BURNABY—As the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) lockout of CUPE Local 3338 staff entered its second week, CUPE BC president Barry O’Neill and secretary-treasurer Mark Hancock met with members on the picket line Tuesday to offer support and hear their important stories.
“The SFSS staff are a passionate group of professionals who care about SFU students and the entire university community,” said O’Neill. “They want to get back to their jobs serving students, but the SFSS Board of Directors refuses to return to the bargaining table. Instead, they’re busy disrespecting the work CUPE members do. By encouraging students to cross picket lines and equating savings from the lockout to free booze, the students who make up the SFSS Board of Directors have shown considerable disrespect to their hardworking staff.”
After conversations with several of the members O’Neill praised their commitment to their jobs and their resolve to stand against employer bullying.
“This lockout is an attempt to bust a collective agreement,” said O’Neill. “The SFSS politicians want to lay staff off, cut wages by up to 40 per cent, and replace experienced staff members with untrained volunteers. The SFSS board needs to know that the 85,000 CUPE members in BC will not tolerate these bullying tactics. CUPE members from across the province stand with our brothers and sisters at SFU.”
As the lockout continues, some of the most vulnerable students at SFU are being hit hardest by the cancellation of services. The SFU Women’s Centre is now without trained staff to provide crisis referrals and peer-support. At Out on Campus, a resource for the gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgendered, and queer community on campus, volunteers and students say the lockout has made the space unsafe.
Show your support for the CUPE 3338 members.
Like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SFUlockout to share messages of support and solidarity with the SFSS staff.
Join the conversation on Twitter. Follow www.Twitter.com/CUPEsfu for news and important updates.
Email the SFSS Board of Directors and copy cupe@sfu.ca. Tell them to end the lockout and get back to the bargaining table.
pres@sfss.ca; treas@sfss.ca; ero@sfss.ca; iro@sfss.ca; mso@sfss.ca; uro@sfss.ca; atlarge1@sfss.ca; atlarge2@sfss.ca; appscirep@sfss.ca; artsrep@sfss.ca; busrep@sfss.ca; fcatrep@sfss.ca; edurep@sfss.ca; envrep@sfss.ca; healthscirep@sfss.ca; sciencerep@sfss.ca
President: Jeff McCann
Treasurer: Keenan Midgley
External Relations Officer: Kevin Zhang
Internal Relations Officer: Jordan Kohn
Member Services Officer: Lorenz Yeung
University Relations Officer: Marc Fontaine
At-Large Representative: Arry Dhillon
At-Large Representative: Danielle Hornstein
Applied Sciences Faculty Representative: Lahz Dropsy Kikabou
Arts Faculty Representative: Kyle Acierno
Business Faculty Representative: Hao Lin
Communication, Art and Technology Faculty Representative: Jenni Rempel
Education Faculty Representative: Shiva Manavipour
Environment Faculty Representative: Maziar Kazemi
Health Sciences Faculty Representative: Spencyre Hackett-Martin
Sciences Faculty Representative: Tabrez Hussein
