York University students call for refund
Well, this strike includes a slew of instructors, TAS, and graduate assistants who take on more than 50% of the university’s classes. So this is having a major impact on students. And there’s now a petition with thousands of signatures demanding tuition refunds. We’re staying strong. There hasn’t been a lot of negotiation on the university’s part, but we’re holding the line. Educational workers walked off the job back in February after negotiations broke down with York University. And they’ve been on the picket lines, rain or shine, ever since. It’s been pretty rough on most of US, Unit 1 in particular, where most of us live below the poverty line in a city that has faced rapid inflation, much like the rest of Canada over the past few years. The university has said it has provided comprehensive proposals to QP 3903, which addressed key items including an increase in pay. But still, there’s no deal insight. For five weeks now, many classes have been cancelled and students are increasingly frustrated. End up going home for a couple weeks because really like we have nothing to do here. Josie is one of nearly 5000 who signed a petition demanding refunds. All four of my classes are cancelled and two of them I’ve been kind of in the loop with. Two of them I’ve heard almost nothing about since February so and a lot of places on campus are closed like even with just like eating or not giving the same access to what we paid for. While Sonia, an 18 year old international student is now looking at options to transfer. About 23 grand this year for winter semester, and I feel like if I’m not getting any worth of my money, I should be getting that money back. More than a month into the job action. And striking workers say they’re in it for the long haul and claim the university is yet to address the imbalance created by Bill 124, the wage restraint law that the province has now repealed after it was ruled to be unconstitutional. Most Tasmania do about 60% of the labor for courses where most of us do 60% of the teaching instruction. Whereas we make 14KA year, the last time workers at this university went on strike was back in 2018. That lasted 11 months before they were eventually legislated back to work. Those who continue to hold down the picket lines are hoping it doesn’t come to that. A York University, Shanahan City News.