Queen’s faculty show support for graduate student workers on strike

By Christena Lawrie, CFRC's Broadcast Journalist and Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

Professors showed their solidarity with striking graduate workers with a teach-in on Friday, March 21.

In addition to Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows and Postdoctoral Scholars being on strike, many Professors have invoked their collective agreement right to not cross the picket line. 

An open letter urging the university to work towards ending the strike before the end of the term has been signed by 179 faculty members so far.

According to the letter, the strike has caused major disruptions, with courses, labs, and tutorials on hold, assessments being cancelled, and papers being left ungraded. 

“Students on the picket line is not normal. It’s not business as usual. This is wrong,” Dr. Margaret Pappano, a Professor in the English Department, stated at Friday’s teach-in.

The latest update from Queen’s claims the university presented “a comprehensive and competitive offer to PSAC”, and that they will “continue to bargain terms and conditions of employment in good faith”.

Listen to the full story here.