As the effects of budget cuts loom over Queen’s University, unionized Queen’s workers announced they’re joining forces to advocate for better collective agreements.
Hosted by Unity Council on April 4, approximately 300 unionized workers packed the ARC’s main gym to kick off their bid to rally unions together as bargaining periods draw nearer.
“A budget is not set in stone, it’s a projection. It’s a reflection of an organization’s values, how and where it chooses to spend its money,” Jake Morrow, incoming Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) 901 president, said at the rally.
“Queen’s is choosing to value maintaining its hundreds of millions of dollars in available investment, capital, and savings over preserving its academic mission, over its employees’ livelihoods. We will not let that happen.”
After coming together last year, Unity Council represents seven unions and approximately 5,000 staff and faculty on campus. Workers represented include graduate student workers, custodial and maintenance staff, library technicians, Aramark food service and hospitality workers, support staff and academic assistant workers.
PSAC 901’s collective agreement with the University expires in April, followed by the Canadian Union of Employees (CUPE) local 1302 and United Steelworkers (USW) local 2010, whose collective agreements expire in June and December respectively.
“We need to consider hitting the picket lines, hitting the picket lines at the same time, rotating strikes, taking action, and shutting this place down,” Kelly Orser, USW 2010 president, said at the rally.
The cost-of-living crisis was chief on all union leaders’ minds in their calls to mobilize. Hamstringed by Bill 124 in 2019, wages for all union workers on campus have been restricted to one per cent growth each year. With all contracts coming up for renegotiation, workers want to secure better wages that correlate with rising living costs.
According to CUPE 229 President Steve Senechal, trades workers employed by Queen’s could be making $10,000 to $15,000 more annually doing the same jobs elsewhere. He condemned the University for its two-tiered system, paying two thirds of maintenance workers $6 an hour less than their seniors. He’s demanding the University stop contracting work out to external companies.
Senechal isn’t alone. Orser anticipates the University will be laying off unionized workers and replacing them with casual staff starting in May, with numbers expected to be in the double digits in the Faculty of Arts and Science alone. She said compared to a permanent job, casual workers are paid a fraction of the price under more precarious labour conditions.
“That would be a huge wage decrease [for workers], with no pensions or no benefits,” Orser said.
Each respective union is in the early stages of figuring out what banding together for a university-wide negotiation will look like. For both Morrow and Orser, driving a large-scale labour movement requires checking in with their own members to up engagement and solidarity.
“There has to be a lot of outreach,” Orser told The Journal after the rally. “Today, we had 300 people here, maybe 500, the idea being the next rally might be more like 800. That way we’re building awareness, so everyone understands what’s about to happen.”
“The worst thing that can happen is 100 people pay attention, vote to strike, and then for [USW] local 2010, 1,400 [members] are on the picket line, and they didn’t even know there was a vote,” she added.
First up to the bargaining table is PSAC 901, with their collective agreement expiring on April 30. The union is in the early stages of sourcing members’ priorities for a new collective agreement.
With stagnant wages, food insecurity, and a lack of housing affordability rampant amongst graduate student workers in particular, Morrow said members are hoping to raise wages keeping both domestic and international students in poverty.
According to Morrow, the recent 13 per cent raise over a three-year period secured by workers represented by CUPE units at the University of Toronto is inspiring Queen’s union members at Unity Council.
“Those were all several different CUPE locals but all under the same umbrella. Here at Queen’s, we have Steel Workers, we have folks who are PSAC,” Morrow said.
“We’re flexible, and we have been able to build this kind of buy-in, not only from our executives, but from our members, that we are building that buy-in more and more, and that’s incredible.”
Tags
Collective agreement, CUPE, PSAC, Unions, USW
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