CUSSU protest shuts down student services

Concordia University’s support staff walked off the job for four hours last Monday, causing most student services to grind to a halt. Students trying to buy books for the start of school were surprised to find bookstore doors locked on both campuses.
The 450-member Concordia University Support Staff Union (CUSSU) were protesting the fact that they have been without a contract since 2002. “We’re serious about the negotiations. We’re an important part of the functioning of this university,” said union president André Legault.
He says the union is looking for “respect and equity” and doesn’t understand why there hasn’t been an agreement with the school.
“We don’t think we’re that far apart.”
Support staff are looking for a 4.5 per cent annual raise, which Legault says will bring them on par with library staff. The two unions representing the library workers, who are paid more than support staff, recently settled with the university for a four per cent raise. Legault says that library and support staff do similar work and should receive similar pay.
Legault said the main sticking point has been concessions. The university is demanding that the union withdraw 50 grievances that claim the university has illegally used contract workers.
The university also wants to remove a “bumping clause” from the union’s collective agreement.Under this clause if someone’s position is abolished the university has to find them a new job, “bumping” more junior employees.
Legault said the union is ready to discuss concessions. “We’re perfectly willing to sit down and see what they’re offering.”
But he thinks the university is asking too much; he said that when library staff settled the only concession they had to make was to merge two unions, one at each library, into one.
He said the union hopes to reach an agreement as soon as possible. In the meantime, the union has four more job actions scheduled. While Legault refused to say what they would be, he did say that the union would try to affect students as little as possible. “We’re trying to minimize our impact on students and maximize our impact on the administration.”