Alright, let me explain this the best I can. Especially since some people confuse having sympathy for a side is synonymous with that side being on the right. I’ve posted this on Medium because if you believe that this is a straw man argument for why there is support for the strike or if there’s an error in my conclusions you can reply to them directly.

Understanding the situation

CUPE is effectively only making 1 demand. That is, they want N number of contract professors to be automatically converted to be tenure-track professors. The standard number for this is 0 (for all universities, and as far as I can tell all universities around the world). CUPE originally wanted 30 conversions per year. York, in my opinion, made a ridiculous compromise of 2 per year. Ridiculous because CUPE has not even made an argument for why that number should not be zero.

Why the number of conversions should be zero

To demand a non-competitive means of becoming a tenure-tracked professor is by definition non-competitive. The only people who stand to gain from non-competitive environments are the most senior professors. This has a few simultaneous implications.

York no longer has the right to choose who best deserves a tenure-track position. Prospective professors that work hard to make themselves as attractive as possible to York and therefore rightfully deserve the position more either lose their chance of being hired entirely or it becomes even more competitive because less outstanding but more senior individuals took their place.

A few of my friends and colleagues would have had a far more difficult time getting the tenure-tracked positions they received this year that they worked extremely hard for if a demand like this were the norm at all universities.

The fact is, this harms anyone who aspires to be a tenure-tracked professor at York. Moreover, setting the precedent would become poisonous if implemented in other universities.

Understanding tactics

As York has already asked, why is Unit 1 on strike if the demands raised have nothing to do with the teaching assistants? The answer is of course simple. The TAs are so important that the strike would have little teeth without the TAs on strike. In the words of CUPE ‘solidarity’. However, the complete unreason coming from CUPE’s side has forced York into a bad dichotomy.

Again agree to a bad or unfair deal in the name of ending the strike. This has the effects of making York as an entity worse off, making professors worse off, making prospective professors worse off and makes CUPE more likely to strike in the future. Not agree to this stupid deal and (I think correctly) force a vote in a way that makes membership voting as easy as possible.

This is extremely democratic. CUPE’s tactics of membership intimidation that they always justify with the single word ‘solidarity’. Intimidation tactics that I and my friends had to deal with first hand. To be clear. There is never a downside to making voting easier. The only people harmed are the people who intend to manipulate votes. This is where CUPE comes back in. CUPE is so outraged by this move because they fear that the TA unit will vote to end the strike as CUPE is no longer representing what’s in their best interest. To paraphrase what a fellow Master’s student said, “of course I’m voting for the strike what do you want me to do starve”. The point that was self-evidently true was that the master’s student was not starving at the moment, but if that’s really what you’re worried about then how is this helped by going from ~$2000 per month to ~$1200 (if you spend all your time picketing)?

The fact of the matter is that master TAs at York Univesity has the absolute best package of all universities in Ontario. Master TAs at York University, for example, get more funds than PhDs at UofT, yet we are the only university on strike.

CUPE’s fear that they will be unable to manipulate their members and the outcome of the vote is the most despicable and telling thing about the union as a whole.

Opportunity costs of continuing the strike

There are 2 main opportunity costs to the continuation of the strike. Back-pay only applies to the wages that you would have made if the strike had not occurred. That is, the remaining wages left to be paid on contract. This does not extend to new contracts not given because you are on strike. Whatever extra money my fellow graduate students thought CUPE would be able to acquire for them I hope you can see that those percentages are not more than the +$2000 you’ve lost from being on strike.

Closing

York University is not perfect, nor are they some faceless monolithic entity. They are people. Lack of perfect behaviour or circumstances is not something that should be corrected at all costs. Definitely not at the costs of TAs losing pay, undergraduates and graduate students getting their graduation delayed. And having all undergraduate students courses disrupted. All in the name of a few very selfish end of benefiting a small sympathetic group of professors.

PS: For the TAs that may have been swayed by the argument that the deal does not include back pay. CUPE has massively misrepresented of how things usually go. It is normally the case that only after a deal is reached is the negotiation of back pay started.