teaching support staff union: job action town hall october 18, 2012

TAs, TMs, Sessionals and ELC/ITP Continuing Instructors

Teaching Support Staff Union:Job Action Town Hall

October 18, 2012


Teaching Support Staff Union:Contract Committee Report


Who we are:

• Derek Sahota (TA, Physics)• Jeff Zurek (TA, Sessional, Earth Sciences)• Joel (TA, Communications, Chief Steward)• Kyle (TA, Chemistry)• Donna (TA, Physics)• Colin (TA, Sociology & Anthropology)• Orion (Sessional, English)• Beth (ELC/ITP)• Scott (ELC/ITP)

Karen Dean (Member representative, resource person)


What is the contract committee?

• Elected group from across the membership representing all the different groups

• Responsible for:– coming up with proposals– Being at the bargaining table day in and day out

(over 40 dates so far)– Reaching a tentative agreement with the

employer that the membership votes on.


Facts, Numbers and Statistics


Why We Should Care ...

[5] “Living Costs,” TSSU research, http://bargaining.tssu.ca/sources


Sessional Reality• From 2005-2011 Sessionals taught 5902 sections at SFU.• These sections contained 264,675 students.• These students paid $180 million in tuition to SFU.• Sessionals received about $30 million in pay and benefits.• Sessionals now do about 22% of the teaching at SFU.

[11] “Sessiontal Teaching Load”, http://bargaining.tssu.ca/sources


Total SFU Tuition Revenue

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

$120

$140

$160

$180

$200

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

Year

Re

ve

nu

e (

Mill

ion

s)

International Undergraduate Students Enrolled at SFU

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010

Year

Nu

mb

er

Is there money to fund teaching? Yes

1. Huge increases in international undergraduates (250% over 7 years) [7]2. Huge increases in tuition revenue (58% over 7 years) [8]

[7] http://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/irp/students/documents/ST22.ST23.db.xls

[8] Calculation and excel spreadsheet available at http://bargaining.tssu.ca


Percentage of TA Budget by Group

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

Year

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Undergraduate

Externals

Graduate

TA expenditures as a percentage of tuition fee revenue

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0%

9.0%

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

Year

Per

cen

tag

e

Are students being respected? NO

1. TA budget has decreased as a portion of tuition revenue, (was 8% now 6.4% of budget) [9]

2. The percentage of TA’s going to students has decreased (was 95% now 90%) [10]

[9] Calculation and excel spreadsheet available at http://bargaining.tssu.ca[10] Calculation and excel spreadsheet available at http://bargaining.tssu.ca


Our Proposals


Teaching Assistant (TA) Proposals

• Give students priority to TA work outside their dept.• Use an already existing, campus –wide centralized posting system so TA’s

can find jobs in other depts.• Create a scholarship so that undergrad TA’s get equal pay for equal work

Tutor Markers (TM)• Modernize language in the contract

– Language has not been updated since the 1980’s when TM work was completed on cassette tape and over the phone

• Create some supervision and mentorship requirements• Give TM’s priority comparable to TAs


Sessional Instructor Proposals• Create a seniority system for Sessionals

– Reserve some Sessional jobs (15%) for graduate students• Create TA triggers for number of students

– A Sessional can get stuck teaching a 500 student course with no TA’s • Offer extra preparation time for W courses

ELC / ITP Proposals• Get the same benefits as other permanent workers on campus

– full health and dental benefits– tuition waiver– pension plan

• Protect them from any attempt to eliminate the current employees


• Increase our scholarship as tuition increases• Keep wages proportional to the Consumer Price Index• Provide a 3% base increase to wages in 2013 and 2014

Wages

• Update the childcare bursary to a fund so it is distributed properly and is available to all members with children.

• Make our already-existing benefit of university-paid basic medical care (MSP) more accessible by automatically enrolling Sessionals, TA’s, TM’s, ELC/ITP

• SFU covers GSS dental plan and extended benefits plan

Benefits


The bargaining process


June 2012

August2012 October

2012


Recent Events• Shortly after job action commenced, SFU invited us back to the table

• Met on Friday Oct 12: – Employer tabled new proposals that were out of “left field”

• Mediation Sunday Oct 14: – We replied, told them we would give them a full new counter proposal the

next morning.– We worked well into the night and then first thing in the morning

• Mediation Monday Oct 15:– We gave a proposal at 10:00am, walked them through the significant

narrowing our of demands– They asked no questions, left the room– Shortly there after sent a message they were cancelling remainder of

mediation dates. – They were convinced to at least come back next week sometime to respond.


Employer’s Response

• NO to all of our non-monetary items,• NO to all benefits increases,• NO to centralized posting,

• NEW: YES to tearing down priority for senior instructors and graduate students

• YES to a monetary increase of:– Year 1: 0%– Year 2: 0%– Year 3: 1.25%– Year 4: 1.25%

A 1.25% increase over the course of 2 years equates to recovering 1/3 of your tuition back.


How is SFU trying to change priority?

Reduce priority for PhD TAs within

their own department

Have PhDs without Work apply for

Sessional Instructor Jobs

Require departments toHire graduate students

First for ALL sessional jobs

PhDs all end up doingSessional work, current

Sessionals lose their jobs


What are the net effects

• PhD Students– End up forced into sessional jobs = more work for less pay

• Sessional workload report showed many put in 150-200 hours in September. $1750 per month in wages

• Current sessionals– Out of work, give up on their dream of teaching at a University.

• Masters students– Completely out of work after 5 semesters

• SFU’s education system:– A reduction of experience at all levels of face-to-face teaching


SFU’s Bad Faith

TSSUSFU

Initial Position

Current Position

Initial Position

CurrentPosition

FairCollective Agreement


• Employer cancelling mediation signaled that our current job action wasn’t having any effect. Despite our best efforts to respond to their package, which was bargaining in bad faith, they still had no willingness to engage.

•The only reasonable response was to escalate job action.

•Our goal is to use the increased pressure of job action to get the employer back to the table.

Contract Committee Report


Strike Coordinating CommitteeJob Action Report


Measured job action


SFU’s Response to our job action


Summary of BC Labour Code

• No person may coerce or convince someone not to engage in a legal strike activity– Any supervisor who does try to coerce may be

charged under the act

• No person may do the work of a employee engaged in job action unless:– They were already hired before bargaining

commenced (i.e. before 2010).


Questions


BC Labour Code• “During a lockout or strike authorized by this Code, an employer must not

use the services of a person, whether paid or not, a) who is hired or engaged after the earlier of the date on which the notice to commence collective bargaining is given and the date on which bargaining begins...to perform the work of an employee in the bargaining unit that is on strike or locked out, or the work ordinarily done by a person who is performing the work or an employee in the bargaining unit that is on strike or locked out.”

As well the Code provides: “An employer must not...threaten to dismiss a person or otherwise threaten a person,...intimidate or coerce or impose a pecuniary or other penalty on a person, because of a person’s refusal to perform any or all of the work of an employee in the bargaining unit that is on strike or locked out.”

teaching support staff union: job action town hall october 18, 2012

Documents