Contract instructors and Carleton University made progress in bargaining over the weekend as talks with teaching assistants fell through again.
CUPE 4600 is seeking legal counsel on the university’s tabled intellectual property rights offer and will consult with members on Tuesday. There are no set plans for a return to the table, however, as the second week of the strike begins.
According to the university, the latest offer would have contract instructors own all intellectual property rights for “original work produced for their assigned courses.”
The university is offering contract instructors salary increases of 14 per cent over three years, which CUPE 4600 president Noreen Anne Cauley-Le Fevre said the negotiating team and members will consider.
For teaching assistants, the university offered a 12 per cent raise over four years with 4 per cent vacation pay and 3 per cent public holiday pay.
Cauley-Le Fevre said the union rejected the offer and is instead looking for about 13 per cent over three years rather than four.
“Why is the university paying money to private security and lawyers and not just addressing the poverty of their graduate teaching assistants?” she said.
“We’re talking about people who are having a hard time affording food and paying rent,” she added, referencing the unprecedented amount of graduate students relying on the Unified Support Centre’s food bank service. “It just blows my mind.”
Graduate TAs currently make roughly $11,000—or $42.54 per hour—for full-year assignments, just enough to pay tuition for many. Undergraduate TAs are paid $24.51 per hour.
Although it’s possible, it remains unclear if contract instructors will agree to a deal before teaching assistants do. While the university called its latest offer “highly competitive,” it would still leave contract instructors on the lower end in its first year compared to other universities.
With a total raise of 8 per cent over the first year, contract instructors would make $8,130 per half-credit course, a maximum of $48,780 annually.
Cauley-Le Fevre expressed disappointment with progress on set TA-student ratios. She said the union would be willing to sign a letter of understanding, agreeing to discuss the matter outside of bargaining, but the university has not responded.
With the eleventh calendar day fast approaching, the university again reiterated it had no intention to extend the term or alter the graduation time, and that students’ course progress would not be affected by the strike. If any exams are to be rescheduled, the university promised they will remain within the allotted exam period ending April 27.
On Monday, more than 180 faculty members and librarians at Carleton signed a letter calling on the university to offer a “fair settlement” including the union’s main demands.
“We stand ready to support our colleagues in CUPE 4600 until they win a contract worthy of their work and of the educational and human standards they are fighting to uphold,” the letter read.
In an email the same day, the university expressed its disappointment that no deal was reached despite a full weekend of bargaining with a third-party mediator. The university’s email indicated a belief that the union was stalling negotiations, keeping students away from classrooms.
“The university is disappointed that with minimum issues remaining outstanding the union chose to walk away from the table,” the email read. “A resolution was within reach this weekend.”
But Cauley-Le Fevre said the union has already conceded far too much and it’s up to the university to end the strike.
“We’re coming up against the end of term and we’ve moved so much. I don’t see how we can move on wages,” she said. “We can’t bargain a pay cut for our members.”
Featured image by Nicola Scodro. With files from Jayden Dill.
