York University Strike Update: January 10

January 10, 2009 in Administration, Campus Protests, Faculty, Finances, Labor, Politics, Students | Tags: | by | 2 comments

As the strike at York University moves into its third month, the university has moved to force a vote on their latest offer, against the wishes of the union they have been negotiating with.

Under Ontario law, the university may call a vote on an offer on the table once during negotiations. The Ontario Labor Relations Board will now make arrangements for the vote, which is expected to take place in the next seven to ten days. It has been estimated that it will take 72 hours to reopen the university after any agreement is reached.

Each of the three striking units — Teaching Assistants, contract faculty, and Graduate Assistants — will vote separately on the plan, with a majority “yes” vote required to approve the contract for each unit.

York used the same tactic in a similar strike eight years ago. Then, contract faculty approved the offer but TAs rejected it, negotiating a separate settlement.

Update: Here are the university’s statement on its decision to force a vote, and the union’s response, taken from its strike blog.

Second Update: This post is just one in a growing series of studentactivism.net posts on the York University strike, but somehow it wound up with pride of place in Google. To keep tabs on our ongoing coverage of the strike, check out our Labor category archives or our main page.

York University Strike Update

January 9, 2009 in Access, Administration, Campus Protests, Faculty, Finances, Labor, Politics, Students | Tags: | by | 2 comments

Here’s the latest on the strike at Toronto’s York University, which has largely shuttered the campus since November 6: 

The striking union rejected the university’s latest offer last night, and negotiations are set to resume today. Some university community members have called on the Ontario legislature to force the strikers back to work, but the legislature is currently in recess, and will be for another month.

And here are some local resources on the strike:

A student blog that describes itself as “a neutral atmosphere for discussions about the strike.” 

The website and facebook group of a group calling for binding arbitration to resolve the dispute — a position the university endorses and the union opposes.

The official websites of York University and the striking union local, and the union’s strike blog.

To keep tabs on our ongoing coverage of the York strike, check out our Labor category archives, or just bookmark our main page.

House of Representatives Adopts Gender-Neutral Language

January 8, 2009 in Feminism, Gender, Politics, Student Government | by | Leave a comment

The House of Representatives has adopted changes to its standing rules that include thirteen pages of amendments replacing terms like “he,” “him,” and “his” with gender-neutral language.

I’m particularly pleased by the change of “chairman” to “chair,” outlined here:

(1) In the standing rules —

(A) strike “chairman” each place it appears and insert “chair”; and

(B) strike “Chairman” each place it appears and insert “Chair” (except in clause 4(a)(1)(B) of rule X).

As someone who’s spent a lot of time over the years in academia and activist circles, I’ve chaired my share of meetings, committees, and boards, and it seems like I always have at least one well-intentioned colleague to whom insisting on referring to chairs as chairmen is a point of honor.

I’ve never been a chairman of anything. I’ve always referred to myself as a chair. But I’ve found “chairman,” sitting as it does at the place where process geekery and language geekery collide, one of the toughest bits of gender-exclusive language to dislodge. 

So the next time that comes up, this will be a nice data point to have on my side. If “chair” is good enough for Barney Frank, John Conyers, and Henry Waxman (not to mention Louise Slaughter and Nydia Velasquez), it’s good enough for me.

 

(If you’re curious about why clause 4(a)(1)(B) of Rule X was an exception, by the way, it refers to “the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.”)

Change.gov Discussion of College Costs

January 7, 2009 in Access, Financial Aid, Politics, Students, Tuition and Fees | by | Leave a comment

In recognition of the death of Senator Claiborne Pell, the Obama transition website change.gov is hosting a discussion of the cost of attending college.

At this writing, the thread stands at 254 posts.

Canadian Students Try to Break Strike Deadlock

January 7, 2009 in Access, Administration, Campus Protests, Faculty, Finances, Labor, Student Government | Tags: | by | 1 comment

For two months, a strike by Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 has shut down Toronto’s York University.

The strike, by teaching assistants and other employees, has left the university’s 50,000 students unable to return to class, and some of them are beginning to take matters into their own hands:

  • On Sunday, a group of several dozen students launched a sit-in outside the university president’s office, demanding that he hold a public forum to answer students’ questions about the strike. (The sit-in is a continuation of a four-day protest that was held before the Christmas break.)
  • Today, the student government is holding a board meeting to discuss the creation of an emergency relief fund to provide financial assistance to students experiencing hardship as a result of the strike.

After weeks away from the table, university and union officials began negotiating over the weekend. Talks continue, but there has been no breakthrough so far.

January 11 Update: If you arrived at this post directly from a search, click through to (or bookmark) the blog’s main page to see all posts on this subject.

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StudentActivism.net is the work of Angus Johnston, a historian and advocate of American student organizing.

To contact Angus, click here. For more about him, check out AngusJohnston.com.