Login / RegisterCUPE support workers to "shut down" SFU with picket lines
Striking support workers at Simon Fraser University will set up picket lines at the main Burnaby campus on Thursday (November 1).
The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the one-day strike, which will not target the daycare on campus, will last from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday's picketing will be followed by a walkout at SFU's Surrey campus on Friday (November 2) and a "shutdown" of SFU Harbour Centre in downtown Vancouver on Saturday and Sunday (November 3 and 4), according to the union.
In a news release today (October 31), CUPE Local 3338 president Lynne Fowler noted the union met with SFU president Andrew Petter and university executives on Monday (October 29).
“We received no indication from the administration that they are willing to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a settlement,” Fowler said in the release. “That leaves us no alternative but to ramp up job action to pressure them to bargain in good faith until we have a deal.”
CUPE 3338 is seeking a collective agreement "in line with those other settlements" recently reached at UNBC, UBC, Royal Roads University, and Thompson Rivers University, according the release.
On its labour-update website, SFU says the Burnaby campus will remain open on Thursday during the one-day strike but "some operations and scheduled classes may be impacted".
The university informs students that they "may need to cross a picket line" in order to get to class, and goes on to offer tips for crossing picket lines.
"It is important to note that picketers can be in an emotional state and may act out of character," the SFU site says. "You may be nervous about crossing the picket line, so remember to remain calm and take extra care to avoid confrontation."
However, the SFU site notes that TransLink buses will not be crossing picket lines.
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(http://www.sfu.ca/srs/labourupdate/studentlinks.html)
Don MacLachlan
Director, Public Affairs and Media Relations
Simon Fraser University
You have a responsibility to bargain in good faith and that means going back to the "table" and settling very soon.
And in reality that means ensuring that the province/feds are adequately funding public education. Student fees are already at unaffordable rates.
http://bargaining.tssu.ca/tssu-files-lega/
Quite amazing that a university - an institution relying on graduate research to promote it's name - is being the aggressor against it's own graduate students that are doing the TA work. The smug arrogance among the administration is suffocating.
As I understand it, since SFU buses now serve a community which is unrelated to SFU (UniverCity and others) they will continue to drive up the hill, as the mountain itself is not being picketed per se.
Remember the union motto: Me First, Fuck Everyone Else!
As a student, I do not support nor have sympathy for any of the protestors. In fact, I would like to see the TSSU disbanded completely. They've done nothing but waste time and money for students. If everyone wants a lower tuition, we should stop looking at the government for support and start cutting back pointless unions that do nothing but make student-life more difficult.
--a student of Communications