McMaster contacted all of their TA's and (possibly) RA's yesterday to see if they would be crossing the picket lines, and I'm guessing that the majority said they would, so McMaster realized that CUPE didn't have as much leverage as they initially thought.

Goes to show you that individuals stand up against greedy, anti-student unions.

Originally Posted by PTGregD

McMaster contacted all of their TA's and (possibly) RA's yesterday to see if they would be crossing the picket lines, and I'm guessing that the majority said they would, so McMaster realized that CUPE didn't have as much leverage as they initially thought.

Goes to show you that individuals stand up against greedy, anti-student unions.

Can McMaster de-unionize their TAs and RAs?

If they see that the TAs and RAs are unhappy with CUPE and they are also unhappy with CUPE could they possibly put it to a vote and perhaps get another union to represent McMaster's TAs and RAs like CAW or something.

And the attempts at intimidating those who decide to cross the line continue

compare working conditions of unionized vs. non unionized t.a.’s, union vs. non-union faculty, etc., and then be thankful someone else did all this work for you. “continuing to work during a strike” is called “scabbing”. where i come from scabs watch their backs.

from http://unit1bargaining.wordp ress.c...able/#comments

This is ridiculous.

CUPE sucks.

CUPE keeps spouting about how unfairly the University is treating the TAs and RAs and I have to laugh because CUPE is the one treating our TAs and RAs unfairly.

CUPE is the one threatening them, and not allowing them to decide for themselves whether or not the University's offer is acceptable or if they actually want to strike.

CUPE doesn't care.

Originally Posted by Taunton

It's nice to see the dark side of unions finally being exposed here. It took long enough...

I wish I was a TA right now so I could be one of the people who gets to cross the line.

you've got to be kidding me.
'The dark side of unions'....
I'm open and respecting of opposing perspectives on whatever matter, but this statement just illustrates arrogance and ignorance. you can have whatever view you want on the matter, but Taunton, I've read many of your comments on this website, and i must say, as a SRA rep, some of you're outlandish comments just show how uneducated and ill-informed you are on the topic.

you're rhetoric are all the same kinds of statements i hear from the typical reactionry ultra conservative think tanks that pump these ideas to students and society.

Like I said I am respecting and tolerant with opposing views, however when they are entirely base-less, inaccurate, and simply a subjective view on the circumstances on what has been going on, its increasingly difficult to have patience with mind sets like yours, along with McMaster Administration.

Considering that you are an SRA member.. someone who apparently 'reflects the interests of McMasters students', you have severly violated this principle - even when you have claimed that the Undergrad Support Committee has no respect for students' 'feelings'.

The dark side of unions???

have you ever stopped to think of the actions of McMaster's upper admin towards this whole process. I had faith that McMaster students (being university students) and ESPECIALLY THE SRA ASSEMBLY would have taken this issue seriously and followed the process of negotiations from the beginning and blatantly been able to see that the only dark side to this entire process has been McMaster's upper admin and their bargaining team.

But, i was wrong, because as this is a broader societal problem -when it comes to labour negotiations- people are ignorant and apathetic towards issues that effect them. I am not using the term 'ignorant' in a derogatory sense as everyone is ignorant in certain areas - im ignorant when it comes to material engineering or biochemical science, etc., however Im using the term for its academic definition : lacking knowledge or awareness in general.

Now all of this ANTI-CUPE rhetoric will commense. Im sure led by Taunton, and it is unfortunate because it is shameful to see how the SRA (who apaprently present the interest of students) have done little to no efforts in trying to avert this strike or getting the student population informed on whats going on.

this just re-inforces the broader issue in society that apathy levels correlate with ignorance - CUPE's strike is a vibrant example of this flaw.


AN UNINFORMED POPULATION IS EASILY DECEIVED, MANIPULATED, AND TRAMPLED UPON -

THIS IS WHAT IS CURRENTLY OCCURING AT MCMASTER.

Shame on the McMaster adminstartion. They provoked this strike - systematically and intentionally using the anti-CUPE bias from the York experience, the apathy level of McMaster students and the nearly in-existent student activism at this campus to push forward an agenda of continuously disempowering any form of resistance to McMaster Admin.

The least you can all do is investigate the events of this entire process dating back to July and find out who has really been ' the dark side' of this entire process.

I still have faith in McMaster students to open their eyes and realize they are being deceived and trampuled upon.

We all tried to warn you, this was not a joke and a STRIKE was very imminent. However, instead of focusing on the reality of circumstances, people in the McMaster community wanted to place more emphasis that these emergency warning messages were "fear mogering'...

Well guess what, THERE IS A STRIKE. WE TRIED TO WARN STUDENTS, TRIED TO GET THEM INFORMED TO HELP PREVENT A STRIKE, but instead, we continued to ignore any warnings.

Allow the ridiculous and ignorant rhetoric to begin

CUPE is making it very, very easy for people to be anti-CUPE, including many of their own members.

As posted above, they are treating their own members unfairly while claiming the University won't offer them a fair deal.

CUPE has decided what a fair deal is and won't allow their membership to vote and decide whether or not they agree with the deal they are being offered.

In its infinite wisdom (yeah, right) they have also decided that it is fair to threaten any of their members who decide they are against the strike and wish to continue working. They feel its fair to punish members who are FORCED into the union yet do not agree with decisions being made on their behalf for crossing the picket lines.

They think its fair to take away the voice of their membership and make them look bad by forcing a strike that many of them don't want and by not allowing them to vote on the deal being offered to them.

CUPE sucks and being anti-CUPE (not anti TA/RA) is neither ignorant, nor arrogant and perfectly based on logic.

Those who don't support unfairness, threats, forced unionization, and not allowing your membership to voice their opinions DON'T support CUPE.

Easy there, propaganda. Don't hurt yourself.

@ramirez.

Originally Posted by ramirez.a

Allow the ridiculous and ignorant rhetoric to begin

From the looks of your post it started 16 minutes ago.

Originally Posted by ramirez.a

you've got to be kidding me.
'The dark side of unions'....
I'm open and respecting of opposing perspectives on whatever matter, but this statement just illustrates arrogance and ignorance. you can have whatever view you want on the matter, but Taunton, I've read many of your comments on this website, and i must say, as a SRA rep, some of you're outlandish comments just show how uneducated and ill-informed you are on the topic.

you're rhetoric are all the same kinds of statements i hear from the typical reactionry ultra conservative think tanks that pump these ideas to students and society.

Like I said I am respecting and tolerant with opposing views, however when they are entirely base-less, inaccurate, and simply a subjective view on the circumstances on what has been going on, its increasingly difficult to have patience with mind sets like yours, along with McMaster Administration.

Considering that you are an SRA member.. someone who apparently 'reflects the interests of McMasters students', you have severly violated this principle - even when you have claimed that the Undergrad Support Committee has no respect for students' 'feelings'.

The dark side of unions???

have you ever stopped to think of the actions of McMaster's upper admin towards this whole process. I had faith that McMaster students (being university students) and ESPECIALLY THE SRA ASSEMBLY would have taken this issue seriously and followed the process of negotiations from the beginning and blatantly been able to see that the only dark side to this entire process has been McMaster's upper admin and their bargaining team.

But, i was wrong, because as this is a broader societal problem -when it comes to labour negotiations- people are ignorant and apathetic towards issues that effect them. I am not using the term 'ignorant' in a derogatory sense as everyone is ignorant in certain areas - im ignorant when it comes to material engineering or biochemical science, etc., however Im using the term for its academic definition : lacking knowledge or awareness in general.

Now all of this ANTI-CUPE rhetoric will commense. Im sure led by Taunton, and it is unfortunate because it is shameful to see how the SRA (who apaprently present the interest of students) have done little to no efforts in trying to avert this strike or getting the student population informed on whats going on.

this just re-inforces the broader issue in society that apathy levels correlate with ignorance - CUPE's strike is a vibrant example of this flaw.


AN UNINFORMED POPULATION IS EASILY DECEIVED, MANIPULATED, AND TRAMPLED UPON -

THIS IS WHAT IS CURRENTLY OCCURING AT MCMASTER.

Shame on the McMaster adminstartion. They provoked this strike - systematically and intentionally using the anti-CUPE bias from the York experience, the apathy level of McMaster students and the nearly in-existent student activism at this campus to push forward an agenda of continuously disempowering any form of resistance to McMaster Admin.

The least you can all do is investigate the events of this entire process dating back to July and find out who has really been ' the dark side' of this entire process.

I still have faith in McMaster students to open their eyes and realize they are being deceived and trampuled upon.

We all tried to warn you, this was not a joke and a STRIKE was very imminent. However, instead of focusing on the reality of circumstances, people in the McMaster community wanted to place more emphasis that these emergency warning messages were "fear mogering'...

Well guess what, THERE IS A STRIKE. WE TRIED TO WARN STUDENTS, TRIED TO GET THEM INFORMED TO HELP PREVENT A STRIKE, but instead, we continued to ignore any warnings.

Allow the ridiculous and ignorant rhetoric to begin

Yeah you're right. Ben should be pro-strike since he is looking out for the welfare of students.

Oh wait.....don't we need classes to actually run for student welfare to be increased?

Originally Posted by ramirez.a

Allow the ridiculous and ignorant rhetoric to begin

What I find ridiculous and ignorant is that the union is just plain lying in an attempt to fear-monger and, yes, even bully TAs into supporting their cause.

I almost bought it...I mean, I love my job, I love helping students, and I've grown attached to my current batch of students, but I'm not going to risk legal action to do a good job.

Originally Posted by Taunton

It's not legal... the problem is that if the union actually goes through with using these tactics, it's extremely oppresive, to the point where you would fear saying anything to authorities.

Anyone who doesn't believe that unions are willing to beat the living s*it out of strike breakers needs to read more about the history of unions. These tactics are one of my primary reasons for hating unions the way I do.

Taunton again... you have got to be kidding me. If you really want to get into the 'history of unions', why haven't you address the fact that when these unions back in the day were FIGHTING WOMEN AND CHILDREN *WHO WERE NOT EUROCENTRIC BIOLOGICALLY* TO HAVE AN EDUCATION... went on the streets fighting for a better and more equitable society while employers - with the help of the state - gave orders to shot into protesting workers.

again, the more im reading your comments, the more saddening it is for me to see that students actually take your statements as legitimate

*CORRECTION***
WHEN UNIONS WERE FIGHTING FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO HAVE AN EDUCATION******

Originally Posted by Mowicz

What I find ridiculous and ignorant is that the union is just plain lying in an attempt to fear-monger and, yes, even bully TAs into supporting their cause.

I almost bought it...I mean, I love my job, I love helping students, and I've grown attached to my current batch of students, but I'm not going to risk legal action to do a good job.

I agree with you Mowicz. I teach a capstone course in my department and I see the same group of students every week for the entire year. This is the third year I've taught this course. By the end of the year, I do grow attached to my students. In fact, many of them still keep in touch with me and we go for beers from time to time.

That having been said, I refuse to be intimidated by CUPEs threats and will not abandon my students. I would encourage you to consider the same.

I don't think Unions have yet done things quite as bad as what the anti-union people did back in the day, but both sides have done terrible things in the past (including killing).

However, in the present day we tend to see the BS antics coming from Unions. I don't remember employers throwing garbage at citizens who cleaned up garbage during the TO garbage strike. I don't remember the city of Ottawa threatening to block students on a university provided shuttle bus from taking exams during the OCC strike. etc. etc.

Its worth noting that McMaster isn't taking pictures of people who won't cross the strike line...

Originally Posted by ramirez.a

Taunton again... you have got to be kidding me. If you really want to get into the 'history of unions', why haven't you address the fact that when these unions back in the day were FIGHTING WOMEN AND CHILDREN *WHO WERE NOT EUROCENTRIC BIOLOGICALLY* TO HAVE AN EDUCATION... went on the streets fighting for a better and more equitable society while employers - with the help of the state - gave orders to shot into protesting workers.

again, the more im reading your comments, the more saddening it is for me to see that students actually take your statements as legitimate

How about we keep this in the now? when was the last violence to a union in this part of the world? Then find out when the last time it was perpetrated by unions. Shockingly telling.