By Laura Lira and Cristina Lavecchia with video files from Amol Malik and Simona DiNardo
Students gathered to show support for striking contract faculty, teaching assistants, graduate assistants and research assistants this afternoon at Vari Hall. Socialist Fightback held a rally at Vari Hall in York University. The event was supported by York Federation of Students and Students Against Israeli Apartheid. Members of CUPE 3903 walked off the job March 5th in a contract dispute.
There is no bargaining at this time. CUPE 3903 wants to go back to the table. The university remains open. Students admit they are getting frustrated.
In a letter released earlier this week, York says it sees “no reason for the disruptive and harmful effect of a strike” on its students. It says it has been committed and focused on reaching a negotiated settlement or jointly agree to refer any unsettled issues to an independent third party since the beginning of negotiations six months ago.
York wants the Union to deliver “a reasonable position having regard to University norms and the parties’ own history.”
One of the issues in the strike is precarious work. Here’s what Maral Nair, York U Biology undergrad, has to say about it:
Picketers were also handing out flyers to students today, asking them to contact Kathleen Wynne to get her to intervene in the week and a half old strike.
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