Background

In 2013, SFU implemented the Guard.me health insurance scheme that forced international students into an expensive health plan without consultation, gave a kick-back to SFU and was in blatant violation our members' Collective Agreement rights.

After a fight lasting almost 4 years, including multiple freedom of information act requests, petitions, demonstrations, and a mediation effort in December 2014, TSSU has won a substantial payout for past and future members. This victory was only possible because of the sustained work of many members.

This settlement is a reminder of strength of collective action. Together we have not only won a payout for our members, but we have forced SFU to renegotiate the Guard.me contract so it now costs 30% less per person -- a benefit to thousands of students outside of our membership.

Those who paid Guard.me premiums while they were employed as TA,TM, or Sessional Instructor should receive email communication from SFU outlining the reimbursement in the coming weeks. The full text of the settlement is here.

What we have won:

1. SFU will refund an amount equivalent to the monthly amount for MSP premiums to each member enrolled in Guard.me for the period before they were enrolled in MSP, up to a maximum of 4 months. At the current cost of MSP, this amounts to $225 of reimbursement for an individual for the typical 3 months of ineligibility; the current cost of Guard.me is $247 for one person.
2. Every member who was enrolled in Guard.me prior to today will receive an additional $15 in compensation. Future members will not receive this top up.
3. The process to opt-out of Guard.me will be streamlined for future semesters (full description to follow).

What we gave up:

1. TSSU will allow SFU to enroll TSSU members in a mandatory health plan 3rd party health plan for those ineligible for MSP (i.e. they get to keep doing what they're doing)
2. The reimbursement is limited to a maximum of 4 months, so those who were enrolled in a 2nd semester in the early days of the program will not receive extra compensation.
3. The reimbursement rate is closer to the current cost of $247, rather than the old cost of $353. However, the reimbursement will rise as the cost of MSP rises (typically 4-6% per year).

We estimate the settlement is worth in excess of $100,000 for the past enrollees and tens of thousands of dollars per year for the future.

The Guard.me contract will be up for open bidding by other vendors in 2017. We believe the cost can be reduced substantially and future members may have a net monetary gain by being enrolled in SFU's new mandatory insurance program.

Questions should be directed to our email at tssu@tssu.ca.