Students And Striking Union Members Occupy Area Outside York U. President’s Office
Posted December 15, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
They can’t go to class. So they went to the president’s office instead.
A group of about 120 York University students and members of the striking CUPE union occupied an area outside the office of the college’s head honcho Monday.
The occupiers sang songs and chanted, insisting they won’t be leaving until they get 12 specific answers from university brass about when negotiations will resume and when the strike will end.
They also want Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri to agree to hold a public forum in the first week of January.
Teaching assistants walked off the job early last month, leaving 50,000 without any classes to go to and costing most students their year in 2008. York University has confirmed it’s too late for fall classes to resume before the Christmas break.
There are no new talks scheduled and Queen’s Park has so far refused to intervene or make any move towards ending the strike.
Wages are at the heart of the dispute, with the T.A.s, members of CUPE Local 3903, insisting they can’t survive on the amount the school is paying them. An original offer of 9.25 per cent over three years was rejected as being too low.
Their strength is in numbers. The union represents some 3,400 people on the picket line.
