Academic workers across Canada face a critical moment in Canadian labour history. Stagnating wages, post-Covid austerities, and a cost-of-living crisis continue to adversely impact the well-being of academic workers across Canada. An impassioned organized labour movement is growing in the academic sector in response. We, the unionized representatives of academic workers at six universities across the Prairie Region (Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan), stand in solidarity with the many Unions fighting for a better deal for academic workers in Canada.
Academic workers at York University and McGill have voted a clear mandate for job action with strong turnouts on the picket lines. Support them with a message of support or donation today! Strike votes at the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa and Western University have sent a strong message to employers and provincial governments that academic workers in Canada deserve better! We commend the fortitude demonstrated throughout the respective collective bargaining processes and applaud CUPE 3902 for negotiating wage increases of 12.8% over three-years.
Whether you live in Toronto or Calgary, Montreal or Brandon, the numbers just do not add up. Our members cite similar issues, such as food insecurity, over reliance on food banks, and a lack of accessible housing. Academic workers deserve fair compensation for their research and teaching labour, and wages that allow them to live with respect and dignity. We unequivocally call for a living wage for all academic workers in Canada!
As we collectively fight for a better future for academic workers in Canada, we, the GLU (UCalgary), GSA-LRC (UAlberta), ULGA (ULethbridge), PSAC 40004 (USaskatchewan), PSAC
55601 (Brandon), PSAC 55600 (UWinnipeg), express our enduring solidarity with CUPE 3903 (York), CUPE 2626 (UOttawa), AGSEM (McGill), and PSAC 610 (Western).
In solidarity and support, we present this statement on behalf of the undersigned:
Graduate Labour Union, University of Calgary, Alberta
Labour Relations Committee, Graduate Students’ Association, University of Alberta
Academically Employed Graduate Student’s Union, University of Lethbridge, Alberta
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Local 40004 at The University of Saskatchewan
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Local 55601 at The University of Brandon, Manitoba
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Local 55600 at The University of Winnipeg, Manitob