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CREW chosen to represent Concordia’s TAs and RAs

Graphic by Carleen Loney / The Concordian

Last week, after a three-week voting period, CREW announced their win in the race to become the official union representing Concordia’s teaching assistants (TAs) and research assistants (RAs).

The vote opposed the Concordia Research and Education Workers Union (CREW) to the Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia Union’s (TRAC). CREW won with 71.7 per cent of votes, as they announced on their Instagram account on Nov. 15. 

“For us to win by such a landslide, it was humbling in the best way,” said Frances Davenport, CREW militant organizer and master’s student in chemistry. “I think it foreshadows what’s to come. I think it shows a level of unity that we have managed to establish, and that we are hoping to carry with us into bargaining, to get us the things that we campaigned on that we swore we were ready to fight for.”

CREW was created last March when TRAC’s executive team resigned, saying they could not get the gains they wanted for Concordia’s TAs and RAs while working under TRAC’s parent union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). 

Despite collecting a majority of memberships last semester, CREW was unable to be certified in court this summer. TRAC’s Collective Agreement had never officially been filed, which gave them a chance to re-file over the summer and keep power. 

Instead of a lengthy legal battle, a vote was held between Oct. 23 and Nov. 13 to determine which union TAs and RAs wanted to be represented by. 

The CREW team got the election results on Nov. 13, but after what they had been through over the summer, they did not relax until they got certification on Nov. 15. 

“We were still holding our breath for sure,” Davenport said. “Because, we’d been fooled once.”

Stephanie Eccles, CREW campaign coordinator, said the CREW win is much bigger than just their union. “It’s an accomplishment for workers everywhere in many ways, because if anything, this is just a boost to the importance of reclaiming unions for the workers,” she said.

Eccles explained that the next step for CREW is to hold a General Assembly on Nov. 29, where TAs and RAs will vote on their constitution and elect an executive and bargaining team. Then, once the winter semester begins, the union will start bargaining for their new Collective Agreement. 

“We always and forever will be the CREW campaign, but CREW is everyone now,” Davenport said. “And so, while we have a vested interest in seeing a smooth transition, and we have a vested interest and a passion and fighting power for achieving the goals we set out to achieve, we are counting on the community we’ve built to come forward.”

This semester’s campaigning period was marked by accusations of misinformation by both TRAC and CREW. One of the claims TRAC made was that choosing CREW would delay bargaining, since it would take time to get the union up and running—a claim that Davenport and Eccles find ironic. 

“CREW started for many reasons, but a prominent one was how long it was taking PSAC to initiate bargaining,” Davenport said. She recalls being frustrated with TRAC’s executive team for not initiating bargaining, until she understood that it was being delayed by PSAC. 

“We’ve been ready to bargain since CREW began,” she said. 

TRAC did not respond to our request to comment on the elections.

Since they campaigned on their bargaining promise, the CREW team has already prepared their demands to the university. Some of their top demands are a pay raise above inflation for TAs and RAs, more action to protect their members from sexual harassment, and the removal of tiered salaries for RAs.

CREW’s job has only begun as they start preparing for negotiations. Davenport warned that the process might take time. “The surest way to get a bad deal is to want a quick one,” she said.

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CREW’s campaign to ditch TRAC met with positive response 

CREW campaign pizza party, Chantal Bellefeuille/ THE CONCORDIAN

Concordia University’s teaching and research assistances stand together as they accumulate signatures to create a new union before the April 3 deadline that advocates for better pay and benefits

On March 24, the Concordia Research and Education Workers Union (CREW) held a pizza party at the university’s Loyola campus to bring together TAs and RAs to express their support for leaving the Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia Union (TRAC). The CREW campaign is optimistic about change thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response of TAs and RAs who are choosing to make the switch.

As people started to trickle into the meeting room in the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex, the overall attitude of attendees as they started eating was that they were done with TRAC. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the parent union of TRAC, failed to support its members in meeting their demands for a collective agreement with Concordia University that included a pay raise above inflation, better benefits for international students, improved protection against overwork, paid training, and better job security. 

The main topic people discussed was their unfair salaries. According to the TRAC 2023 Demands Draft Points on the CREW website, TAs and RAs at Concordia University are paid by tier, making between $17.24 to $29.81 an hour. TAs in other universities like McGill make a minimum of $33 an hour. CREW wants to abolish the tier pay rate and establish equity amongst their members. Biochemistry TA and RA Frances Davenport emphasized that PSAC doesn’t have their back. 

“PSAC didn’t even try to refute the salary issue. One of the talking points that they put on their website was that McGill students technically do more work, so TAs at Concordia don’t deserve more money. That’s so wild to me because there are people on CREW’s campaign team who say, ‘I TA at Concordia and my partner TAs at McGill. We have the exact same job,’” Davenport said. 

CREW is confident that its new potential parent union, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), will help them win their fight. They’ve seen CSN’s support for the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), McGill’s TA and RA union, who is a local union of theirs. 

“AGSEM has been helping us campaign as well. We have come together to compare job descriptions and responsibilities and they are the same. The only difference is that for AGSEM, it is outlined in a contract, PSCA won’t even give us a contract.” Davenport said.

Alex Engler (left) biology delegate for TAs and RAs and Frances Davenport (right) Biochemstry delegate for TAs and RAs, Chantal Bellefeuille/ THE CONCORDIAN

Former TRAC President Sam Thompson was also in disbelief at PSAC’s response. 

“It’s an amazing illustration of how little understanding PSAC has of the valuable work that the teaching assistants do at Concordia. We are absolutely essential to the very functioning of the university,” Thompson said.

“Without us, it would simply fall apart. So, the idea that our work is less valuable than what McGill does is laughable.”

CSN allows their unions to be autonomous, meaning that if CREW officially signs with them, they will be able to have the final say when CREW brings their issues to the bargaining table. PSAC’s diplomatic structure doesn’t provide this. 

Joey Ricardo, a research assistant in Concordia’s biochemistry department, thinks that PSAC has neglected its members in the past and didn’t try to help TRAC negotiate for a better salary and benefits. This is the fundamental reason behind the switch, giving TAs and RAs more control over their situation. 

“CSN is less involved as a parent union and will let CREW do what they want to do. TRAC was at the mercy of PSAC. Now if someone is saying, ‘No, you can’t negotiate pay,’ CREW will be able to decide whether they want to renegotiate or not. CSN will only be there for support,” Ricardo said.

This is why CREW believes that for real change to happen, they need to put the pressure on. They think they deserve a better deal than what PSAC is willing to offer. 

“PSAC has made the claim that CSN comes and raids their unions, bringing PSAC’s unions over to CSN. CREW’s campaign team did their research and reached out to CSN for help. This movement is a grassroots movement, started by graduate students,” Davenport said. 

She says that CSN supports CREW’s principles, like how CREW stresses that TAs and RAs are university employees. According to Davenport, Concordia University emphasizes that they are students first, denying TAs and RAs employee benefits.

Thompson says that the CREW campaign has spoken to thousands of TAs and RAs who have made the switch from TRAC to CREW. The relationships that the TA and RA community has formed over the last couple of weeks have never been in a stronger position. They have received support from every single department at Concordia University.

“It’s so amazing to see members so excited by a project that fills them with the hope that contains the promise of real dignity at work,” Thompson said. 

“It’s also been an incredible opportunity to build momentum in the lead-up to negotiating with the university. Members look at the deal that they’ve had for 15 years and know that it can be better. They want the opportunity to fight for that positive change.”

For the switch to officially comply with Quebec’s labour union laws, CREW needs to have 50 per cent of TRAC members sign a petition stating that they want to resign from TRAC to join CREW. 

Towards the end of the pizza party, Ph.D. candidate Victor Quezada, who’s been working as a graduate student for Concordia since 2019, commented that he thinks the switch will officially happen. He has noticed how the TA and RA community has become more tight-knit because of CREW’s encouragement and people have been participating to get the word out. 

“I have good expectations. We have good representatives who are fighting for change. CREW are very involved, engaged, and have put everything that they have into this,” Quezada said. 

PSAC was contacted for comment but didn’t respond in time for publication.

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Getting back on TRAC

Photo by Alex Hutchings.

Members vote for equal pay for all levels of study—TAs and RAs allotted a 1 per cent raise

Teaching and Research Assistants of Concordia University (TRAC) voted for equal pay grades for teaching assistants (TAs) and research assistants (RAs) at all levels of study at their general assembly held on Sept. 14.

Before the voting began, TRAC President Nader Jafari Nodoushan discussed that if TRAC members—being TAs, RAs and invigilators—were to vote to ratify a new pay grade structure, it would be implemented for both TA’s and RA’s, resulting in an increase to both of their minimum pay grades by one per cent. Jafari Nodoushan said TA pay grades in all faculties would be an equal pay rate of $24.93 per hour, while markers pay rate would rise to $20.21, regardless of faculty or level of study. Jafari Nodoushan said someone who marks work qualifies as a marker, however, someone that does anything more qualifies as a TA.

Previously, the pay rates varied from faculty and level of study.

Following the meeting, Jafari Nodoushan told The Concordian markers at Concordia are receiving the highest pay rate for a university marker in Quebec, while TAs are being paid the second highest. “All other universities [in Quebec] except McGill have lower pay grades [for TAs] than Concordia University,” said Jafari Nodoushan. He stressed the fact that a time sheet created by TRAC will ensure members will be paid properly for the hours they worked.

Robert Sonin, former TRAC president and a current member of the organization due to his work as an invigilator, claims TRAC is disorganized—he said they didn’t release the agreement prior to the general meeting.

He said members were not given the actual agreement at the event, only a summary which did not allow them enough time to assess the agreement.

“That paper they got, it’s not what they signed. It’s just an explanation of what they signed,” Sonin said.

Sonin said he believes that, as a result of higher pay rates, the hours allotted to TAs will be reduced. “Concordia will do what it has to do to keep within its budget,” said Sonin. “If you have a limited budget to pay for TA hours and the price goes up, you can afford fewer hours.”

When asked if pay raises could result in hour cuts, Jafari Nodoushan said it is hard to say whether hours will be cut.

“Our members are receiving the difference between the new pay structure and also the old pay structure in the summer—we have the numbers, and it’s showing that there hasn’t been any cut on the hours,” said Jafari Nodoushan. This means members will have their pay compensated from the hours they worked in the summer to be paid the new raise that was voted after the general assembly. “It can’t be said easily that Concordia will cut the hours because the pay grade is increasing,” he said.

When asked if Concordia is increasing their budget towards TAs and RAs this academic year, Jafari Nodoushan said not all the contracts had been paid in full. “We don’t have the exact numbers of how much the TA budget has been increased in the summer.” He said it would be released in Concordia’s financial report.

Regarding the budget allotted to TAs and RAs this academic year, Concordia University spokesperson Chris Mota said, “the agreement in principle hasn’t been approved by the board yet, so there is no number available to share at this point, making a comparison impossible.”

The old pay rates for TA’s and markers compared to new pay rates ratified on Sept 14. Photo courtesy of TRAC.

Jafari Nodoushan believes the pay raises will result in more equal payment for members, because pays will no longer vary between department and level of study—undergraduates were previously being paid less than graduate students. “Equity is to treat all the labourers in an equally bound way, not to hire cheaper labourers or make them overloaded because they are cheaper labourers,” he said.

Jafari Nodoushan said he believed this new pay rate would not result in graduates being picked over undergraduates, now that they have equal pay. “As far as I know, many professors prefer to have undergrad students hired, especially those in the third or fourth year of their bachelor [degree], to get more experience.” he said. “I believe this intention will remain.”

Last April, Sonin filed a complaint against TRAC to Quebec’s branch of the national labour union Public Service Alliance of Canada. Sonin had requested access to financial history due to a discrepancy of $16,348.93 in financial reports. Being a member, he was entitled to these documents. However, he was only allowed to view an Excel spreadsheet, being refused access to financial documents and receipts.

When The Concordian asked Jafari Nodoushan if he had an update regarding the discrepancy we reported on in April 2016, he said that a follow-up will not be released until later. “We are in the process of an investigation and it needs to be done first,” Jafari Nodoushan said. “After we will be able to release all the results.”

Graphic by Florence Yee.

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