TORONTO – Members of CUPE Local 1281 are launching a social media campaign today, to highlight cuts to student services made by the Ryerson Student Union (RSU), and to urge the restoration of those services.
Since May, the RSU has reduced funding support for campus groups, made cuts at the campus print shop, eliminated online support and graphic design services for student events, and closed the student food bank.
“The services cut at the RSU are among those students need the most,” said David Simao, president of CUPE Local 1281. “This is truer than ever in a pandemic, when so many students are juggling difficult circumstances. Why would they shutter the food bank in a pandemic? Why would they eliminate key funding supports and services Ryerson students rely on?”
Simao stressed that the services were slashed without a survey of the student population, and that RSU has not seen any drop in revenue that would justify the cuts. CUPE 1281 and campus allies are calling on the RSU to restore these services.
“The student union executive meets on Thursday,” said Simao. “We hope they will reconsider the cuts they’ve made. It’s not too late to turn the year around. We would like to work with them – as we have done in the past – to figure out how to resume providing these valuable services to the Ryerson community. The pandemic has required us all to think differently about how we access services, but it hasn’t rendered them any less important.”
Facebook: https://facebook.com/cupe1281
Twitter: @cupe1281
Instagram: CUPE1281
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For more information:
David Simao, President, CUPE 1281, 613-668-9010
Aidan MacDonald, CUPE National Representative, 437-974-5805
Andrea Addario, CUPE Communications, 416-738-4329
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