Dear President Lenton,
I’m writing in support of York University’s contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate assistants, skilled and dedicated workers who are currently on strike to defend their job security and stable, predictable opportunities to work in a unionized position during their graduate degrees.
York University works because CUPE 3903 does. Contract faculty deserve greater job security after many years teaching at York. Teaching assistants deserve to have stable and predictable funding that will not be unilaterally changed without consultation or clawed back when they win scholarships. Graduate students deserve the opportunity to work as graduate assistants in unionized positions with health benefits and other protections – and over 800 fewer of these opportunities have been offered in the past two years.
In Canada and around the world, education workers are rising up and asking for a fair deal. York’s education workers are playing a vital role in the wider fight to guarantee quality post-secondary education for all.
I’m proud to stand with York University’s contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate assistants in their fight to preserve job security and stable, predictable work opportunities. I urge York’s administration to stop minimizing and misrepresenting workers’ concerns and to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair agreement.
In solidarity with CUPE 3903,
[Your Name]
