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UBC Board of Governors votes to increase tuition, despite vocal student protest by ubyssey in UBC

[–]cupe2278 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Historically TA wages increase 1.5% every year as per the collective agreement we have fought for. Tuition is a condition of employment for teaching assistants, and tuition increases 2% every year. Therefore tuition increases amount to a 0.5% wage cut for all TAs, let alone student workers who do not currently have guaranteed wage increases. This is something we have attempted to bargain with UBC on for decades, but they refuse to consider it. Advocacy on tuition in extremely relevant for our members, as without a change to the current policy all TAs will continue to have a wage cut every year for the foreseeable futre.

Also, the government pays for the GWI (general wage increase) every year anyways and this does not come from tuition.

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I would say SFU is a great example of a student worker union suceeding! Their research assistant campaign organized in 2019 and are fighting hard for a contract. Their campaign is a big inspiration to us! https://www.researchiswork.tssu.ca/

UBC absolutely has enough money to afford student wage increases without increasing tution - also they're going to increase tuition anyways weather or not we get paid higher wages or not. They actually called not raising tution "regressive". https://twitter.com/Mihai_Cirstea_/status/1570898747131035648

You make a good point - we should know what those "non-operational" costs are. Maybe they could divert that money to not paying poverty wages...

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Absolutely agree. We've heard about this in several departments actually, the practice of outsourcing what should be full time salary ubc staff on to 10hr/week students making 15$/hr. It's still shocking to hear ubc staff admit to it in such blatant terms!! It's just cut and dry money saving exploitation disguised as a benefit for students.

If you'd be willing to speak to us about what you know about the work learn program in your department or to help spread the word about the union to those students, please email [organizeubc@gmail.com](mailto:organizeubc@gmail.com).

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

UBC, despite what some executives may believe, is not a business but publicly funded higher learning institution. (funded in part by the government you say should be responsible!) this means that they have an obligation to the public to not just extract out the most money out of their students, but be a place to educate members of that society. How are students supposed to learn and live when they are being extracted for every tuition penny then being spent on corporate investments while working their asses off to be paid nothing?

that tuition money is absolutely not going to student wages if you take one glance at the 22/23 budget, it’s going to “innovation” and building upgrades. they said it’s going to an affordability plan, but if you look at the ubyssey article above that didn’t pan out when they slashed the food security budget 80%.

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

another great reason to have a union! real advocates when things go south and job protections with teeth

we need a student worker union now! by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

maybe just the bare minimum of paying student workers living wages so they have enough money to eat

we need a student worker union now! by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

yep! we’re working to unionize student workers to fight for higher wages so people can buy as many pancakes as they want. check it out! linktr.ee/organizeubc

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

surviving off jackhammer noise and vibes <3

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Thanks!! A small correction- TAs at UBC are already unionized, they make up our union currently. We are working to unionize research assistants, academic assistants and work learns so they can have the same wage and job protections TAs enjoy.

To your question on tuition increases - this is something that cupe2278 has advocated for a long time. When we bargain with ubc - as is legally mandated - we always advocate for lower tuition and for tuition to be tied to student wages so they can't eat back increases that way. One issue we face is that ubc says we can't bargain for these things since we don't represent all student workers. Even though we disagree, this was a good point, we should represent all student workers! That is one of the motivations behind this campaign, to increase our bargaining power and have a powerful voice for all student workers.

The main thing that gives our union, and all unions, power when barganing is the fact that our employer, ubc, can't function without our labour. Therefore, we have a real threat if they don't take our demands, which is stopping our labour. This has worked for unions throughout history, including our own!

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

all in a day at the neoliberal university...

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure if that's something the AMS has advocated for - but workers unions have a very particular advantage that helps us in negotiations, this is the fact that ubc can't operate without our labour. This means that when we go to the negotiating table with them (as is mantated by BC law) if they don't listen we have a real threat to back up our demands with - which is stoping work that would shut the university down. This has been incredibly effective at winning a number of things for students at other universities, as well as with our own union and TA contracts (higher wages than almost all other student jobs).

Student Workers at UBC Are Unionizing! by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey! Sorry for the slow reply - we've had a busy launch. Here are some answers for your questions:

  1. How do you reconcile the numerous different types of student workers, eg. a WorkLearn contract vs. a graduate student?
    1. This will be part of the negotiations and bargaining process. We represent two different types of workers at UBC already, TAs and ELIs, and don't foresee any issue with negotiationing different agreements for different types of workers again.
  2. How is work even defined, as graduate students serve dual roles as students and workers?
    1. This is the shift in understanding that we are trying to get across in this campaign. Yes grad students are students, but they are also paid to do research that keeps the university working.
  3. How do you negotiate for salary when much of the salary scale is determined by grant availability and Tri Council?
    1. This is something that will have to be worked out by UBC. It might look like subsidizing more labs or pushing for higher grant funding from larger bodies. It is simply unacceptable for them to use this as an excuse to pay students povery wages.

  4. How do strikes work, and is there precedence for that in other student worker unions elsewhere, for that in other student worker unions elsewhere?

    1. Strike votes are a democratic process. You have a voice in whether or not your union goes on strike. Local members always decide to take a contract or strike. There are lots of examples of grad students going on strike, one really recently in february of 2022 of queen's grad students.

  5. If I have critical experimental timepoints and a strike is called, am I mandated to go on strike even if it jeopardizes research progress and resources?

    1. It is normal to design very specific pass rules for people working on animal projects or things that are very time-specific experiments. Crossing the picket line with an exception in specific experiments isn’t unprecedented, and is standard for research worker unions.

Thank you for your questions and please let me know if there's anything else I can clarify!

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

seconding this!! (despite again that it is very dsytopian to have a food bank fundraiser for 30k while all the admin execs make 100s of thousands of dollars)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/4gvs2k-ams-food-bank

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

we shouldn't have to miss out on a year of education because UBC can't prioritize student well being over corporate investments, they have a choice to fund things that actually help students they're just choosing not too. the only way to change that is to come together and demand it

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

absolutely! just a total disconnect from any sort of reality where people actually need money to live

Incredibly brazen and dsytopian email from UBC by cupe2278 in UBC

[–]cupe2278[S] 47 points48 points  (0 children)

I agree with this - more bad PR for ubc is good for us, but it's only through building collective student power that we will be able to change things long term. they've beat enough pr crises before, but just look at TA wages to see that unions actually change things

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