the TSSU, I am writing to implore research assistants to help us all. Research assistants (RAs) just have around one week left for SFU to finally recognize the vital work we do. We have until August 11 to cement our rights as workers by signing union cards with the TSSU.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a student or not, whether you spend an hour a week compiling literature reviews or 40 hours on an archeological dig, if you’re an aspiring professor, or eager to leave academia behind as soon as possible. If you’re being paid to do research at SFU this summer semester, you can make history by building a union that will fight for you and generations of RAs to come.
This final push is the culmination of RAs fighting together for our rights for years. Our modest demands — for health benefits, job security, and fair pay — have not changed since day one. But SFU still refuses to meet them.
After we signed cards in 2019, the university said it would “voluntarily” recognize our union. SFU soon broke that promise when it tried to kick many RAs out of the TSSU, claiming they don’t count as workers.
We refused to be divided, so we fought back.
Last year, we took our fight to arbitration, and won. The arbitrator said the university’s “approach was not in the spirit, intention, or words of the [recognition] agreement.” He said the administration’s “behaviour is not a credit to SFU as an institution or its organizational capability to act in a manner on which contracting parties can rely with confidence.”
Sadly, SFU has acted like a sore loser. They still refuse to recognize us as workers and negotiate a fair contract. But we’re not backing down, either.
SFU broke its agreement to recognize us as union members. It has refused to engage in meaningful bargaining for four long years. And it has ignored the arbitration ruling.
All the while, RAs have continued to perform the vital work that makes SFU work every day.
It’s time to put an end to the school’s endless delays and evasions so we can all concentrate on doing the research we love. To do that, we still need every RA who is able to sign a card by August 11 at the very latest, but the sooner the better.
If a large majority of us sign cards now, we can file for certification with the BC Labour Relations Board (LRB), which was cut out of the process when SFU “voluntarily recognized” our union in 2019. The LRB has the power to force SFU to finally recognize our union and negotiate a deal with all research assistants.
Over the last three months, TSSU organizers have spoken to more than a thousand fellow RAs on and off campus. Several hundred have already signed, but those who haven’t often tell us they are too busy to think about it.
The truth is, we’re all swamped — especially as the semester winds down — but if everyone who is planning to “get around to it eventually” keeps putting it off, we won’t reach the threshold we need to finally put this issue to bed.
This is our last chance to get over the line. You can sign a card online right now.
Many RAs who have told us they are hesitant to sign have cited common misconceptions about the reality of the campaign, and unions in general. When they get the facts, they often change their minds.
Here are some frequently asked questions:
SFU says it can’t afford to pay RAs more. Why bother asking?
SFU’s research funding has more than quintupled over the last 20 years. Between 2016 and 2021 it increased by nearly $62 million per year. Yet, SFU’s data shows pay for RAs has remained flat during that time.
Where is all that money going?
Instead of paying researchers their fair share, SFU’s administration takes a large cut of every grant. SFU’s compensation report notes president Joy Johnson was paid more than $300,000 for the 2019–20 fiscal year. That jumped to $389,000 the next year. Last year, Johnson was paid nearly half a million dollars ($484,690).
In a single year, SFU’s five top executives took nearly $2 million from the university.
Will the union come between me and my research supervisor?
Studies have shown unionization doesn’t hurt the relationship between research assistants and supervisors. In fact, it has the opposite effect: “Union-represented graduate student employees report higher levels of personal and professional support, unionized graduate student employees fare better on pay, and unionized and nonunionized students report similar perceptions of academic freedom.”
Will my supervisor punish me if I sign?
If you are worried you will face consequences for standing up for yourself, that’s when having a union standing behind you can be the most powerful. Most importantly, signing a card is confidential, so your supervisor won’t know if you sign.
What is there to win?
RAs have been left without basic employment rights that all other TSSU members have, such as extended health and dental benefits, a month of paid sick leave, tuition deferment, payment of health fees for international students, and more. Unionization also means regular wage increases and having someone in your corner to advocate for you when you run into a problem at work. Having a union allows us to fight for these basic rights — and build on them for a better future!
To sign a card, visit https://www.researchiswork.tssu.ca/sign/ to sign online or for more information about how to sign in-person.
