The Employer stole $231,000 in scholarship pay for graduate student TAs and over-deducted salary for many hundreds of workers during the TSSU strike in summer & fall 2023.

During the 2023 TSSU strike, our Employer, SFU, cut all compensation (scholarship and salary) for all members of the striking bargaining unit between September 28 and October 18, as well as for July 19, 2023. An Employer deducting their employees’ wages for the time they spend on picket lines and withdrawing their labour is generally within the bounds of the law in BC, with some important exceptions. However, our Employer has taken a lot more than what they’re ‘entitled’ to during a strike. They have:

• cut the scholarship portion of grad student TA (GTA) pay for 1 day in July and 14 days in September/October,

• deducted salary from SIs and TAs who were not scheduled to work on July 19

Finally, the reduction in work may not have been commensurate with the reduction in pay for some striking TSSU members. Therefore, SFU may have stolen even more money!

Our Employer has, once again, disrespected and acted unfairly towards the employees that make this University work. If you’re a TSSU member that has been affected by these scholarship and salary deductions, get in touch with the campaign organizers at organizers@tssu.ca to find out what you and your coworkers can do to fight back and demand SFU return your money. We need a collective fight to pressure SFU, specifically the President, the VP Finance, and the VP Academic who have the power to return the money they’ve unjustly taken from TSSU members, now.