Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 01:49:06 -0500
From: J
To: message@esmartstudent.com
Subject: To DCL re: your previous reply from J


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If you re-read my message, DCL, you will see that I said CUPE are looking
out for their interests, just as the students should look out for theirs.
They way the students have to do that is to pressure the administration.
You see, the admin pays members of CUPE, and we pay the admin. -
we, the student body, are the administration's boss, not their child as
your analogy suggests. It is up to each of us, collectively or as individuals,
to look out for ourselves and our rights because no one else will. CUPE
is certainly doing the same. Our contract, as students, is with
the university, not CUPE.

Again, putting words in my mouth, I did not say that students don't know
anything about strikes. We certainly know the inconvenience they cause,
but I am certain some students don't know a lot about unions. Most students
hold part-time jobs, and therefore usually aren't part of a union.
I worked for several years full-time before I could afford to attend university,
but I seem to be of a minority in that category. Have I ever wondered what
kind of crappy jobs students have worked to pay off tuition, you ask? Did
you miss the part that mentioned, I too, am an undergrad?
I live the life of a student as much as anyone else. In fact, in contrast
to many students I know, my family is not in a financial position to support
my income. It has been all my hard work that has done it. Two years ago,
I worked 5 days a week, over 30 hours, while attending York
full-time. Last year, I worked 3 part-time jobs to support myself, while
a full-time student. This year, I am bearing a large financial hardship
because I'm only working 2 jobs while attempting to complete my final year.
On top of that I have a debt of $20 000 in student loans. So, DCL,
I have a vague idea of the kind of jobs a student holds to try and pay tuition.
I know a large number of students face the same financial challenges as
myself, but there are many who don't. I see evidence of this when I walk
through the student parking lots and see all the brand new $30
000+ cars, how much these students understand the financial burdens of some
of the other students, and how they can really be empathetic to CUPE's cause.
As I said before, SOME don't understand the point of a union.

Then you call the TAs from CUPE greedy? Well, they end up with about $10
000 per year after all the tuition is paid. I suppose, by your definition,
if feeling you need more than $10 000 a year to live off of, then those
people are greedy.
You say that CUPE is doing nothing now and getting paid for it. Do you honestly
think that?? As I mentioned in my last message, they must show up on the
picket lines in the freezing cold and work double the hours to get half
the pay. And if they don't picket, they don't get paid. A
union member has to pay union dues and now they are getting some of their
own money back while on strike. These "greedy" union members will probably
never make up for the finances they've lost while on strike, even with the
wage increase they've fought for. I can safely say that most
members would rather be working in the classrooms, and they would have to
feel like they're really being taken advantage of to actually strike as
they have. This is not one individual, but a large collective of people
who all feel the same way - so don't you think there's a bit more to
it than just plain greed? Do you think Lorna Marsden really works all that
much harder than the CUPE members to earn the $240 000+ a year, plus her
chauffeured limo and a house - all paid for by the students? Oh, and did
your source of information (you quoted the York web site) bother
to mention that the members of York Administration received a 10% wage increase
just before the strike? Meanwhile CUPE are striking only to get offered
2%.
You also say that CUPE should have settled this without involving the students
and making them feel like "dung." Well CUPE has been trying to negotiate
with them since last spring and York has known about this very real threat
of a strike happening since then - did you web site also
mention that to you? Did the administration tell you these facts when you
paid your tuition for this year? Feel, as you may, but I can only blame
the admin for making me feel like "dung."

Of course the students have only seen "the negative aspects" of the strike,
as you put it. Unfortunately, most people only see the negatives because
of the inconveniences caused to them, and don't bother look at the bigger
picture. Students definitely have a right to be mad about this
strike - I'm mad as hell. But aim it in the right direction. Don't you think
how convenient it was that the two sides were finally able to settle, only
after the efforts to stonewall the union failed. It is quite clear, the
calculated moves on the Administration's part. I know of union
members who were literally being starved out, because they couldn't pay
their bills anymore. Marsden and her team played on the financial hardships
that members of CUPE had to endure and the frustrations of the length of
strike, caused mostly by the stonewalling, hoping to force a
settlement that benefited mostly the admin, through the forced vote. And
now it took real negotiating of only 3 days to reach an agreement. If only
that happened to begin with. I encourage you to look beyond the York Web
site for your information on all this.

It's too bad that you're not mature enough to be unbiased in your evaluation
of the TAs on their job, not your personal feelings towards the strike.
I can only hope that sometime within the remainder of your education, you
will take a class which will teach you of rebellions which
change the way in which you live today (imagine if we were still in the
medieval times - you'd be a king or a poor impoverished citizen, dying young
of disease and poverty - and most of us would likely be the latter - question
yourself as to why we are not living like that anymore).
Keep an open mind, and hopefully you can see that all "that ideology bull
crap" is more than just bull crap.

J.






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