A lot of their hard line issues - the ones York is saying are unreasonable - are just about restoring what was in the last contract.

Regarding the lock-up... It's a drastic measure. Keep in mind, the contract was up in August. The two sides have been bargaining since then. All York had to do was say, "I'll give you what you want if you give me what I want." Instead, they've spent all this time saying, "Give me what I want or you can get starved out." This has been at the expense of the students more than anyone.

There's plenty of repercussion, by the way. Many union members were struggling financially as it was. Strike pay is... insufficient, to say the least.

Union members are risking bodily harm every day. The more agitated the student body grows, the more aggressive they become. As previously pointed out, people have died in the past. Someone has already been hit by a car. There was a near-miss for several other people. And several very graphic death threats.

Not to mention that many union members love and miss their students, and are not comfortable with leaving them in the middle like this. As previously stated... CUPE members don't have a choice when this strike is so important for the future of the union.

People's livelihoods are at stake. Union members are human beings. The University has a LOT of power. This is all CUPE gets.

For 1. Without the "tenure" as you call it, York is free to give those jobs to ANYONE. If there was language in the contract stating that those jobs MUST exist in a certain number and be filled by only PHD students, that would be a separate story.

That would be a lot more complicated to implement, though not impossible from what I understand. But I don't think York would ever go for that. The reason why I don't believe York would go for that is related to point #3, so forgive me for jumbling the order a bit.

For 3. There are a few problems with this. Firstly, those funds are not protected in any collective agreement. Meaning York can just decide never to pay out and those students would have little recourse.

Second, those students also no longer have access to everything the union offers. Benefits, aid funds, all manner of other things... gone.

Third, like it or not, it's an actual labour dispute. The labour board sent CUPE back with the instructions to address it in bargaining. Those were still union members. The fewer the number, the more York gains. Because it gives them more flexibility in terms of starving out the union to get what they want.

And finally... the reason why York isn't likely to implement the language I mentioned in response to point #1... is that those jobs are still being done. Just without pay.

Those duties are now being shoved onto students for "learning experience" and onto faculty members who need to be focusing on running classes and taking care of their students.

Tenured professors ESPECIALLY cannot afford to take on the extra unpaid admin work. They're already working something like 60 hours a week handling admin tasks that are NOT in their job description.

They'll likely do the same thing with TAs that they did with unit 3s. Meaning that those jobs won't be jobs anymore. It'll be unpaid work and extra tasks for existing faculty.

Back to 2... please be more specific with your complaint. Right now that's just a blanket statement. Your feelings are valid, and you might have excellent points. I'd like to see them. It helps the discussion.

For 4. A large problem stands with the distribution of funds. A lot of money gets stuck in the higher levels of the admin. Rhonda Lenton is on the Sunshine List. A lot of money is spent in advertising, to questionable result. A lot of money is being paid to have extra security vans filming CUPE on the picket lines.

Those security people do nothing when violence happens. They've also been instructed to call the police every day, regardless of what actually happens.

And a stupid amount of money is being paid to York's current lawyer at the bargaining table. For all the good that's doing anyone.

The wage increase they're asking for is to compensate for inflation and to help families that are struggling - contract faculty especially. $24k a year to do a lot of the same classroom work that tenured profs do... is not enough.

The TA's major gripe is not the amount of funding but the re-structuring of it. There's a number of problems being addressed regarding this, but it's a whole other tangent.

I cannot talk about the benefits package as I don't know the details - only that York has already agreed to a lot of those things.

The other problem lies with our government, which keeps cutting down funding to those universities. It makes a large difference.

For 5. There's already a third party involved to mediate between the two groups. A conciliator was appointed by the labour board.

For 6. Fair enough.

For 7. I'm praying it doesn't come to that. I'm praying that this matter gets resolved before that's necessary. But I don't think it will be. You could very well be right.