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Students, faculty and CUPE Ontario members rallied outside the Ryerson University student centre on Monday evening to support Local 1281 members locked out by the Continuing Education Students Association at Ryerson (CESAR).
Two members were locked out just after midnight on Monday, after refusing to cave in to employer demands for crushing concessions that would have created a two-tiered workplace with new hires receiving a pay cut of 10 percent and which would eliminate a unionized position.
“You are not alone,” said Andrea Madden, CUPE Ontario 3rd vice-president. “The 240,000 members of CUPE Ontario stand with you in solidarity, and we will stand with you until this lockout ends and you get a fair deal.”
Other rally participants included Local 1281 President Saira Chibber, Ryerson Students Union President Melissa Palermo, Local 79 President Tim Maguire and OPSEU 596 President Gowry Siva, and Don Elder, president of CUPE 3904, which represents part-time and sessional faculty at the university. Many students and faculty, including Sam Gindin Chair Winnie Ng and sociologist Alan Sears, also stood in solidarity with the locked-out workers.
