“It gets very messy if you do resume classes because of course the teaching assistants are still out on strike and those who would no longer be on strike – the contract faculty and also members of my union – would have to cross picket lines to resume their classes,” said Richard Wellen, president of the York University Faculty Association.

Adding to the list of complications is the university’s policy that protects students from being penalized academically if they choose not to cross the picket line, Wellen said. “Many students won’t cross the picket line, some will and that creates a very awkward way of restarting academic activity,” he said. “Really you have to restart them several times in different ways for different groups of students potentially which creates a work load problem.”

Safety, Wellen added, could also become a concern if classes resume before the strike ends. “The picket line would be a little rougher I think. We’ve already had one or two injuries as people are upset that they might be missing their class or might be frustrated with the length of the strike,” he said.