SFU research assistants file union cards with TSSU

The Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) is submitting more than 1,100 union cards signed by research workers to the B.C. Labour Relations Board on Friday.

“Today we are taking a big step forward to ensure all research workers at SFU are finally recognized for the critical labour we provide to the university and the community,” TSSU chair Kayla Hilstob said. “Simon Fraser University only works because we do.”

The submission is the culmination of years of SFU research assistants fighting for their labour rights. The successful summer card-signing blitz is just the latest chapter in TSSU’s long fight for better working conditions at SFU.

After the TSSU organized research assistants (RAs) across all SFU departments and campuses in 2019, the university agreed to “voluntarily” recognize the union. Since then, the union has fought for a first contract for its new members, but the administration has refused to negotiate a fair deal.

SFU has gone back on its recognition agreement by trying to exclude hundreds of RAs. The TSSU fought back against the employer’s baseless claims that student workers are not employees.

In September 2022, a labour arbitrator ruled SFU had violated its voluntary recognition agreement and ordered the university to pay damages to the union. The ruling confirmed that SFU had reneged on its commitment to recognize and negotiate for research workers by excluding student RAs compensated via scholarships and stipends.

SFU has ignored the arbitration ever since. The administration still refuses to negotiate with RAs compensated by scholarship.

Meanwhile the university has tabled insulting offers in negotiations with the RAs it does recognize as employees. SFU’s best offer to date would pay RAs as little as $17 per hour.

“SFU brings in tens of millions of dollars in research funding every year, but president Joy Johnson seems to think it is acceptable to pay the people who do that research as little as the minimum wage,” said Yameena Zaidi, a research assistant in the School of Communication.

SFU’s research funding has more than quintupled over the last 20 years, reaching over $170 million in 2021. Meanwhile, RA pay has remained flat over that time.

The labour relations board has the power to force SFU to finally come to the bargaining table for all research assistants now that the TSSU is submitting union cards signed by more than 55% of RAs at SFU.

The TSSU will continue to fight for fair pay, benefits, protections against harassment and workplace abuse, improved health-and-safety policies, intellectual property rights, tuition deferment, childcare coverage and more. 

“SFU underestimated us,” TSSU organizer Catherine Dubé said. “The administration thought it could grind us down with endless evasions and delays. We have shown that research workers cannot be bullied and exploited when we work together.”

Background

TSSU Executive in solidarity with academic worker union organizers at UCSD

The Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) Executive Committee at Simon Fraser University stands in solidarity with the academic workers at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), who went on strike for six weeks along with 50,000 other workers across the University of California system to win a contract that includes substantial wage increases and new workplace bullying, harassment, and migrant worker protections. After UCSD signed the contract with the union, the University administration refused to implement it and instead retaliated against union organizers in a series of punishments and arrests. A month after 60 UCSD academic workers peacefully took the stage holding signs at the 44th UCSD Alumni Awards on May 5th to protest the University’s refusal to implement the contract, the University charged 59 attendees on the registration list with “physical assault,” “physical abuse and threats to health and safety,” and “disruption of university activities.” Over half of the accused workers deny ever being present at the event. More recently, the University police arrested two UCSD graduate student workers and one post-doctorate, and held them in custody for over 12 hours for writing “Living Wage Now” on the sidewalk in chalk. They are now facing felony charges for conspiracy and vandalism.

We deplore the UCSD Administration’s violent retaliation against academic workers for peacefully protesting and using chalk (an impermanent and easily washable medium) on the campus sidewalk. TSSU has its own history with retaliation from Simon Fraser University administration for writing messages in chalk, and we stand side-by-side with workers across the academic community who must endlessly fight to gain and protect every single right while constantly facing retaliatory violence and punishment. Workers have the right to organize and collectively bargain, and that right should be upheld and protected at all times. Peaceful protest and demonstration are vital tools for bringing attention to the issues faced by workers, and we condemn any retaliation against workers for exercising their rights. As William Schneider, a graduate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, says, “This is…very clearly part of a larger coordinated crackdown of union activities across the UC.”

UCSD continues to refuse to implement key aspects of their new contract, while Pradeep Khosla, the UCSD Chancellor, received a $500,000 salary increase just to stay in his role at the University. It is clear where UCSD’s priorities lie. With unwavering support for the academic worker union organizers at UCSD, we call on the University leadership to immediately drop the charges against the academic worker organizers and immediately implement the contract to which they are legally bound.

In solidarity,

The Teaching Support Staff Union Executive

TSSU in solidarity with MoveUp at CapU

The Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) at Simon Fraser University stands in solidarity with MoveUP workers at Capilano University. As academic workers engaged in teaching and research, TSSU is well aware of the struggles and precarity academic workers face day-to-day. We are familiar with the employer dragging their feet in bargaining and the need to strike in response.


It’s a disgrace that the Capilano University Administration is unwilling to bargain over the issue of remote work. As a new feature of the workplace since the beginning of the pandemic, remote work enables workers to have working arrangements that suit their needs. Despite similar provisions for remote work having been incorporated into the Collective Agreements of many public sector unions, Capilano University’s refusal to bargain over this issue illustrates their contempt for their own workers. Clearcut language in a Collective Agreement over issues related to the changing nature of work is a key protection for workers rights. Further, Capilano University’s unwillingness to return to the table after having had discussions at the table and subsequently tabling changed agreement is not indicative of an employer that is willing to get to a deal.


As an independent union also currently on strike, we understand that striking is not easy and requires endless and exhausting work on the part of the union. Thus, we admire and look to your strength and resilience, and share our support while you fight for a fair deal. We look forward to hearing of a well-earned victory, and look forward to celebrating alongside you. Please stay in touch to continue building solidarity and support each other's picket lines.


In solidarity,
The Teaching Support Staff Union