Presented by the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) with support from the Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE)
TA Day is SFU’s primary peer learning event for both new and veteran teaching assistants and international teaching assistants. Meet your colleagues and get information and advice from your union, experienced TAs, and other members of SFU’s academic community. You will find out about campus resources, gain knowledge, develop skills and build confidence for your teaching support roles. There's also a social afterwards.
All TAs are encouraged to register and attend! If you're planning to TA in future semesters, you are also welcome.
Attendance at TA day sessions counts as part of your paid hours per the Collective Agreement!
Register here! and view the whole schedule online on the TA day website.
TSSU Stands with Palestine
The TSSU General Membership unanimously voted to stand with the people of Gaza, and follow the call of Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Gaza to refuse to take part in academic work that contributes to the production or transport of armaments that will be used in Israel on October 24, 2024. The current bombing campaign and siege perpetrated by the Israeli regime is devastating Gaza, killing thousands, and displacing millions. University students, faculty, and staff across the world have been engaging in campaigns to boycott the Israeli state, including their universities and military infrastructure.
Faculty 4 Palestine, an independent group of faculty members at SFU, has circulated the Motion to Divest petition demanding that SFU stop investing in corporations engaged in military arms production, including arms used by the Israeli Forces. The TSSU General Membership unanimously endorsed this petition on March 20, 2024. As such, you are urged to sign this petition if you have not already. The money that SFU invests is also our money, both our tuition as well money earned through our labor. We have a right to demand that this money is not invested to kill innocent civilians.
SFU Closes ELC and ITP Programs in shocking move
As part of so-called "budget cuts," SFU has unilaterally decided to close two long-standing programs English Language and Culture (ELC), and Interpretation and Translation (ITP) this summer. This decision was made with no consultation with the union, and means nearly 20 continuing instructors and an additional 20 long-standing temporary instructors will lose their jobs. The continuing instructors have an average of 16 years of service and during those years have made immense contributions to our community while bringing in substantial revenue to the University. We are working with the instructors and affected stakeholders to question and to try to reverse this shocking decision. In parallel, TSSU is working to negotiate a fair compensation scheme that respects these instructors' many years of service, should SFU decide to close the programs anyways.
As part of that effort ELC/ITP Alumni and supporters have been adding letters of support and we encourage all to read about the deep impacts of these callous cuts on long-standing programs that have contributed so much to the community.
Several media outlets have covered this closure announcement:
If you are available to help with the effort to reverse this decision, or were a student in ELC or ITP, please get in touch with the ELC/ITP Steward Scott Yano at: scotty@tssu.ca