Work stoppage ends at SFU as teaching assistants reach tentative agreement with school, union says
Workers picketed for 3 weeks over pay adjustments, uncompensated work and pensions
Members of Simon Fraser University's Teaching Support Staff Union say 1,600 of its members have reached a tentative agreement with the school and have ended an indefinite work stoppage that began on Sept. 28.
On Thursday morning, the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) posted on X that "we have reached a tentative agreement, no pickets today, details to come."
The TSSU includes people who teach and conduct research at SFU but aren't faculty members, working instead as teaching assistants and sessional instructors. Its most recent collective agreement expired on April 30, 2022.
Dalton Kamish, who was part of the union's bargaining unit, told CBC News the deal was "monumental" but did not disclose its details.
According to Kamish, the non-ratified deal addresses the union's three key demands. They included increased wages to reflect the cost-of-living crisis and increasing rates of inflation; a stop to uncompensated work or wage theft; and access to pensions for sessional and program instructors.
"We've won significant things in this tentative agreement, but of course it is a tentative agreement, which means it still needs to be ratified by our membership," said Kamish, adding that a ratification vote will likely come early next week.
🚨🚨🚨We have reached a tentative agreement🚨🚨🚨<br><br>No pickets today. <br><br>Details to come.
—@TSSU
SFU posted a notice on its website confirming a tentative deal had been reached. It asked TSSU employees to contact supervisors "and return to work as soon as reasonably possible."
It said students would receive information from instructors about the resumption of disrupted classes, labs and tutorials.
In March, 94 per cent of TSSU members voted in favour of a strike.
Union members picketed over the summer, which included an all-campus work stoppage.
With files from Arrthy Thayaparan and Liam Britten