A Talk On: TSSU Strike and Austerity at SFU

https://vimeo.com/133523706

Derek Sahota, TSSU Chair, describes working conditions for TSSU members at Simon Fraser University.

New TSSU Job Action

Hello TSSU Members,

On July 15 and 16 you voted overwhelmingly to authorize strike and picket action. Last night, the Strike Committee decided to return to Marking for Education not Administration. All assignments submitted after 11:59 pm on July 21st (today) will be subject to this job action. The goal of this action is to build pressure to get us to a Collective Agreement that addresses our core issues.

Full instructions and a message to communicate to students has been sent to all members in an email at 1pm today, but a bullet point summary is below.

During this job action you may:

Mark assignments due before July 22nd using your normal procedure
Continue to provide verbal and written feedback, as long as this feedback does not communicate the mark received via any quantifiable means, including a letter grade, score, percentage, etc.
Inform students if they have failed an assignment or exam

During this job action you must not:

Record marks on any physical or electronic means available to the employer
Communicate marks or grades to students or the Course Supervisor
After July 21st, participate in group marking outside SFU's regular business hours of 8:30am-4:30pm Monday to Friday, unless the Course Supervisor has obtained prior approval from the TSSU Strike Committee.
After July 21st, record marks on any exams being group marked, instead record them on a coversheet as per the Group Marking Instructions attached.

Our goal is to get a fair and reasonable collective agreement, and we will need the
support of the campus community to achieve that. Please encourage your students to visit support.tssu.ca to find out ways they can get involved. One simple and easy thing they can do is email SFU President Andrew Petter at sfu_pres@sfu.ca.

If you have any questions or concerns you can contact TSSU via:

email: tssu(at)tssu.ca
office: 778.782.4735
helpline: 604.652.6202

You can also come to the general membership meeting on July 30th, 4:30 pm Vancouver Campus, Harbour Centre room 2245.

You can also find all of this information here: http://strike.tssu.ca/marking-for-education
Your students can find details about the updated grade appeals process here: http://strike.tssu.ca/undergraduate-grade-request/

Strike Vote Results and Next Steps: UPDATED!

Hello TSSU Members,

Thank you for your strong support in this week's strike vote! The results are in: After two days of polling, 86% of voters said “yes” to all strike action. This shows SFU Administration that their attempts to distract us from reaching a fair collective agreement are unacceptable.

The Strike Committee met tonight, voting to serve SFU with strike notice tomorrow morning. Our first action is to update our students on the bargaining and strike situation (a communication will be provided to members Monday), and an overtime ban for ELC/ITP instructors.

Future strike actions will be determined at the Greater Committee meetings, which are scheduled each Monday at 5pm and are open to the membership. In addition, all members are encouraged to attend next week's bargaining sessions (July 22nd and 23rd). Contact tssu@tssu.ca by Monday at 12pm to attend (and get a free shirt!)

Genevieve Lorenzo, TSSU Coordinator,
On behalf of your Strike Committee

Update!

The Labour Relations Board has acknowledged our Notice of Strike, which means that strike action can begin on Monday, July 20th, at 9:30am.