[news] [vanarchy] UBC TAs Blockade and Shut Down Campus (fwd)

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 05:14:46 -0000
From: AJ <ringfingers at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: vanarchy at yahoogroups.com
To: vanarchy at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [vanarchy] UBC TAs Blockade and Shut Down Campus

UBC TAs Blockade and Shut Down Campus

by a Student Supporter
 
Most entrances to UBC were blocked Thursday, in defiance of
legislation enacted by the province Wednesday night, which
illegalized the constitutionally protected TA strike there, effectively
shutting down the campus and cancelling most classes. Striking
teaching assistants, librarians and clerical workers at the
University of British Columbia ignored back-to-work legislation
Thursday, picketing all but one entrance to the campus, while a
good number of supporting students and community members
joined them to beef up the road blockades.  At several points
throughout the day some of the wealthier and more priviliged
amongst the students - those driving BMWs and SUVs for the
most part - attempted to plow through the road blockades, yet the
people on the line held their ground quite well, even risking
personal injury for their wildcat action which was not sanctioned
by the union. Members of the Canadian Union of Public
Employees were ordered back to work when the B.C. Liberal
government rushed through a law Wednesday that imposed a
20-day "cooling-off" period on their labour dispute with the
university - which of course affects the TAs much more than it
does the administration.

But pickets were up again Thursday morning. Students on foot
and in cars generally respected the picket lines and did not
attend class while bus drivers in solidarity dropped their
passengers a few blocks from campus. Local firefighters
brought out hot coffee and went around to each road blockade to
distribute it in solidarity - though the fire engines were
intimidating when they first arrived.  With the entire campus
essentially shut down for the day, the union staged a noon-hour
rally on the campus and condemned the government's move as
a bid to crush free collective bargaining. "The government has
stepped in, stopped the bargaining process and forced through
legislation in 'Big Brother' fashion," union president Barry O'Neill
said. "It seems that UBC, in collusion with the government, has
clearly used the students as a pawn in this travesty of people's
rights."

The university planned to go to the B.C. Labour Relations Board
for an order to remove the pickets. The legislation passed
Wednesday ordered both sides back to the bargaining table
within 72 hours and effectively negated the right to strike
enshrined in Candian federal law. Teaching assistants,
graduate students who among other things mark papers, want a
pay increase and a tuition subsidy that would bring them up to a
level of parity with other schools in Canada, which they currently
lag behind. Labour Minister Graham Bruce claimed
unconvicingly that the government's top concern is for the 23,000
students, whose school terms might be jeopardized if the strike
continues.  "This isn't surprising," Bruce said of the strikers'
show of defiance - but he conceeded that "there's steps that the
employer can take."  Bruce claimed the legislation was
"necessary."  "Clearly the negotiations were dysfunctional and
we weren't going anywhere," he claimed. "I was concerned
students would lose their year."  The introduction of the
legislation followed separate meetings with the parties to see if
the issues could be resolved. Mediator Richard Longpre,
assistant deputy labour minister, will assist in the new talks. "We
expect both UBC and CUPE to be back at the bargaining table by
Saturday," Bruce said. Local media such as the Vancouver Sun
completely distorted what did and did not take place today,
minimizing the extent to which the campus was shut down,
which was very extensive, and ignoring the violence from wealthy
UBC students against TAs at the road blockades.




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