aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 Just one of the 50% of courses that need to be culled from York's offering. Wtf!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 Items in the counter offer: http://3903.cupe.ca/ That looks like theyre starting to get close to an agreement. edit: No way York budges on the tuition thing. Taking away a 7K tuition increase for international students would be too much money out of their pockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 That looks like theyre starting to get close to an agreement. I'm not sure if those are the big ticket items or not. I suspect there are some big items the union wants and is using this offer as a way to demonstrate their ability to be conciliatory in hopes that the employer will also be on the items the union really wants. fyi, I am not caught up yet from my 2 weeks off so I need it to go another week! lol Did you know that TA's and GA's get health benefits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 I'm not sure if those are the big ticket items or not. I suspect there are some big items the union wants and is using this offer as a way to demonstrate their ability to be conciliatory in hopes that the employer will also be on the items the union really wants. fyi, I am not caught up yet from my 2 weeks off so I need it to go another week! lol Did you know that TA's and GA's get health benefits? I'm caught up on readings, but I havent really studied for cell bio yet. I'm going to start today. I always figured TAs and GAs would get health benefits. Anyways, the first day back at bargaining is today, I can't see them settling that quickly. I think we'll get another week off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 The childcare fund I have a bit of an issue with for TA's and GA's UNLESS you happen to get pregnant during your graduate studies but if someone has a child before entering grad studies then no dice. Fully support grad indexed tuition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 The childcare fund I have a bit of an issue with for TA's and GA's UNLESS you happen to get pregnant during your graduate studies but if someone has a child before entering grad studies then no dice. Fully support grad indexed tuition. They will never budge on grad indexed tuition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 They will never budge on grad indexed tuition. And they shouldn't. Gives the employer too much ability to screw students over in their funding by simply adjusting the tuition amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 And they shouldn't. Gives the employer too much ability to screw students over in their funding by simply adjusting the tuition amount. I meant, no way the employer budges. Losing 7k a year from last year is going to come out of our pockets, I imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 I meant, no way the employer budges. Losing 7k a year from last year is going to come out of our pockets, I imagine. Oh. This could be a major sticking point then because I cannot see the union giving up the ghost on tuition indexing for grad students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 I mean, they could budge eventually. The last few strikes have been about this, but the employer find a loophole that allowed them to increase tuition without increasing assistance. I feel like it's the biggest issue for that part of the union. Indexation and contract faculty job security will drive the bargaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 I mean, they could budge eventually. The last few strikes have been about this, but the employer find a loophole that allowed them to increase tuition without increasing assistance. I feel like it's the biggest issue for that part of the union. Indexation and contract faculty job security will drive the bargaining. and it was mostly done to international graduates as I recall? Frankly, and I know this sounds cold hearted, but I really couldn't care less about international students and their hefty tuition (grad and undergrad). We have a duty to domestic students first and foremost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 The tuition increase was to international students. The concern for Cupe is that the same loophole in the language applies to domestic students as well. I think the indexation will be the big issue. I'd like to have next week off school as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhh Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 What annoys me the most is how the union feels uniquely mistreated by the York. Honeslty, I don't see how any university in Canada is doing it different. York has one of the highest paid TA's in canada (maybe the highest?). International students pay more all over Canada, or shall I say the whole world. All they do is nag about their contract but what they don't understand is that York isn't treating them "bad", it's the system in general that is flawed. If they want to make true changes they should stop this whole useless cycle of striking and instead either get through their so-called "miserable" grad studies or engage the government to revise their bylaws regarding university employment/contract meployees. It's funny actually, when I started undergrad I had no idea you get paid to be a grad student so that was quite exciting for me to find out. I'm looking forward to doing a Masters, not only will I increase my chances of getting into med school I will get paid too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 In fairness, just because everyone has it worse doesn't mean you don't have a crap deal. I agree that the problem can't be fixed by just dealing with the university. There has been a lack of funding for a number of years now, and I don't see it improving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 What annoys me the most is how the union feels uniquely mistreated by the York. Honeslty, I don't see how any university in Canada is doing it different. York has one of the highest paid TA's in canada (maybe the highest?). International students pay more all over Canada, or shall I say the whole world. All they do is nag about their contract but what they don't understand is that York isn't treating them "bad", it's the system in general that is flawed. If they want to make true changes they should stop this whole useless cycle of striking and instead either get through their so-called "miserable" grad studies or engage the government to revise their bylaws regarding university employment/contract meployees. It's funny actually, when I started undergrad I had no idea you get paid to be a grad student so that was quite exciting for me to find out. I'm looking forward to doing a Masters, not only will I increase my chances of getting into med school I will get paid too! I was having a twitter debate with one of those many English PhD's that are striking who was trying to tell an undergrad that they were being unfairly paid. I ask this person how what was originally acceptable to them suddenly became unacceptable? He couldn't/wouldn't answer the question directly. Kept deflecting and obfuscating. I actually told him it's a good thing this wasn't an exam question because we would have received zero lol I'm all for fighting for improvements but I have a problem when people signup, knowing what the deal was going in, and then deciding once they are in that it is unacceptable. You know what we do in the private industry that doesn't have a union? We go elsewhere if we feel conditions are unfair to our market value. Now, I am not as against unions or some forms of protectionism as I used to be (at least in the private sector) because I recognize the power of globalization, neoliberal economic policy, and business mandate of profit maximization to outsource as much as possible to lower costs and improve profits even with hefty profits already (US corporate cash on hand could pay off the entire US debt - $17T - right now). To me, if you sign a contract that you once deemed "fair" it boggles my mind that you can now claim it "unfair". Fight for improvements but stopping calling it unfair. There are LOTS of things in this sh!tty world that are unfair. This is not one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 In fairness, just because everyone has it worse doesn't mean you don't have a crap deal. I agree that the problem can't be fixed by just dealing with the university. There has been a lack of funding for a number of years now, and I don't see it improving. Perhaps if we weren't sending so many to university with the numerous joke courses and programs then maybe there would be more funding available? In the past 3 years, the federal government has written off close to $1B in student loans. what impact does that have on funding? I'd love to see a breakdown of which programs students have come from that defaulted on their loans to determine if there is a pattern. Meh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 Perhaps if we weren't sending so many to university with the numerous joke courses and programs then maybe there would be more funding available? In the past 3 years, the federal government has written off close to $1B in student loans. what impact does that have on funding? I'd love to see a breakdown of which programs students have come from that defaulted on their loans to determine if there is a pattern. Meh. Indeed. Some what related, if anyone is thinking of taking one of those joke courses like the one posted on the last page, you may invalidate yourself for U of Calgary admissions. Apparently all courses must transfer to a school that grants MDs. Any course that isn't, won't count towards your full-time course load status (they require only 24 credits; sep-april) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhh Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 Indeed. Some what related, if anyone is thinking of taking one of those joke courses like the one posted on the last page, you may invalidate yourself for U of Calgary admissions. Apparently all courses must transfer to a school that grants MDs. Any course that isn't, won't count towards your full-time course load status (they require only 24 credits; sep-april) Yea that's pretty annoying honestly. Apparently it's ok even if the course is transferrable to an MD granting school in the US. This means I may have to go around asking numerous universities whether each of the courses I'm taking are transferrable..agh.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 Yea that's pretty annoying honestly. Apparently it's ok even if the course is transferrable to an MD granting school in the US. This means I may have to go around asking numerous universities whether each of the courses I'm taking are transferrable..agh.. I'm going to work on a short list for the courses I have taken just to save time in the future. I'm happy I didn't take a lot of those goofy electives. Not a lot of people from Ontario apply to Calgary. I doubt they will have as many OOP applicants next year because of the 2015 MCAT requirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 In case anyone is bored, https://twitter.com/LairdofMidtown will be live tweeting the bargaining meeting. @MeGusta, Animal Phys I - I've heard it's a terrible course, should I avoid? I need a lab course next year and I'm not sure I want to take Advanced Biochem Lab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolelol Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 In case anyone is bored, https://twitter.com/LairdofMidtown will be live tweeting the bargaining meeting. @MeGusta, Animal Phys I - I've heard it's a terrible course, should I avoid? I need a lab course next year and I'm not sure I want to take Advanced Biochem Lab Animal phys itself is a pretty decent course, it's just the prof that was terrible (Steele). I checked the schedule and it seems like there's a new prof this year, you can't get much worse than the last guy so maybe it's okay now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 In case anyone is bored, https://twitter.com/LairdofMidtown will be live tweeting the bargaining meeting. @MeGusta, Animal Phys I - I've heard it's a terrible course, should I avoid? I need a lab course next year and I'm not sure I want to take Advanced Biochem Lab Kyle D. Catto @LairdofMidtown Ph.D candidate, Centre for Feminist Research, York University. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 only -5 today. I had such high hopes when I got in the car this morning and it was -17. le sigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 Animal phys itself is a pretty decent course, it's just the prof that was terrible (Steele). I checked the schedule and it seems like there's a new prof this year, you can't get much worse than the last guy so maybe it's okay now? What's the difficulty level? People have said the lab component is a real killer. Maybe I'll take microbiology instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 Kyle D. Catto @LairdofMidtown · 53s 54 seconds ago @chrissyyelliot Employer has advanced what amounts to industry leading terms for the security of contract faculty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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