March 9, 2010 Opinions

TRAC president speaks out

by Thomas Leonard

Thomas Leonard is president of the Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia. He is currently completing his master’s degree in public policy.

A new executive was voted in at the Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia’s winter general assembly on Feb. 18, and I was elected president of this executive.
While some members of our union may feel that there is little that can be done to improve or change the situation with our contracts and should therefore head straight to arbitration, this is simply not true.

Dates for arbitration have been set for the end of August, but in the meantime the university is open to negotiations. If an improved agreement can be settled upon, arbitration will not be necessary.

Unfortunately, this does not leave TRAC members with much time, but it does allow us to make a stronger case for an improved contract worthy of teaching assistants.

This can only be done with the aid and support of the members of TRAC, though.
Currently, the executive is gathering information on the TA and RA contracts from each department, such that we will be able to compile a general idea of what sort of salaries and tasks would be acceptable to all of the TAs.

But we aren’t omniscient. Thus, it is up to all of you to voice your problems with the contracts.
Second, the executive is circulating a petition to show our utter disgust not only with the contract that was negotiated on our behalf, but for the complete lack of respect on the part of the university for the work that TAs do.

Petitions will help show the university that we are informed and organized and that we won’t accept a weak offer. Moreover, this will give us support in front of the judge if we ever do have to go to arbitration.

People can help by simply signing the petition, but we also need help passing out these petitions within different departments. For our part, we will be placing as many petitions in grad lounges and offices as is possible, but it would certainly be more effective if we had the help of students from the departments.

Third, the executive is attempting to rectify the lack of representation for eConcordia TAs, who unfortunately are not covered by TRAC and thus have no union representation at Concordia—yet another bonus for the university with eConcordia.

Finally, we are gathering information of the many TAs and RAs to ensure that any moves on the part of the executive are known to all its members.

Everybody can help in this process by writing us at trac.concordia@gmail.com, by sending me an email at thomas19828@yahoo.com, or by joining the Facebook group TRAC-Union.
We will need the support of everyone, especially if we are going to pressure the university to give us what we deserve.

And believe me when I say that pressure, in any and all forms, is still an option open to TRAC while negotiating with the university over the next couple months.

People need to understand that if you are a TA or an RA, except for eConcordia, this deal affects you and this includes every department and every level, from undergrad to PhD.
It is up to all of us to make sure that our interests are not trampled on. This can be done simply by being informed, organized and united.