Precarious work at York sets bad example
Re York U. trapped in a time warp, Cohn, April 14 My daughter recently graduated from York University. She can tell you why there are continuing strikes and the employer — the government of Ontario — should be ashamed of itself.
Why should parents send their kids to York, you ask? Why, indeed, should we send our kids to any university or school of higher education — where we expect our kids to get a good education that will, in the end, get them a decent job, so they can live a decent life and become a contributing member of our society.
Teaching assistants (TAs) make a decent life for themselves because they are on continuous contracts, instead of permanent jobs. They don’t know if they will have a job in a few months, so they can’t buy a house or settle down.
Why should I send my daughter to a university when the example set by the government of Ontario is one of insecurity? These TAs have higher education and supposedly work for a decent employer. What a bad example to set.
It is very sad. With the disgraceful way our “best” employers are treating their employees, how can the youth of today have any hope for a decent life? Denise Vrant, Toronto
Martin Regg Cohn blames the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 3903) workers currently on the picket lines for bringing York University to the brink of collapse.
But in arguing that the union should have the wisdom to cave in to an administration for the good of all, he misses the point that York’s sessional workers are an organized, fierce group of well-educated workers demanding a fair living wage for a growing group of young workers, which will include many who are currently students.
My husband teaches at York as tenured faculty. Our son, a recent York grad, is currently using much-valued skills he learned while at York (and like most of his cohort, he’s working on contract).
Precarious work is the new issue for young people.
Cohn suggests students can no longer trust York because of the strikes.
I’d say, instead, they can trust York as a place where the people who teach them will defend their rights, and fight for fairness in the real world, where precarious workers can all too easily get used up and thrown aside. Laura McLauchlan, Toronto