Dear TSSU members, Your Contract Committee has met with the Employer in bargaining sessions every day this week to fulfill the terms of the settlement at the Labour Relations Board (LRB). In spite of SFU’s desperate attempts to delay at all costs, the resounding success of our strike vote has forced the Employer to finally…
Category: RA Bargaining Update
After months of waiting, yesterday TSSU finally received a counter proposal from SFU, but it was lacklustre and disappointing. SFU said it is difficult to bargain after the arbitrator’s decision on who is and isn’t an RA had resulted in an “elephant in the room” because, despite the clear and forceful language of the Sept…
At our last bargaining session on December 2, we saw an employer that is unwilling to bargain. The proposals that they have passed across the table since they changed spokesperson this summer have shown no movement toward the TSSU’s proposals. Although the Union’s bargaining team has made numerous moves towards the administration’s position, this employer…
After two years of delays intended to block a fair contract, SFU Admin finally presented their proposal on Research Assistant (RA) wages and benefits: A minimum wage of $17 / hr with no increases for the life of the contract when the Metro Vancouver living wage is currently $20.52 / hour. No benefits for RAs…
It has been 684 days that Research Assistants and Grant Employees (RAs) have been without a Contract. SFU Administration continues to delay by cancelling bargaining sessions and showing up unprepared to meaningfully negotiate. Shamefully, they have needed to be reminded several times about what they had already agreed to and be led by the hand…
After 3 months of delays by SFU Administration, we finally had two half-day sessions of bargaining on August 12th and August 18th. These were the first two sessions with a new negotiator for SFU Administration. Not much happened on August 12th as we spent the day reviewing the latest proposals each party had presented back…
The virtual bargaining room is sitting empty again. Date after date has been set and cancelled by SFU Administration. This has been extremely disappointing, especially since they delayed the commencement of bargaining for almost 11 months from the agreed May 1st, 2020 start date. In our voluntary recognition. It took public pressure to get SFU…
TSSU and SFU have met twice since our last update and registered some progress, although key differences remain. Two half-days of bargaining are scheduled for Tuesday, May 18 and Thursday, May 20, 2021, at which point TSSU hopes the discussion will shift to include monetary issues like wages and benefits. Today, SFU Administration once again…
Today was our third day of negotiations with SFU Administration for the first Collective Agreement for Research Assistants and Grant Employees (RAs). SFU accepted our common clauses list, which is a first win in this round of RA bargaining! The common clauses are the articles which are in the TSSU/SFU Collective Agreement that will be…
Today we met with SFU Administration for our second session of negotiations for the first Collective Agreement for Research Assistants and Grant Employees (RAs). At the last session, we gave them comprehensive proposals, so today the Employer gave initial reactions to our proposals and asked questions. A key impression we were left with is that…