Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) executives will not receive pay until a long-running dispute that has led to the suspension of council is resolved, president Obed Okyere said Dec. 9.
Okyere said he made the decision to suspend pay for all six executives, including himself, to put pressure on the executives to resolve the ongoing council conflict.
“A decision made by one executive has resulted in our student council being suspended in court. This leaves the organization to operate undemocratically,” Okyere said. “This is like Stephen Harper and his ministers running Canada without Parliament and freely doing whatever they like.”
CUSA has been embroiled in a legal battle with 16 councillors since the summer, when vice-president (internal) Ariel Norman, citing CUSA’s bylaws, attempted to vacate their seats over discrepancies in council meeting attendance.
The councillors responded by seeking injunctive relief through the Ontario Superior Court, naming Norman, vice-president (finance) Karim Khamisa, and several other CUSA executives and councillors as defendants. The Ontario Superior Court placed an injunctive freeze on all council business as a result.
In a written endorsement, Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon described Norman’s decision to “unilaterally” unseat the 16 councillors as “draconian and affected without due process.”
“As of now, I haven’t seen any hard work from the [five executives] towards reaching a resolution,” Okyere said.
If the issue isn’t resolved soon, CUSA won’t be able to run an election, and the association may “disappear by the end of April,” Okyere said. “I need to make sure this organization continues, and continues in a democratic way.”
The news came as a shock to the five executives, who hadn’t heard the news until the Charlatan requested a comment, at which point they all went to Okyere’s office to say his actions are illegal, Khamisa said.
“The only people that have the right to suspend anyone’s pay or make that kind of decision are the students,” Norman said. “I’m not really sure what process [Okyere] thinks he’s going to use to do that.”
CUSA executives make roughly $31,000 per year, and just under $1,000 every two weeks, Okyere said.
If students are dissatisfied by the ongoing conflict and want a wage suspension, there are measures they can take, Khamisa said.
“[Okyere] did not hire us. The students did. And he is not our boss, the students are,” Khamisa said.
Khamisa said he doesn’t see the executives not getting paid, but they will “cross that bridge when [they] get to it.”
When the executives spoke with Okyere, Norman said his answers weren’t explanatory.
“[He] didn’t really have a good answer for us,” she said.
Okyere stands by his decision. He said the money the executives make is not a salary and they have no union to fall back on. Their bi-weekly cheques are an honorarium, he said, adding those honorariums are suspended “indefinitely.”
Executives are welcome to volunteer their time to work for students, he said, but for now “the job they’re doing has not been in the best interest of students because of a lack of commitment in resolving this issue.”
Norman said she was surprised at the timing of this announcement, because the executives and councillors are “so close” to a settlement.
Despite the suspension, the executives are going to keep doing their job, Khamisa said.
“Any decision that [Okyere] decides to make, illegal or legal, is not going to stop the executive from the tasks and duties that we’re charged to do through election of our positions,” he said.
Once the council conflict is resolved, the executives will be paid for the money they lost during the suspension, Okyere said, adding that executives must make a minimum of $24,000 per year according to CUSA’s bylaws.
“This is going to affect all of us financially and psychologically,” Okyere said. “But, it’s going to put pressure on us to do everything in our power to resolve this issue.”
UPDATE:
The 16 councillors, who are plaintiffs in the legal dispute, had no involvement in Okyere’s decision to suspend the executives’ pay, public affairs councillor Michael De Luca said in a press release.
“The honorarium freeze is between [Okyere] and his executive. It is in no way between the plaintiffs and the defendants,” said journalism councillor Yaelle Gang.
The plaintiffs hope Okyere’s actions won’t influence the ongoing settlement discussions, according to the press release.
Related coverage:
Timeline: CUSA council controversy
Court orders CUSA to halt business
Councillors seek second court order
Court orders CUSA to recognize 16 councillors
CUSA VP attempts to remove 16 councillors
