After two days of bargaining and three days of mediation with seasoned mediator Vince Ready the University and TSSU have been unable to come to agreement.

The weekend’s mediation marks the end of months of work by the University to resolve both collective agreement language and monetary issues. On Sunday afternoon, the University tabled a comprehensive package which proposed the following items in order to address many of the TSSU’s stated concerns. These proposals included:

Better protection of union members’ intellectual property

Paid representation on university safety committees

Removal of barriers to support TA/TM hiring priority for SFU graduate students

Greater union control over the TSSU Childcare Fund

Making wage and pay information more transparent

Compensation increases within the provincial mandate similar to other public sector unions

Guaranteed and improved access to sessional assignments for graduate students and post-doc students

Seniority provisions for experienced sessional instructors

An opportunity for sessional instructors to ladder into limited term lecturers

Additional one time compensation for ELC/ITP instructors

The University was disappointed that TSSU rejected this package on behalf of its members. Unfortunately, no future bargaining dates or mediation times have been scheduled at this time.

This lack of progress stands in stark contrast to the success SFU’s negotiating team has enjoyed recently when bargaining with our other employee groups. During this time the University has reached a tentative new Collective Agreement with CUPE and APSA and has made significant progress with the SFU Faculty Association. The University has also worked closely with the Faculty Association to work on issues of salary inequity. This progress has been accomplished without any strike action and without any outside assistance. In all of these instances both sides used a collaborative approach in order to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.

TSSU’s decision to withhold grades and their continued actions aimed at disrupting classes cannot continue indefinitely. More than 10,000 SFU students are currently without grades. Over 800 students may be denied the opportunity to graduate and for some students, job offers are being revoked. This is particularly frustrating given that the University feels its bargaining team has been creative and committed to finding a negotiated solution that resolves issues brought to the table by the union. The University is currently considering our response to the ongoing strike.

We will continue to keep the University community up-to-date via our labour relations page.