York University strike subjects students to frustrations

As the strike at York University drags on, Esha Mathur’s plans to return to India becoming increasingly unclear.

 

With most of her courses on hold, the third-year international student is concerned about having to make up the missed assignments once the strike is over.

 

“I can’t make any travel plans because of it,” she said. “I’m unable to go back home.”

 

It’s been seven weeks since more than 3,000 York University instructors, teaching assistants and graduate assistants represented by CUPE 3903 hit the picket line, causing many classes to be suspended and leaving thousands of students in limbo.

 

The possibility of being required to stay and complete coursework has left many students increasingly uncertain about their living situations, travel plans and summer jobs. And those nearing the end of their degrees fear they won’t graduate.

 

In one course, however, York University took the “extraordinary measure” of securing new education workers so nursing students could finish their placements on time. But the move ignited a firestorm of criticism on social media, where the university was called out for “going around the union.”

 

CUPE 3903, which is pushing for better wages, job security and workplace protections for contract faculty and graduate student workers, has been on strike since Feb. 26 and continued talks with the university on Saturday.

 

Frustrated, students are making their voices heard — signing and sharing an online petition demanding a tuition reimbursement for missed classes.

The strike has “disrupted classes, jeopardizing the quality of education students are entitled to receive. This is unacceptable,” reads the petition, which has garnered more than 7,000 signatures since it launched in late March.

 

Farrah Potras, a third-year law and society student from California who signed it, said the situation has been stressful for those like her who moved to the GTA for school. She worries about additional costs that would come if she had to stay in the city to fulfil missed coursework after the strike.

 

“I would have to pay for something that’s not my fault,” she said. “And that really upsets me and it really upsets my dad because we can’t afford it.”

 

Elaf Khan, a fourth-year film student, fears she won’t graduate this year or finish her thesis film project.

“We usually have a finish-line event (in April) where all the films screen and parents, actors and people come,” Khan said. “They’re planning on moving that to September because of the strike.”

 

York University deputy spokesperson Yanni Dagonas said by email that students’ learning needs remain a “top priority.” The university has made more emergency bursaries available and expanded options for course completion so students can stay on track for graduation or summer plans.

 

The university has also created a tuition credit for undergraduate students who’ve withdrawn or will withdraw from their courses between Feb. 26 and the end of the remediation period, to be determined at the end of the strike.

 

What York University workers want

On Friday, a few dozen workers blocked vehicles from entering campus, informing drivers about their bargaining demands.

 

CUPE 3903’s communications officer Erin McIntosh said a large part of their focus is education and connecting with students. “I think people have been very sympathetic toward this,” she said. “It’s not just workers at York University who are struggling to keep up with the cost of living and paying the price for administrative decisions.”

 

Students who spoke to the Star said they empathize with the workers and support better wages but questioned the effectiveness of the disruption.

 

“I get that it gets people talking about it, but it’s just causing issues for students to get into the school and for parents trying to drop off the kids,” said commerce student Dillinger Long, 20.

 

His friend Sean Day, 19, said he recently had trouble getting into the building for an exam due to the number of picketers blocking the entrance. “They make it really difficult to even get on campus.”

He’s tired of feeling stuck.

“I’m kind of just sitting around waiting for something to happen.”

 

Mathur described the situation as a “grey area.” The workers, she said, “ultimately need to get fair pay for what they do, but it’s also unfair to us because we don’t know where things are going.”

 

More than 55,000 students attend York University annually. The last time education workers went on strike was in 2018, which lasted about five months — the longest strike in Canada’s post-secondary history — until the province legislated them back to work.

 

At the time, the province passed Bill 124 restricting wage increases to one per cent per year. Now, McIntosh said, “not only are we having to make up for what we’ve lost to inflation in the past three years … but we also have to anticipate how we’re going to live for the next three years, too.”

 

Talks with the university about job stability have been successful, but a few sticking points remain. The school’s most recent offer to boost wages by 0.2 per cent, for example, fell short, said McIntosh. “It’s hard for any worker to see a number like that and feel like the struggles that workers and students are going through right now are being taken seriously.”

 

York hires temporary workers in nursing

 

There is one course that seems untouched by the strike. But some enrolled aren’t happy.

 

In a post on Reddit, a nursing student who recently attended a town-hall meeting posted that the School of Nursing would hire “scabs” — temporary workers to replace the ones on strike — and recall students to continue the remaining hours in their practicum course.

 

“This not only defeats the purpose of the strike, but also undermines the instructors who went on strike,” the post said, adding they are “basically going around the union.”

 

Dagonas explained the university “secured” external “Clinical Faculty Advisors” to help graduating nursing students complete their clinical course requirements. He said no students will be required to restart their practicum during the strike if they prefer to wait until it’s over, but noted that decision may delay their graduation.

 

“This is not a step taken lightly,” Dagonas said, “but York found it necessary to uphold commitments made to partner hospitals and to students” who will go on to become registered nurses.

 

 

This article was first reported by The Star