CUPE 4600 is accusing Carleton University of discouraging and threatening international student members from participating in the ongoing TA strike.
The university denied the allegations in an email to the Charlatan.
“Carleton has not taken any action or issued any communication discouraging international student members of the union from striking,” the email read.
The union sent a letter to the university Monday saying it has received reports the university was advising international students that they may have their visas revoked, or be denied future work if they participated in the strike.
The letter did not provide any specific examples, but called on the university to “cease and desist from these unlawful communications, advise [the union] that such communications have ceased, and take steps to issue corrections to members who have been subject to these communications.”
The union also said it has the right to seek an injunction if the university does not take these steps.
The university told the Charlatan it has responded to the union requesting more information on alleged circumstances where international members were discouraged from striking.
Ontario’s Labour Relations Act protects all workers’ rights to participate in legal strikes and makes it unlawful for employers to intimidate employees into refusing to strike.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) protects foreign workers’ right to lawfully strike.
The IRCC also provides protections to study permits when international students are unable to complete their studies due to circumstances entirely beyond their control, such as a strike.
“This is so simple … Why are they resisting, why are they not understanding?”
Carleton president Benoit-Antoine Bacon responded to concerns about the intimidation of international student members last week in a Senate meeting, saying everyone must be respectful of legal strike action.
But CUPE 4600 president Noreen Anne Cauley-Le Fevre said she observed a decrease in the participation of international members from the time the union was discussing its bargaining priorities to when it hit the picket line.
Out of roughly 2,100 TAs, 93 per cent had voted in favour of a strike mandate in February. There are roughly 500 international student members of the union, making up nearly a quarter of TAs, according to the union.
On Monday, the union sent an email to TAs assuring international members their jobs and visas would not be at risk due to strike action.
“We are dismayed at Carleton’s shameless attempts to undermine our legal strike action while also refusing to budge on their sub-par wage offer for TAs,” the email read.
Reza Sohrabi, an international phD student in sociology and a member of the union, shared with the Charlatan an email members received on March 23, days before the strike began, signed by Carleton provost and vice-president (academic) Jerry Tomberlin and associate vice-president (human resources) Cindy Taylor.
The email said that while the university respects the union’s right to legally strike, employees also have the right to continue working.
“Employees are not legally required to join a strike called by the union and may choose to continue working,” the email read. “Those who choose to continue working will continue to be paid by Carleton.”
The email linked the university’s payroll continuance form and said members of the union must submit the form either before or on the first day of the strike to “ensure that there is no interruption in pay.”
“When you are [a teaching assistant] in university as an international student and you’re not receiving other funding, most of your TA money will go to your tuition fees,” he said, referring to graduate international students’ high tuition fees, which range from $15,000 to $37,000 per year.
Sohrabi also expressed frustration with the university’s reluctance to offer higher wages amid inflation and rising costs of living. The university last offered TAs a 12 per cent increase over four years.
But with wages being capped at one per cent increases per year over the last collective agreement due to Bill 124, the union said this is not enough.
“It’s sad that we [have to] push for our rights through a strike,” Sohrabi said.
Although contract instructors and the university reached a tentative agreement, TAs are continuing their strike.
More than a dozen student leaders sent a letter to the university Wednesday, supporting the union and demanding the university meet with them to take action to end the strike and return students to classrooms.
The union also rallied in support of its TAs and international members on Thursday, with more than 150 people gathering in support of the striking workers.
But to international student members of the union like Sohrabi, the university administration has made its stance clear.
“They are living in a different world,” Sohrabi said. “This is so simple … Why are they resisting, why are they not understanding?”
Featured image by Nicola Scodro.
