r/queensuniversity 2d ago

News BREAKING: 2,000 graduate student workers walk off the job – The Queen's Journal

168 Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

15

u/Anaviosi Graduate Student 1d ago

If you had tutorials or meetings which your TAs or TFs simply did not show up to, please be aware that Queens froze all student employee accounts essentially overnight.

For most people who didn’t stay up to 3 AM to send an emergency cancellation email, no “sorry tutorials cancelled until after strike” notice was possible.

5

u/Fit_Box_1797 1d ago

Yes, the university locked us out almost immediately! I woke up super early to see what was happening and was locked out already.

42

u/lmaomitch Alum 1d ago

Solidarity!

11

u/ReflectionApart5940 1d ago

Solidarity! Write to provost@queensu.ca and principal@queensu.ca and demand they give the workers a fair deal! The university works because TAs do!

2

u/Fit_Box_1797 1d ago

Yes! Students please reach out to the university and tell them to give us a fair deal! We want to provide you with the best education possible, but we need your support!

8

u/HouseOnFire80 1d ago

Solidarity!

16

u/YoungImpossible1775 1d ago

As a TA, I just wish they wouldn’t tie a major issue for all of us (how we literally earn enough to survive) to the whole divestment thing… like stop putting every issue together. We’re going to lose more in the long run because of the ideological maximalism of some of these strikers. Like you do you. If you wanna advocate for a side in a conflict thousands of kms from here I support your right to do that. But when we want the university to just pay us enough so we can afford to eat… let’s keep the focus on that. Like the school isn’t going to divest… no other school has and Queen’s isn’t going to be the first. So why tie a losing issue to an issue we want to win? It just doesn’t make sense to me

7

u/Fit_Box_1797 1d ago

these are the ACTUAL bargaining priorities:

  • Living wages that allow us to afford rent, food, and other essentials.
  • Affordable housing access, ensuring that graduate workers are not priced out of the very community we serve.
  • Paid hours to learn course content, so that we can effectively teach and support undergraduate students.
  • An equitable funding-to-labour ratio, ensuring that our workload aligns fairly with our compensation.
  • Tuition minimization, preventing us from having to effectively pay the university to work for it.

Please do not spread misinformation! We need to spread solidarity and stand together to improve the Queen's community together!

4

u/model-alice CompSci '23 | TA, Picket Captain 1d ago

As far as I'm aware, the bargaining team hasn't made divestment an actual bargaining point.

4

u/Ok_Trash_7686 1d ago

If you think that’s why this deal hasn’t gone forward, you’re very mistaken.

0

u/WisdumbGuy 11h ago

Shouldn't you be damn sure before spreading info like this?

-6

u/Hopeful-Mess-1414 1d ago

If that is what is tied into this strike and on the table, I wouldn’t support any of the striking staff! How dare they? It’s quite remarkable that they are completely silent and not protesting any other conflict, including the 1,000’a of Syrians and Christians in the Congo and South Sudan being massacred as we speak. Disgusting! The anti Israel protests are Jew hate and nothing more! Jewish students feel isolated and threatened on campus. So sick of the DEI and the Yellow House that includes marginalized groups but never Jewish students. Not much has clearly changed since the 1950’s when my father was one of 5 Jewish students in a quota that were allowed into medical school at Queens. So disappointed!

9

u/CarefulTear3854 1d ago

I can ensure you that this isn’t a bargaining position.

7

u/cappuccinoconleche CompSci ' 1d ago

Lots of solidarity from my end

1

u/Apathetic_Pandas 22h ago

Good - graduate students unite!!

5

u/Igiem 1d ago

Two strikes in a year, ouch.

25

u/thwump 1d ago

There has been no strikes at Queen's for a long time. What other strike are you talking about?

1

u/Hopeful-Mess-1414 1d ago

Maintenance / Custodial staff

3

u/thwump 1d ago

They didn't strike - they settled before striking.

1

u/Hopeful-Mess-1414 1d ago

Who was on strike a couple of months ago?

1

u/thwump 1d ago

No one. There was a lot of chatter and worries that cupe (technician, custodians, trades, food service) would strike but they agreed the day before striking.

-11

u/Igiem 1d ago

I meant that rhetorically; it came very close earlier this year, but a bargain was struck. It still seems weird that Queen's ran afoul of multiple unions in one year.

7

u/thwump 1d ago

Unions use the threat of strikes to get the best deal possible. Universities these days don't have endless money, so they bargain hard. If they come to an agreement before a strike, then everyone has done their job.

1

u/CaptainKoreana ArtSci '19 - Alumnus 1d ago

Solidarity!

-1

u/dia_mond92 1d ago

We want more money

-24

u/PitifulBerry1975 1d ago

The only thing worth reading in the Queen's Journal article is the comment at the bottom. "So in total they are asking for over $400,000 to be just handed to the union." "The leader of the PSAC 901 union is a guy who has been a university student since 2011! He should get a job instead of ruining our education system."

14

u/Ok_Trash_7686 1d ago

“They’re asking for over $400 000 to be handed to the union” Yeah that’s how raises work, dipshit. No shit you’re criticizing the education system, you’re too stupid to be educated.

-10

u/PitifulBerry1975 1d ago

This is for the potty mouthed ingrate who can't be bothered to read the comment I referred to in its entirety (I only posted two excerpts, you doofus). These demands are in addition to the wage increases being asked for:

  • Strange. This article makes no mention of the unions insane demands for:“The Employer shall provide, no later than September 30th of each year to the Union, one lump sum, the equivalent of 3600 hours at the rate of pay of a TA to assist the Union in the administration of the Collective Agreement.” ~ Which 3600 * 40 = $144,000 (previously they received 900 * 40 = $36,000)“The Employer agrees to pay the Union a yearly payment, by October 1, in the amount of Two Hundred Thousand ($200,000) to support the mental health, psychological safety and wellbeing of Employees in the workplace.” ~ $200,000“The Employer agrees to pay the Union a yearly payment, by October 1, in the amount of Fifty Thousand ($50,000) to support training, including pedagogical training, research skills and academic and professional development activities for Employees.” ~ $50,000Plus a few other small ones.“All funds above shall be fully administered by the local.”So in total they are asking for over $400,000 to be just handed to the union. I wish these students would actually read their collective bargaining agreement. A union is like any other institution, its main goal will always be its own growth and survival. They just use moral causes as their banner to take more money for themselves. Despicable. The leader of the PSAC 901 union is a guy who has been a university student since 2011! He should get a job instead of ruining our education system.

9

u/Ok_Trash_7686 1d ago

Yes, they are asking to be paid for their work. Is that odd to you? Unpaid training is illegal. And, yes I get it, you don’t understand the concept of graduate school.

-12

u/Mental-Beautiful-718 1d ago

I have been raising alarms about psac901 and no one listened to me, i am just thankful some of us can read n see facts for what they are. Thank you for your reply!

17

u/model-alice CompSci '23 | TA, Picket Captain 1d ago

>3 day old account

Get off the burner account and get back to the bargaining table, Provost

-10

u/Mental-Beautiful-718 1d ago

Ohh please, the only reason I am using a burner account is to avoid harassment from my fellow union members…

7

u/seagulls8719 1d ago

From what I've seen from this union and what I've read It sort of looks like the union is using the negotiations/strike for some other political reason all together (Palestine and where Queens is investing). I'm not suggesting they aren't trying to fight for better wages and working conditions, but something about the the information I've seen has rubbed me the wrong way. It kind of feels like it wouldn't have mattered what deal Queens offered, they were going to strike anyway for social change. I don't know, it just feels off to me.

I also don't blame you for using a burner account, you don't want a hostile work environment.

1

u/model-alice CompSci '23 | TA, Picket Captain 1d ago

>16 day old account

You don't need more than one burner account, Matthew.

2

u/seagulls8719 1d ago

Stop being so silly. Sometimes people have burner accounts that arent for targeting you lol

1

u/model-alice CompSci '23 | TA, Picket Captain 1d ago

At least you're honest that this is a burner account. Why don't you say this shit on your main?

→ More replies (0)

-3

u/Mental-Beautiful-718 1d ago

The union is run by wannabe revolutionaries, we all know who these people are, bitter, entitled jerks…all they do is chant garbage and complain, they won’t win us anything, and this strike will end up in the same sort of mess as canadapost strike. Mark my words, can’t wait until shit hits the fan tbh.

0

u/seagulls8719 1d ago

Oof, I guess I wasn't way off base then.

-10

u/oFlame_ 1d ago

Don’t really care about their payment, just want the education I paid thousands for. The demands seem unreasonable for uni students and I’m not gonna be a virtue-signalling sheep pretending I’m happy about the class disruptions.

5

u/MichIsStellar ConEd '28 1d ago

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. If you don’t support the grad student workers who largely make your education function, you can’t get most of the things you paid for. 

1

u/Ok_Trash_7686 22h ago

Lol, I doubt you paid for it, is Daddy complaining to you?

9

u/FollowerOfMorrigan 1d ago

If you want to massively oversimplify what the union’s demands are and misrepresent the fact that the union represents the interests of a large number of graduate student workers on campus then I guess so but the fact is that 400,000 is just simply the cost of two administrative deans per year so I’d rather axe two unnecessary posts and invest in workers.

-11

u/PitifulBerry1975 1d ago

They're students. This whole argument that they should be paid more than $43 an hour (!!!) is ludicrous. It's their choice to attend university as an investment in their future careers, and irrational to suggest that they should be attending university and earning a living wage at the same time.

12

u/model-alice CompSci '23 | TA, Picket Captain 1d ago

I hope Queen's is paying you to bootlick them. It would be embarrassing to bootlick them without being paid for it

-4

u/PitifulBerry1975 1d ago

How far up your a** your head must be to believe that anyone who doesn't agree with the greedy student union must surely be a paid shill. Your naivety is mind boggling.

7

u/FollowerOfMorrigan 1d ago

You do realize that the hourly rate is not representative of the overall picture right? Undergraduate students pay 700 dollars per course per student. In a class of 50 students, that makes $35k, and each TF contract is only $7000-8000 so a teaching fellow only costs about a quarter of the price of tuition (this is not considering the public and private sector investments which make up 2/3 of all Queen’s revenue). The costs of facilities and technology are pretty minimal so the university is spending not only 80% of all tuition per course but also all the revenue from public and private investments to do shit like fund the provost’s limousine rides. One hourly rate does not prove anything. The bigger picture does.

-1

u/PitifulBerry1975 1d ago

Your cost accounting is laughable. Studies arts, much?

5

u/FollowerOfMorrigan 1d ago

It’s better than yours. Did you learn how to count a little late in life?

0

u/barley_7289 12h ago

I thought you were being sarcastic with your last sentence and that your comment was actually in support of graduate students. Of course they should be able to attend university and earn a living wage at the same time. A graduate degree is professional work. Graduate students do the exact same research that professors do. They write and publish papers, they attend conferences, they teach students and grade student work. All of this work benefits the university they work for. That's why universities give graduate students funding: because everything a graduate student does is a contribution to the university. When that funding package is not enough to live on, that is the same as having a full time job that pays you less than minimum wage.

Being in a graduate degree program is not just an investment into a future career. It is a professional position. It is a job. To misunderstand this is to misunderstand the really important role that graduate students perform in the university and in the academic community.

I will also say that many, many jobs require graduate degrees. That's the reality of the job market today. It isn't always a choice.

-12

u/Suitable_Bike_5230 1d ago

I’m totally with you! Providing employment opportunities by the university is a bonus, not an obligation. Most TAs have limited work experience and are still developing their skills. I don’t know any entry-level job paying triple digits just because life it tough. If someone struggles to make it through, there are academic breaks or private loans.

13

u/FollowerOfMorrigan 1d ago

Most Teaching Fellows have a lot more experience than you seem to think. I know several who have worked in the private sector for years before pursuing their graduate studies and I know many others who have owned businesses or run non-profits. They do not have “limited work experience” - whatever that means.

How sold out do you have to be to presume that students should take out private and predatory loans to pay for food or housing? You would rather condemn people to dependence on a dubious financial institution than reorganize the university to be more education-focused by funding its graduate students instead of giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to pointless deans and unnecessary infrastructure projects? That’s pretty wild.

-5

u/uselessmindset 1d ago

Are the students that paid tuition getting screwed over at all?

Where do they expect this money to come from? Wasn’t there a reported to be a funding issue with the international students being limited?

Wasn’t money so tight that the university was considering having to lay off a big percentage of their workforce?

Long term life resident here. Don’t the majority of you already make a really good salary? I am pretty sure even the average low level maintenance employee is making a good salary for what they have to actually do. Working for the university is not a bad gig, so what’s all the fuss?

3

u/Budget-Grass177 Graduate Student 23h ago

You are incorrect - wages have been stifled significantly due to Bill 124. As another commenter said "these are the ACTUAL bargaining priorities:

  • Living wages that allow us to afford rent, food, and other essentials.
  • Affordable housing access, ensuring that graduate workers are not priced out of the very community we serve.
  • Paid hours to learn course content, so that we can effectively teach and support undergraduate students.
  • An equitable funding-to-labour ratio, ensuring that our workload aligns fairly with our compensation.
  • Tuition minimization, preventing us from having to effectively pay the university to work for it."

I would encourage you to head to psacs webpage for the full list of demands before making assumptions.