Teaching and research assistants apply for union accreditation

karen herland

A Labour Board hearing on May 26 will decide if teaching and research assistants at Concordia can be accredited as a union. If so, they may have a collective agreement as early as the end of the next academic year.

Last month, the Teach and Research Assistants at Concordia (TRAC) deposited an application for accreditation as members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

The campaign to get TAs and RAs to sign union cards began last January. The casual status of these employees dictated that signatures had to be gathered before many lost their positions at the end of the term. Students are confident that they signed up the 50 per cent plus one potential members needed to get the ball rolling.

However, the administration has a different set of figures for the total number of eligible employees. By their calculations, only 35 per cent of potential members have signed up. That would mean all eligible employees would have vote on unionization, probably during the fall term. The hearing will determine which calculation stands.

According to Jerome Messier, a PSAC representative working with TRAC who was involved in UQAM’s successful unionization bid two years ago, getting signatures did not prove difficult.

At issue for TRAC is the disparity of working conditions, hiring practices, salaries and responsibilities across faculties and departments.

TRAC’s Heather Fussell said, “It’s unfair. Your working conditions should not depend on the department you’re in.” Fussell is quick to point out that many students like herself have no complaints. “We can use those experiences as the standard for everyone else.”

TRAC representative Adrian Dumitru stressed that the union drive is not an attempt to work against the university, but a way to attract the strongest students possible. “I have had friends choose McMaster over Concordia because McMaster offered a TAship at $9,000.”

Concordia’s academic plan emphasizes the need for increasing the number of graduate students. Fussell said that it is in the university’s best interests to be as attractive as possible for them.

The May 26 hearing will determine the total of potential union members as of the deposit day on April 19. That will determine whether TRAC can name an executive, establish priorities, and begin negotiations with the university, likely a year-long process in itself.

If not, a fall vote will be necessary. This would set the process back several months.