Graduate teaching assistants on strike at Western
Graduate teaching assistants at Western University are on strike. April 11, 2024. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)
Graduate teaching assistants (GTA) at Western University are on strike.
According to Western, members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Local 610 (PSAC610) walked away from the bargaining table Wednesday night and were in a legal strike position at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
According to a post on the PSAC 610 website, the union is asking that all members of the Western community respect the strike by refusing to take up positions to proctor and mark exams.
“It is shameful that workers are being forced to take direct action, because Western refused to come to the table with a fair offer,” said Craig Reynolds, PSAC Ontario regional executive vice-president in a statement.
“Instead, Western chose to focus on undermining the critical work graduate teaching assistants perform by preparing to outsource that work to other staff,” said Reynolds.
The school said it had offered an hourly wage rate of $48.16, retroactive to Jan. 1 and an hourly wage rate of $51.10 by year four of the collective agreement.
As previously reported, the hourly pay for GTAs is $47.22 per hour.
Graduate students are full-time students and as of August 2023, approximately 2,000 were employed on campus as graduate teaching assistants.
"Western recognizes the right to labour action, and at the same time we are committed to ensuring undergraduate students finish the term with no disruption to their academic activities and scheduled exams," said Western's provost and vice-president, Florentine Strzelczyk.
The university and University Hospital will remain open, and operations will continue as normal with all appointments and services moving ahead as scheduled.
The school said plans are in place to minimize any impact on students and colleagues across campus. However, people can expect delays due to picket lines and should give themselves extra time accessing campus.
The PSAC collective agreement expires on Aug. 31, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From essential goods to common stocking stuffers, Trudeau offering Canadians temporary tax relief
Canadians will soon receive a temporary tax break on several items, along with a one-time $250 rebate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
She thought her children just had a cough or fever. A mother shares sons' experience with walking pneumonia
A mother shares with CTVNews.ca her family's health scare as medical experts say cases of the disease and other respiratory illnesses have surged, filling up emergency departments nationwide.
Trump chooses Pam Bondi for attorney general pick after Gaetz withdraws
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration.
A one-of-a-kind Royal Canadian Mint coin sells for more than $1.5M
A rare one-of-a-kind pure gold coin from the Royal Canadian Mint has sold for more than $1.5 million. The 99.99 per cent pure gold coin, named 'The Dance Screen (The Scream Too),' weighs a whopping 10 kilograms and surpassed the previous record for a coin offered at an auction in Canada.
Putin says Russia attacked Ukraine with a new missile that he claims the West can't stop
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that Moscow has tested a new intermediate-range missile in a strike on Ukraine, and he warned that it could use the weapon against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use their missiles to strike Russia.
Here's a list of items that will be GST/HST-free over the holidays
Canadians won't have to pay GST on a selection of items this holiday season, the prime minister vowed on Thursday.
Video shows octopus 'hanging on for dear life' during bomb cyclone off B.C. coast
Humans weren’t the only ones who struggled through the bomb cyclone that formed off the B.C. coast this week, bringing intense winds and choppy seas.
Taylor Swift's motorcade spotted along Toronto's Gardiner Expressway
Taylor Swift is officially back in Toronto for round two. The popstar princess's motorcade was seen driving along the Gardiner Expressway on Thursday afternoon, making its way to the downtown core ahead of night four of ‘The Eras Tour’ at the Rogers Centre.
Service Canada holding back 85K passports amid Canada Post mail strike
Approximately 85,000 new passports are being held back by Service Canada, which stopped mailing them out a week before the nationwide Canada Post strike.
Shopping Trends
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
