At a Special General Meeting of the Graduate Student Association on January 20,2015, we brought forth a motion for the GSA to officially endorse the campaign to unionize Teaching a Research Assistants.
We had a great discussion and an overwhelmingly positive discussion. All members in good standing of the Association were able to vote on the motion. And the motion for the union campaign to gain GSA endorsement passed UNANIMOUSLY!
Below is the text of the motion, or you can read it here.
“WHEREAS a significant number of graduate students at the University of Saskatchewan feel that their relationship with their employer is in need of improvement; WHEREAS the University of Saskatchewan – Association of Graduate Employees (USASK-AGE) has been formed in order to work towards improvement of said relationship by unionizing graduate student employees of the university;
WHEREAS most graduate students are employees of the University of Saskatchewan, and will see positive improvements to their working conditions at the university if unionization is successful, and
WHEREAS a graduate student employees union would be in a legally-enforceable bargaining and advocating position with the University of Saskatchewan, and would offer protections for its members on issues pertaining to their Teaching and Research Assistance that the Graduate Students Association cannot,
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Graduate Students Association (GSA) of the University of Saskatchewan offer its official endorsement of the ongoing union campaign being led by the USASK-AGE as a sign of good faith and commitment to shared goals.”
PSAC Local 40004 