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<P class=MsoNormal>Dear colleagues, please consider signing the letter below on
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A
href="http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/faculty-letter-calling-on-uoft-provost-to-avert-ta-strike/794">http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/faculty-letter-calling-on-uoft-provost-to-avert-ta-strike/794</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>putting your departmental affiliation in the 'Comment'
box.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Best wishes,<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Jens<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Public Letter to the Provost of UofT, Professor Cheryl
Misak<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>We are writing to you as members of the faculty of the
University of Toronto who are concerned about the current labour dispute between
the administration and CUPE 3902, the union representing our Teaching
Assistants. We urge you to consider their three basic, popular
demands:<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"
class=MsoListParagraph><![if !supportLists]><SPAN lang=EN-CA><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">1.<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><![endif]><SPAN lang=EN-CA>Increase TA wages and benefits
in step with inflation<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"
class=MsoListParagraph><![if !supportLists]><SPAN lang=EN-CA><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">2.<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><![endif]><SPAN lang=EN-CA>Reinstate funding for senior
Ph.D. students<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"
class=MsoListParagraph><![if !supportLists]><SPAN lang=EN-CA><SPAN
style="mso-list: Ignore">3.<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><![endif]><SPAN lang=EN-CA>Improve quality of tutorials and
lab work <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>These demands are very reasonable and intimately tied to our
intellectual passions and interests. Accepting them appears to us to be the
ethical and the professional thing to do. The proposed 1.8% salary increase
falls short of the 2.8% rate of inflation. We view this as a cheap attempt to
balance the budget at the expense of a group that is at the core of our academic
mission and the university’s claims to excellence – our Ph.D. students. Since
the last strike in 2000 resulted in a considerable improvement of graduate
funding, the administration has incrementally eroded the agreement and since May
2011 no new bargain has been struck. Under these circumstances, the quality of
our Ph.D. students will inevitably drop (if it has not already) as current TA’s
are forced to cope with underpayment and overcrowded tutorials and labs.
Moreover, we fear that the best incoming Ph.D. candidates will accept offers
from other universities where their subsistence is respected and better
represented. The current situation makes it difficult for us to advise, with
good conscience, prospective Ph.D. candidates to take up their basic offers of
acceptance at UofT.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>We believe that our undergraduates deserve the
administration’s full commitment to the best university education in Canada. The
administration may find it expedient to treat our Ph.D. students primarily as
exploitable labour to provide undergraduate teaching on a shoe-string. This
would be short-sighted and detrimental to our undergraduate students’ learning
experience. Moreover, as faculty we consider our TAs junior and future
colleagues, academics who will carry on our research, teaching and critical,
independent thinking, and we, therefore, stand in solidarity with them.
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>We trust these arguments will influence you to come to an
agreement with the union that will weigh up the far-sighted gains in striking a
deal on the three central issues above and that is, therefore, in the interests
of the entire academic community of the university - colleagues, undergraduates
and graduates.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>