As of 12:01am Friday April 13, 2018 Teaching Assistants at the University of Western Ontario May be on strike. Should the strike occur all London Transit buses
Graduate teaching assistants at Western University are in a legal strike position Friday morning, after they rejected the university’s latest contract offer.
The 2,000 teaching assistants are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Local 610. The decision to reject the contract offer put them in a legal position to strike, effective 12:01 a.m. on April 13.
When asked about a potential strike, union officials told 980 CFPL that the focus at this time is on returning to bargaining.
PSAC Ontario regional executive vice president Sharon DeSousa confirmed that an information picket was being held on Friday to garner public support from students and faculty.
“What we need is a real wage increase to counter the rising costs of living and as well as ensuring that tuition fees are taken into consideration. We want to see protection of wage increases so that they’re not clawed back in other ways by the university, and we want to have clear guidelines on overtime pay.”
Regardless of what action the union takes, the university said in a statement released Friday morning that exams will proceed as scheduled.
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“All Western students are expected to attend exams and other academic requirements unless notified by email from your faculty that exams are not necessary in your case,” said Western provost Janice Deakin.
“All university employees who are not members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Local 610, and bargaining unit are required to report to work as usual.”
Western added it doesn’t intend to lock out the teaching assistants.
In late March, a university representative stressed that it was important to understand that while GTAs are vital to Western, they are part-time positions for students – a claim DeSousa decried as a cop-out.
“If they’re students, then why would they be integral for the running of the university?”
If there is a strike, London Transit (LTC) buses won’t enter Western property and will stop at various points on the periphery of the campus instead. LTC buses would continue to travel to the University Hospital campus of London Health Sciences Centre via a service road immediately north of the hospital.
Shuttle services between Western and the affiliated university colleges and paratransit will not be affected by a labour disruption.
– with files from 980 CFPL’s Jacquelyn LeBel.
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