On March 31, 2011, members of several labour unions and student groups attended a forum to discuss the connections between worker and student struggles on the U of T campus. Held at the Bahen Centre, the forum was organized by the Student Worker Solidarity (SWS) collective, a working group of the newly-formed University of Toronto General Assembly (UTGA). The UTGA was established in early 2011 and has since grown to encompass a range of different working groups addressing concerns around tuition fees, corporatization, program cuts, governing structures and other campus issues.

At Thursday’s forum, members of the UTSU, CUPE 3902, USW 1998, UniteHERE (food service workers) and UTFA gave presentations to a packed room on the struggles that each of their particular organizations are currently engaged in. They also discussed ideas and strategies for building solidarity between their different groups in order to change the routine realities of exploitation, discrimination and inaccessible education.

The UniteHERE representative spoke about their difficulties in getting workplace harassment and bullying complaints taken seriously, a concern echoed by USW 1998. Another UniteHERE worker related a story of a supervisor physically assaulting her co-worker, and two weeks passing without any discipline whatsoever. Another issue these two groups share is that their job descriptions are not respected by management.

UniteHERE expressed the desire that students learn about the working conditions they endure, such as split shifts and difficulties getting paid if they clock out even one minute later than scheduled. The result is poor service for students while workers hurry to clean up their stations before close. “In addition, our hours are constantly being cut while new part-time workers are hired,” stated the UniteHERE speaker. “Employees who work less than 34 hours a week receive no benefits, and most of us have to work several jobs to make ends meet.”

Meanwhile, Paul from USW 1998 spoke of how women in that local contribute millions in free labour every year because the administration has been dragging its feet on job evaluation and pay equity. James from CUPE 3902, representing university teaching assistants, contract instructors, lab demonstrators and teaching adjuncts, stated that “We have more in common politically than differences [ . . . ] We must do away with this hierarchical structure and the false dichotomy that currently exists between academic and manual labour.”

Important points of resonance between the different labour groups included a lack of respect and fairness from a small group of people known as “The Administration.” This administration has attempted to shut students and workers out of the decision making processes vital to a public institution, while trying to pass themselves off as “The University.”

“It is an indignity to us all when the administration calls themselves ‘The University’ [ . . . ] We are being ruined by this mindset and must take back control from this small group of people trying to wield the university for their own means,” remarked the UTFA representative. The student speaker echoed this sentiment, declaring “This institution is designed to silence and ignore the voices of those who make it work. The current structure that privileges the decision making authority of corporate donors and the administration doesn’t just need to be simply reformed; it must be drastically re-imagined.”

The meeting signalled a fresh effort to bring diverse labour organizations and student groups on campus together to work side by side, to learn from each other’s struggles and issues and to collectively articulate a new force for social justice on campus.