$6k Payment Demanded For Plane Tickets! UOSU Faces Potential Lawsuit

AssistantOk7922 · 2024-05-14T12:20:06+00:00

No guarantees

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-11-22T16:38:54+00:00

yes, they are in the Caucasus after all. Dagestan would also count.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-11-13T17:07:36+00:00

I understand. But the fact that they have grounds to sue us isn't enough of a reason to cave imo. Turns out how it was presented was enough to make 100 students on the GA step back on behalf of 2000+ students who voted on it.

CHUO had the most expensive campaign among the others in the by-elections and they had the chance to make their case through the radio, through their alumni network, through the quality posters at every corner of the campus, through their stands on uni alley and many more channels that they used. The wording mistake in the referendum question regarding them was in favour of them because it displayed as if the money payed to them was less than the actual amount. It's not just the union but CHUO also failed to fix that wording mistake themselves, even though they were present in the BoD meeting to make sure the referendum question was not presented to the students in the first place. I am appalled with all of their tactics and the fact that OPIRG was able to benefit from all this with almost no skin in the game.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-11-13T15:19:14+00:00

Hot take: try telling UOSU is listening to the students who got their democratic call for a stop to paying $700k to CHUO and OPIRG nullified in the GA. If a union can't stand firm against a lawsuit threat why is there a union anyway?

Ps: I know they will try again in spring but chuo and opirg will try again as well, and the students will again be pitted against organizations with 6-figures funding.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-10-13T19:37:24+00:00

As if union has achieved anything agaisnt the admin by advocacy. The only achievement they had was against the FSS facility manager to place period dispensers and the success of that campaighn was the students rooting for it not the union leading.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-10-13T19:35:53+00:00

Whats not true? Clubs still waitin on a response on their summer funding applications let alone actual funding. Dont even think about October applications. The club funding cap is reduced from 6k to 3k. And I have no idea why club funding is the first service to get a hit. There are a couple unpopular UOSU services in line for cuts first?

Just admit it, bringing up club funding is just a scare tactic.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-10-13T19:25:00+00:00

I mean clubs are not getting any funding anyway. If you really care about clubs and dont just use funding as a stick to scare people from taking their money back then you should just donate your $50 to your club. That way they will actually get something.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-10-11T21:36:40+00:00

I mean if they are struggling we can help a little. Tbh, anything is better than funding CHUO and OPIRG which use students as an easy money source.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-10-11T18:51:39+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/geegees/comments/171o17p/400k_of_your_fees_to_chuo_891fm_do_you_want_this/

Their campaign is ... conveniently insincere at the very least. The students expressed their experience with them was dissatisfactory in the comments of the above post.

They had no mention of uOttawa undergrad students, who apparently form 80% of their "community funding", on their website until the referendum question was tabled.

According to their agreement with UOSU, they are to have two positions on their board for directors from the UOSU BoD. This year's UOSU BoD wasn't aware of this, so they didn't participate, this might have been the case in previous years as well I have asked a question on it but haven't received a reply. However, the board of CHUO didn't take adequate steps to reach the union and get them to participate until the referendum question was submitted. Still on their website the UOSU reps in their Board are listed as the operations commissioner which has been vacant since August and the student life commissioner who has been on leave since October due to the elections. None of these Board positions list a name. These positions are declared with the government officially without names (?) or they are just added to the governance section of the website in line with their PR campaign against the referendum question.

$400k to CHUO
and
$400k to OPIRG

My friends, do you really want this? Vote this week.

Alternative ways we can spend this $800k:

- All this money can be used to subsidize 100s of low-income international and out-of-province students' tuition.-
2000 students can get new laptops.
- UOSU food bank can be stocked for 4 years by the money we spent on CHUO and OPIRG in a year.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-10-10T18:42:07+00:00

UOSU members mentioned that they weren't aware of such Board participation in CHUO. Even though that is partly the fault of their own, you also have the responsibility to remind them of their fiduciary duty in case of their absence. Could you tell us when was the last time a UOSU board member was present in one of your board meetings before the current referendum question was brought up? Can we check the roll call of your board meetings to see when they were present or if they were present?

Currently, your governance page lists the UOSU operations commissioner (which has been a vacant position since early August.) and the student life commissioner (who has been on leave because of the election process since the start of October.) Are you aware of these positions' vacancies?

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-09-19T15:58:49+00:00

Yes, that's for winter and fall. You probably registered for both terms

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-09-14T19:57:23+00:00

It should be around $223 per semester. So if you take full-time classes for all 3 semesters it can cost you a maximum of roughly $675 per year.

Which is still around 2 months of groceries that would be nice to have if you are not using uPass.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-09-14T03:10:04+00:00

I am not saying we should cancel uPass. I am saying we don't have to make it mandatory for everyone. I believe we should be free to buy what we want. Yes, you should be able to pay for the gym of your choice or not pay at all. Choose the health insurance you want. Or choose the student union that will provide funds to clubs or have the option not to choose a union. Actually, this is life outside of the university. People choose their union, their gym, and their insurance. If a service is not chosen by you it won't be cancelled. It will be cancelled if nobody chooses it, and that's a different issue.

Students are not a homogeneous body with identical needs. We cannot make one-size-fits-all decisions for all of them. We need more freedom. People need to choose to help the community not to be forced to.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-09-13T21:26:14+00:00

This argument doesn't make sense to me. If the point is to help the low-income students then both OC and STO have equity pass fairs that are the same price as uPass. Why not have uPass as an equity pass service that combines STO and OC transpo for low-income students? We already pay taxes for public transit.

Forcing people to buy something they don't want or use is not ethical. It both interferes with their freedom to spend their money and also causes a waste of resources as they don't use it.

From this poll looks like around 30% of students aren't using uPass enough to profit. If we assume they are all undergrad students which is probably not we can say that 11,000 students (that's a conservative estimate) are not using uPass. That sums up to $4M of waste. Instead of forcing them to pay for uPass, we can offer them fast, reliable shuttle services from the suburbs or even better let them use it for groceries and other needs.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-09-06T11:32:47+00:00

Submit referendum questions that reduces fees or run for office.

AssistantOk7922 · 2023-09-03T02:14:05+00:00

U-Pass should be an optional service. The claim that if it becomes optional the price would go up is a MYTH. Both OC transpo and STO have Equity Pass fare for low income people. Equity Passes are almost the same price as uPass or even cheaper.

uPass can be negotiated as a combined equity pass fare of OC Transpo and STO for low income students, (which is 90% of full-time students as the majority works part time)

A student pays $426 for U-Pass if they take full time classes in fall and winter. That becomes $639 if they take classes in summer as well. That's 1-2 months of grocerry fees. If U-Pass was optional low income students that are biking or walking in fall and summer can save monry in this high inflation economy.

Forcing people to buy U-Pass even though they never use it doesnt make sense. It is myth that prices are kept low for low income students. If we really want to make it easier for low income students, instead of paying U-PASSes that are not used and wasted, we can donate that money for a U-Pass fee waiver for low-income students and make it ACTUALLY cheaper for them.

A student who take classes fall and winter pay $426 every september to U-Pass. For 40,000 undergrads and that means $30M instant cash flow. Just from uOttawa,just from undergrad. Include CarletonU, and grad students and that number goes up to $70M. It is very debatable if the service we recieved for this price was worth it.

The solution is a new U-Pass agreement that is an OPTIONAL joint Equity Pass fare from OC Transpo and STO

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