On Sunday January 25th, CUPE 3903 held a rally in front of Queen’s Park in Toronto to protest back to work legislation announced by Ontario premiere Dalton McGuinty. The event was attended by several hundred union supporters, including members of other unions, York U. students who are unaffiliated with CUPE 3903, and NDP city councillor Howard Moscoe.
If commenting, please play nice. This isn’t Digg or YouTube or The Star.
Also, please pardon the sound quality. It was not only very windy, but there was a lot going on, sound-wise. Pump up the voluuuume!
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Glad you asked about addressing the concerns of students who are basically screwed in this situation one way or another.
While I sympathize with the union and what they’re trying to achieve, putting myself in the shoes of a student at York, I ca definitely relate to how they’re feeling.
It’s not just being “inconvenienced” as the guys states in the video. Their lives are put on hold, and for people who had plans to do graduate studies, or even to start working immediately, they’re screwed as well.
Also, I would be hard pressed to ever recommend anyone send their kids to school at York after this. It may be a watershed moment for unions everywhere but it’s also a total disaster for York and its future as an attractive option to prospective students. People are going to remember this strike forever. Why would I want to go to school that sets record lengths of keeping me from my classes?
If my friends are at UofT and are cruising past me right now, snatching up the jobs, what do I really have to show for being out of class for this much time?
UofT’s GA/TA/Contract Faculty union looks like it’s about to strike as well, by the way. Considering the precedent that the McGuinty government set with York, it’s also unlikely that the UofT administration will do much bargaining either, and just wait it out until legislation gets passed for them too.
The GAs, TA’s and contract faculty’s lives have been on hold too. Because of the strike many have starved, been evicted from their homes, and had to take out mammoth loans and credit lines in order to stay afloat. People seem to forget, also, that the majority of CUPE 3903 are also full-time students, and that their semesters have been pushed back as well.
The union fought for smaller class sizes so students could get a better education. They fought for job security and decent wages. They gave in to university demands on the wage front, and instead asked for the former requests. They lost. These workers will now continue to work below the poverty line, and students continue to think only of themselves, “My semester is ruined”. This union fought to IMPROVE their education. Nice.
Then again, we also live in a world that, while it’s horrific to kill cows for food, will walk by a homeless man on the street without batting an eyelash. We live in a fucked up world when a group of workers who want decent wages, realistic benefits packages, and a better learning environment for the students they work for end up being attacked by the very people they’re trying to support.
In the end, yes, people are inconvenienced. Lives are on hold. If other people’s lives weren’t put through the grinder in the past many people who currently have health care, dental care, 40 hour work weeks with time-and-a-half overtime, 2 weeks vacation, and even plain old minimum wage might not have any of it. People are short sighted and self-involved for the most part, and it embarrassing when a Conservative city councilor is trumpeted, by the very people who likely trash the Harper government on a daily basis, as a hero because he fought against the very realistic requests of the union.
While so many romanticize the union’s role in this, the fact remains that those who lost their homes on the picket lines couldn’t go back to work to save them even if they wanted to.
The penalties that the union would impose on them would be worse than York could.
This fiasco has damaged York’s reputation as a place of learning, and in the end will probably cost many of the jobs that they fought to improve the wages of due to fewer enrollments in the future.
The problem is often over-inflated expectations pushed by the union to the employees, and then, the push back from management based on what’s fiscally possible.
In these economic times, it’s unrealistic to expect job security for contract positions.
Those involved in these sorts of labour disputes quickly lose sight of the real issues and dissolve into pissing contests, each side trying to save face and point fingers of blame at the other.
Everyone loses.
What’s up?. Thanks a bunch for the blog. I’ve been digging around looking some info up for shool, but there is so much out there. Google lead me here - good for you i suppose! Keep up the good work. I will be coming back over here in a few days to see if there is updated posts.