Members of the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) braved the cold weather to hold a rally Monday at the Burnaby campus of Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) to demand a contract and better pay from the school.
Members called on SFU’s administration to fulfil the agreement signed in 2019 to recognize SFU’s research assistants and grant employees (RAs) as members of the TSSU.
After more than two years, the group still doesn’t have a contract in place.
"SFU rakes in over $160 million per year in research grants and generates thousands of publications, but the RAs who are necessary to get that work done are forgotten. For decades RAs have worked long hours without health benefits, sick days, or fair pay and that's why they stood up and demanded a union," said Amal Vincent, TSSU chief steward and contract committee chair.
RAs are the foundation of research at SFU, Vincent said, adding there is a variety in the work RAs perform at SFU, from lab work involving HIV/AIDS treatment, computer data analysis, field work on biodiversity, education research and creating technologies to mitigate climate change.
Although RAs make significant contributions to SFU’s finances, RAs are often denied formal, written contracts and struggle with inconsistent pay, job security and health benefits, Vincent said.
“I didn’t get paid for the entirety of my contract on this project, and only finally received a single lump-sum payment several months after the project had ended,” said Tania Arvanitidis, a long-time RA at SFU.
According to Vincent, “TSSU’s position remains the same; we want to negotiate a first contract that includes: benefits and wages comparable to those of SFU teaching staff, including MSP, and extended health and dental coverage; respect for the critical contributions of SFU’s RA labour; and maintaining the broad definition of an SFU RA so that no one gets left behind.”
Many supporters were in the audience holding signs that read, “RESEARCH IS WORK!”
SFU issued a statement to media recognizing the value of RAs, and reiterating that it is following the contract negotiation process. With talks stalled, SFU says an arbitrator has been brought in for further talks.
