Quote:
Originally Posted by Taunton
That argument is BS. The union doesn't take cost of living differences into account. A TA in Toronto will have a much higher cost of living, and so even though their wage is higher, they still see the same amount, or even less, than a TA in Hamilton.
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To settle this, I'll use my own figures and do a calculation:
Like I mentioned in a previous post, McMaster offered me a TA-ship worth $7600 for an 11 month period (September - August). My cost of living (strictly rent, since food costs the same in Toronto) is about 500 a month including utilities here in Hamilton. Multiply by 11 months, that's $5500, out of $7600 that's about 72.3% of my TAship going
just to rent. Let's leave union dues out of this, since those
may vary from university to university.
UofT offered me a TA-ship worth $15,600...72.3% of that is $11289, which comes to about $1026 per month.
You can't tell me rent is
double what it is here in Hamilton...a bit higher yes, but not double.
So yes...we are paid less here in Hamilton, than in Toronto, and yes, we do ultimately see less of the money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kathy2
Yes, I know all this.
I would still be a TA for minimum wage.
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I would LOVE to mark papers and organize/lead tutorials for $10 an hour. This is no joke. I would love to do this job and make an insanely small fraction of what the TAs make (and complain about).
There are so many jobs that pay so much less. There are so many jobs that require you work more hours than scheduled, without getting paid. I would love to be a TA, even if it only paid $10 an hour.
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You'd be in the minority, that's all I'm saying.
There are desperate people who would sit there engraving tylenol tablets by hand for 30 cents an hour...doesn't mean it's realistic, or that it's sufficient pay. The fact that minimum wage exists, that some such people
can't get jobs for 30 cents an hour, is both a benefit, and flaw of having a capitalist society.
Quote:
Even if I only ended up getting $30 a week.. (even though they make over $5000 for 8 months so where you got that figure is beyond me)
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I 'got that figure' by calculating with minimum wage...which is what
you're suggesting you would work for (please keep up). Minimum wage is less than 10 dollars, so let's round up to 10...times approximately 3 scheduled hours per week (regardless of how much time you
actually spend) = $30 per week.
You don't get to say "I'm going to work minimum wage" and make the $40/hour.