TSSU bargaining and strike update - June 12-16, 2023

Community safety and responsibilities during picket line activities

On June 15, the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) picketed at five locations on Burnaby Campus. The University respects TSSU members’ right to picket and engage in legal strike action. However, the University received reports from members of the university community concerned about certain behaviours at picket lines.

Harassment or intimidation is never acceptable at SFU, and the University is addressing reports of inappropriate behaviour at the picket lines with TSSU leadership. If you have an incident to report, please complete the Strike Incident Report Form and send it to safe@sfu.ca. 

If you were impacted by your experience with picket line activity, there are resources and supports available to you:

• Faculty and staff can access the Employee and Family Assistance Program.
• Students can connect with SFU Health and Counselling and MySSP for 24/7 mental health support.
• All SFU faculty, staff and students can get support from SFU’s Bullying and Harassment Central Hub.
• As always, Campus Public Safety’s emergency line is available for immediate 24/7 support: 778-782-4500. Non-urgent reports can be made at 778.782.7991.

Statement on TSSU Member Benefits

Yesterday, the university shared a statement in response TSSU members’ concerns about the continuation of their benefits. 

To be clear, at this time the University has not removed or suspended any benefits from any TSSU members. All eligible TSSU members are still covered under their regular benefit plan. 

In a strike situation, wages and benefits are typically suspended during periods when employees are on strike and not reporting to work. The obligation to pay for benefits shifts from the employer to the union. The university has provided TSSU leadership with the costs to continue benefits for its members.

SFU is committed to working with TSSU leadership to ensure that TSSU members will have the coverage they need. 

TSSU Bargaining Update

In the most recent proposal, SFU’s bargaining team tabled the maximum allowable monetary package under the Province’s Shared Recovery Mandate. Despite this healthy offer, the parties were unable to reach agreement and TSSU has indicated their intent to take strike action rather than continuing negotiations at the bargaining table.

SFU’s bargaining team continues to look for solutions to present to TSSU that could lead to a negotiated settlement with members when TSSU is prepared to return to the bargaining table and continue negotiations.

We recognize that this is a challenging time. The university is focused on resolving this situation as quickly as possible to ensure the academic success of our students, and support for our outstanding faculty and staff.