ASFA to Hold General Assembly, Vote on Student Strike
If you’re an arts and science student, you are going to get the chance to vote on whether or not to strike.
At a meeting of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations Council, a motion was introduced calling for a special general assembly at which students will decide whether to strike and participate in the Nov. 10 Day of Action against tuition hikes.
“[We’re trying] to mobilize arts and science students to get on board and on the same track as the Concordia Student Union [with regards to fighting tuition increases],” said ASFA President Alex Gordon.
A minimum of 370 students need to show up to make quorum at ASFA’s general assembly, which will be held in the first week of November, said Gordon.
The CSU, unlike ASFA, will not be seeking a strike mandate from its members at this point in time.
“It’s our perspective that it’s significantly more effective for the CSU at this point to mobilize directly for the Nov. 10 action [and not for a one-day strike],” said CSU President Lex Gill. “We’re much more interested in encouraging and supporting faculty associations and department level associations to have their own strike mandates.”
Gill stressed that there is no difference between having a strike mandate for students protesting on Nov. 10 and not having one.
“There’s nothing that legally protects students who are on strike at all. There’s nothing in the law. Unlike a labour union, [a student union] going on strike really means nothing other than you don’t go to class and you suffer the consequences,” she said.
Other undergraduate student associations on campus have either decided to officially not take a stance on tuition increases, or have yet to formulate an official position.
The Concordia International Students’ Association and the Fine Arts Student Alliance will be meeting with their respective councils in the coming weeks to decide their official stances on the Nov. 10 Day of Action.
The two other major undergraduate student associations on campus, the Engineering and Computer Science Association and the Commerce and Administration Students’ Association, have decided to remain neutral on tuition increases.
