A Vote to Call their Own

CASA Votes Against Strike Mandate

NewsCorey Pool — Published March 15, 2012

On March 14 members of the John Molson School of Business voted against joining the one-week strike mandate approved at the Concordia Student Union GA last week.

Out of 7,500 undergraduate students, 843 participated in the vote. Of those, 123 students agreed with the motion to join the strike movement, 710 disagreed with the motion, 9 abstained, and one ballot was spoiled.

Commerce and Administration Students Association’s strike vote resolution explains that many students of JMSB were displeased with the results of the CSU General Assembly, and so the CASA chose to hold their own vote.

“Democracy has taken its course and JMSB undergraduate students have voted overwhelmingly against protesting the tuition hikes,” the document reads. “From here on, as representatives of JMSB students, CASA-JMSB’s adopted stance is that we are not in favor of protesting the tuition fee increases.”

Small Group of Students Hash out the Details

A group of roughly 50 students showed up to ask questions and voice concerns about the upcoming student strike at the Commerce and Administration Student Association’s general assembly on the night of March 13.

The meeting was more of an information session to allow students an opportunity to discuss CASA’s upcoming strike vote, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on March 14 by secret ballot.

“Tonight was really just to inform students on what the motion was and what students will be voting on,” said CASA President Marianna. TLuciano. “I think there could have been a bigger turn out, but those who did come out had valuable opinions to give.”

CASA needed 50 people to reach quorum in order to make any motions binding. One student noted that at one point during the meeting, there was only approximately 35 students in the room.

CASA represents nearly 7,500 students of the John Molson School of Business.

“When we were amending the motion it was a lot closer [to quorum],” said CASA VP Academic Danny Shakibaian. “I’m pretty sure it was at least 50.”

After a long and heated discussion concerning the correct wording of the motion, a vote was passed to change a part of the question to include the phrase “the formal protest commonly referred to as a strike (though technically a boycott).”

“The wording was changed to prevent confusion, make sure that the spirit of the question was obvious, and to make sure that students were totally sure what they were voting for when they go to the ballot boxes,” said Shakibaian.

One student walked out of the meeting after an argument with a CASA executive concerning the hastiness at which the meeting was called and claiming it was undemocratic.

The GA was announced on the evening of March 11 on CASA’s Facebook page.

“When we have such a meeting we normally need to have a five day grace period,” said Shakibaian. “The problem with that is that when the [Concordia Student Union] decided to change the days of their strike we had no choice but to act quickly and have a vote prior to the strike.”

Many JMSB students expressed strong feelings of distrust toward the CSU and heated discussion broke out several times on this subject throughout the meeting.

“The consensus we’ve received thus far is that students [at JMSB], regardless of how the vote went for the CSU, are against the strike,” said Shakibaian. “Many of the tactics and ideologies that the CSU has and employs don’t necessarily fit the average student here, and that’s why we have to represent them on a separate level.”

More to come.