McMaster University teaching and research assistants to strike Monday
The union representing teaching and research assistants at McMaster University has given notice it will strike Monday and plans to picket at campus entrances.
The strike comes after talks broke down between the two sides, which had met for discussions with a provincial mediator Friday. Key issues include wages, including closing the pay gap between undergraduate and graduate TAs, guaranteed work and protection against tuition increases.
Despite our best efforts to bargain in good faith and secure a fair collective agreement that helps us get ahead rather than falling further behind, talks with the university have broken down and we are calling a strike," CUPE 3906 said in a bargaining bulletin.
In a statement, McMaster said local 3906 represents about 2,900 part-time teaching and research assistants, who have declared a strike starting at 7 a.m. Monday. The university will remain open for classes, however, people should expect delays and give themselves extra time to get to campus.
We are one-third of the workforce at McMaster, but our wages account for only 3.7 per cent of the yearly payroll," the union said.
There was an eleventh-hour pitch" by the university that included a $40,000 union-administered fund for fifth-year PhD students in addition to their hourly wages, local 3906 said. This was rejected. In its bulletin, the union urged all workers to take part in the strike.
Throughout this process, we have bargained in good faith and are disappointed by this outcome," Susan Tighe, McMaster provost and vice-president (academic) said in a statement. We value our CUPE members and the contributions that they make, and believe we put a fair offer on the table."
McMaster noted that most TAs are graduate students who have one or more degrees and years of research and academic experience. Most of their work is in upper-level courses. Teaching and research assistants who do not have an undergraduate degree have less experience and largely support first-year courses, the university said.
According to the university, TAs and RAs with at least one undergraduate degree are currently paid $44.95 an hour, with CUPE asking for a 15 per cent wage increase over three years. The university said it has offered a nine per cent wage increase over three years.
TAs and RAs who do not have a degree are currently paid $26.07 an hour. CUPE is asking for a 32 per cent wage increase over three years and the university said it is offering a 9.75 per cent increase over three years.
The university said it has also offered a roughly 73 per cent increase to the benefit plan over three years. The university noted that the current living wage in Hamilton is $19.05 an hour for full-time work.
In a second bulletin posted in response to McMaster's communication, CUPE 3906 said its demands are being made so that teaching and research assistants can keep up with sky-high inflation after three years of wage restraint."
It says its key proposals include a wage increase in line with inflation, access to work, protection against tuition increases, and closing the pay gap between graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants."
Its wage proposal is nine per cent in Year 1 and three per cent in Year 2 and Year 3 for graduate TAs, and 20 per cent in Year 1 and six per cent in Year 2 and Year 3 for undergraduate TAs. The union said graduate TAs are typically given less than 10 hours of work a week and undergraduate TAs less than 2.5 hours.
McMaster has pointed out that the living wage in Hamilton is $19 (an) hour in an effort to paint our requests as unreasonable, but that same study concluded the living salary is $33,000 (a) year," 3906 said, adding that teaching and research assistants earn nowhere near that.
Our proposals are fair, reasonable, exist at comparable universities, and are well within McMaster's means," the union said.
For labour updates from McMaster visit labour-updates.mcmaster.ca.
Local 3906 is calling on members to sign up for picket duties. CUPE National pays $300 a week for 20 hours of picket duties. For more information visit bettermac.ca.
Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com