For the sake of maintaining an understandable conversation about the York University strike, I've closed comments on this post and am directing comments to this post on the CUPE strike: York U strike is CUPE's Waterloo.

I’m written another post on the strike situation noting that The Toronto Star has written a critical editorial about the union.

Comments are now open on that post here:

2008 York University strike is CUPE’s Waterloo

TA work is part (often the main part) of funding packages for graduate students that exist in every research-intensive university. In fact, these universities use funding packages as one mean to “compete” in attracting the best graduate students.

The goal of this funding, as it was already explained, is to ensure graduate students can dedicate the greater part of their time to their research. Some might be surprised by Matt’s comments about an “army of graduate students”, but this is certainly the reality of large research labs in the natural sciences. In these labs the PI acts as a resource group “manager”: overseeing postdocs / grad students / undergrad interns, filing grant applications, etc.

It is in the advantage of the university that graduate students do full-time research work after their coursework is done (after 1 year of the Master’s or 2 years of the Ph.D, approximately). Working part-time outside the university can delay the student’s graduation, which causes extra costs to the university.

With reference to DG’s last comment, there are also a large number of graduate students who have children and need to balance their studies, work and family.

To respond to Socks
You are correct that gradate students are in training, however that could be said of anyone in an organization. All junior staffers are in training to take on greater responsibilities within their organization or industry. To take a media example, the junior reporter is in training to be the bureau chief and yet one does not expect him/her to work at a salary below the standard of living. I think part of the problem has to do with the perception of the value of graduate work. A friend who works in the media was making $30,000 in her first year while she learned how to run a teleprompter, made phone calls and watched “the wires”. She occasionally had a chance to leave the office with a news crew. If she had a chance to write copy it would be reviewed and corrected by the producer on the desk. In that first year she was also learning valuable lessons about the organization’s culture and its standards as well as honing her skills. Should the company have paid her $17,000 and taken $5,000 for her training because in the end she will be a better journalist? She has had a significant promotion and a pay increase to match. Should she pay her employer for greater responsibilities and the ability to climb the organizational ladder? The thought is ludicrous. Let’s return to the discussion of graduate work. Graduate students are in training, but they also provide invaluable service to the scholarly community. In addition, the graduate period is often when most scholars develop new theories (please forgive me for name dropping Einstein). It should be a period of innovation and learning not one in which junior scholars are so overwhelmed by financial concerns that they forgo attending conferences and talks because they simply cannot afford them (either in cash or in time).York’s TA’s are requesting a wage and benefits package not simply for 10 hours of teaching and marking but one that allows them to conduct their scholarly pursuits. Otherwise we reduce scholarship and research to a luxury that only a few members of our society could afford. The innovation on which North America prides itself is undergirded by research. Much of this is provided by graduate students . A real job is conventionally thought of as one which brings money to the economy. Graduate work is a real job.

Finally, let’s not forget that this is not only about graduate students. Contract faculty are involved in this strike too. They are people with real children, real mortgages and real job INSECURITY at York. This strike is equally about that.

Medical students in Ontario pay up to $40000 a year in school-related expenses, work up to 80 hours a week in hospitals (not including study time at home), get a max of $13500 in OSAP and only in their last year do they get a “stipend” of $500 a month. But guess what, while much of this is service-oriented, each and everyone needs that as part of their training; they benefit from it.

You are a graduate STUDENT. If, when you are finished your TRAINING and have a permanent, full-time job, and still make $17000 a year, then you can complain.

Hopefully an agreement can be made within a reasonable time frame.

Why should undergrads care? Why is this strike about you?

Well, if you like small tutorials for one, this strike is about that. If you want diverse (as in multicultural etc.) folks for TAs, this strike is about that. If you want TAs who know what they are doing, it is about that too. And, if you ever want to go on to grad studies…guess what, this strike will effect that too!

Since 2005, York’s grad population has increased 28%. Imagine that. Do the math. Think on that. What does that mean? Why is the university doing this? Because they just love grad students so much, they want more of them? For most faculties, they have 28% more grad students (or more), and yet they have not been able to higher more faculty to take care of these new grad students. Obviously, then, the entrance of new grad students is not as stringent as it once was. And, the University is capitalizing on the governments offer to give them more money for every new grad student. So, York is making lots of money on this influx of new grad students. The more they take in, the more they get. The faculty hate this, the new grad students hate this. Forget that soon Ontario will be flooded with PhDs without jobs for them, forget that the new TAs might not be Ontario’s brightest, but note that there has been no provisions for CUPE to handle this new influx of grad students.

I mean, how is a union supposed to provide for the 28% increase with the funds they were getting in 2005?

It’s like this folks: York has offered the Union a contract that is worse than the previous one offered. What exactly were they thinking, and, why have they waited to the last minute, the day before our strike which we gave notice of weeks and weeks ago? I mean, the propaganda is totally outrageous here. They post fake numbers, 9.25%, and pretend they mean something. They say words like “binding arbitration” and think that this is something people should be happy about. I mean, it is as bad as watching McCain and Obama pretend they have a clue about what the hell is going on with the economy. You know what, it just makes me, an A+ grad student, search for other places to go. The brightest want out of Ontario thanks, no one is happy with York. It’s a new institution with an administration that cannot handle the number of students it has. My wife just got rejected from a program she never applied to. I never know how much or when I am going to be paid for the work I do for the University. It is so much more than the numbers and words pundits are pushing around.

Maybe this is a conspiracy for 2010. But let me tell you, S*** is F^^^^^ up right now. When we do have classes, imagine being a PhD in a class of 20 students?! What the F*** is going on Ontario? I can’t find a single professor who could tell you the names of the grad students in our department.

WE DESPERATELY NEED UNIT 2 CONTRACT FACULTY TO BE NEW PROFS FOR GRAD STUDENTS, JUST SO WE HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE TO SIGN OFF ON INDEPENDENT STUDIES, JUST TO HAVE SOME MORE RUBBER STAMPS. AND IF ANY OF THESE NEW PHDS HOPE TO HAVE CONTRACT JOBS, THEY NEED TO START MOVING THE CURRENT CONTRACT JOBS UP, IN SECURITY AND POSITION.

So, to conclude, nothing is more f’ed than the university making us pay to be in school when we are “post-residents” i.e. finished with our minimal class work. Because the profs who sponsor out independent work don’t get anything for doing so, so, where does that tuition money go when we pay? In order to be TAs, we must be students. Our contracts actually prevent us from taking other jobs if you can believe it. So, we are in a sense, forced to live on what they give us, or go thousands and thousands into debt? Sound like those folks down south much? 80,000 in debt is a problem folks, not a solution.

How is it ridiculous?

@Rybak

Thanks for the comment

@Everyone

One of the problems I’m seeing here is the strong divide between graduate and undergraduate students at most Ontario campuses. When I attended UManitoba as a first-year undergraduate, I interacted with graduate students in social settings. Grad students were part of the college councils, they were in the same students’ union, part of the political clubs, and were equals outside of the classroom. There were a few of my TAs that prior to ending up in their section, I didn’t even know were graduate students. I counted many grad students as friends.

In Ontario, my experience as been that graduate and undergrads do not interact outside of the TA / undergrad relationship. This divide makes it easy for undergraduates to see graduate students in a neutral to non-positive light.

Your question (not that there was anything wrong with it) reveals a natural problem in this discussion. Most undergraduates know nothing about the working conditions of graduate students. Without taking sides in this debate, I can at least assert it’s not reasonable to equate their situation with undergraduate study. It really is a different world, and a whole different set of assumptions.