To my non-Canadian friends – York University is Canada’s largest University. Within this University there are teaching assistants that are represented by CUPE, Canada’s ’super-Union’. Not only are these “student teachers” (they are usually Graduate Students) striking, they have forced the school to be closed down for the past 3 months, burdening tens of thousands of students. Instead of simply walking out and letting their absence speak for itself (if you are really as essential as your high salary suggests, students & teachers will miss you!) they have blockaded the University. The hold every car coming into the University for 5+ minutes – compound this times 30,000 students & you can understand why the university has been shut down for the past 3 months.

Students with scholarships (esp. foreign scholarships) and those that live on Campus have had their education threatened. Most of these students live on limited and finite funds. If you add 3 months to a semester, as this strike has, you are endangering their ability to finish their post-secondary education (and thus affecting their entire lives!).

Last week the government finally stepped in and ordered the strike over. I STRONGLY AGREE WITH THIS MOVE. I also support arresting these strikers should they pull this stunt again. Since when does the right to ‘collective bargain’ include the right to blockade cars on a public road?

Now that you have the background, here’s a rant from a forum on this topic:

This unions conduct has been deplorable! These ‘teaching assistants’ were spewing rubbish over living under the poverty line while making over $60 an hour. YES, OVER $60 AN HOUR! THAT IS A HIGHER HOURLY SALARY THAN MOST GRADUATES WILL MAKE IN THEIR LIFETIME!

They complain that they can only work 10 hours a week… Err, yes, BECAUSE YOU MAKE $60 AN HOUR!

It is so patently absurd – when do part time workers who work less than 10 hours a week EVER make more money than the so-called “poverty line”?! If I work 2 hours a week, should I get paid thousands of dollars an hour so I too can live ‘above the poverty line’?!

Here we have a dispicable union harming people’s education YET AGAIN (they did this several years ago when I was at York).

I understand people have a right to strike but since when does this include the right to block public roads? Since when does this include the right to inconvenience uninvolved parties?

If you do not want to work – if you want to strike – THEN DO SO. If you really are as valuable as you believe, your absence will be missed. How dare you make the obscene argument that by blocking access to York university with your bodies you are ‘looking out for students’.

What of the students who work REAL JOBS to get them through school, you know: those that make $8 and hour (waaay below poverty) – what of their expenses as you waste months of their lives? What of Visa students who are here on scholarships that only provide a certain amount of funds per year, how are they supposed to now pay rent, food, school fees for an extra 3 months!?

What CUPE does during these strikes is deplorable – the fact that the university & province have allowed it is even worse. This sets a VERY troubling precedent – what is to stop the next group with a grievance from closing down the 401? (woops, that’s already happened ), or the DVP!?

The next time one of those ‘professional student’ strikers sticks his head in your car and tells you his/her story of woe, remind them that they make $60 an hour! Remind them that most students work jobs @ $8 an hour and that if $60 is what they call ‘below the poverty line’ you’d be more than happy to trade places. REMIND THEM THAT WHEN THEY GRADUATE (if they graduate), EVEN AFTER 8+ YEARS OF POST SECONDARY EDUCATION, THEY WILL LIKELY NOT  BE MAKING SUCH A SALARY!!! And always be sure to thank them warmly for looking out for YOUR education (lol)