Editorial: TRAC and Concordia: Move Forward on Sufficient Pay-Rate
It’s been an eagerly anticipated year for teaching assistants waiting on a wage-rate agreement between Concordia and TRAC.
While the TA union grapples with the university for higher pay, thousands of student teaching assistants have been left in the dirt—forced to work for meager pay as the powers-that-be struggle indefinitely to come to an agreement.
The two parties failed to agree on pay-rates for the 2015-2016 year—something that was supposed to be completed by May 2015—leaving student TAs with the same rate that they received in the 2014-2015 year.
TRAC would like to alter the wage-distribution system. Instead of pay being determined by the students’ level of education, the union would like employees to be paid based solely on the job they are doing. All ‘markers’ would receive the same pay regardless of education level. The same would apply to ‘tutorial leaders.’
As it stands, wages are based on the education levels of the prospective assistants, and are broken down into two levels. For Grade 2 teaching assistantships—who have less responsibilities than Grade 1 TAs—the wage breakdown is as follows: doctoral students receive $20.01 per hour, master’s students receive $17.79 per hour, and undergraduate students receive $14.47 per hour.
This education-level based system is in place for four faculties: Arts and Science, Fine Arts, John Molson School of Business and the School of Graduate Studies.
Teaching assistants in the Engineering and Computer Science faculty operate on a different, less discriminatory system.
Essentially, TRAC is asking that people be paid the same wage for the same job, regardless of education level—a sentiment The Link agrees with.
The current wage-rate system marginalizes undergraduate TAs by offering them the lowest pay and not giving them the opportunity to become Grade 1 teaching assistants. Only graduate students are eligible to become Grade 1 TAs, who receive a wage of $24.68 per hour.
The job descriptions are vague. Grade 2 TAs are expected to perform a “subset” of Grade 1 duties. But sometimes employees in the lower bracket perform all the same duties as Grade 1 TAs—this means undergrads ineligible for official Grade 1 status sometimes receive lower pay than they should.
The Link strongly believes that all teaching assistants—regardless of education level—be afforded the same financial compensation across the board.
Discrimination against undergraduate TAs aside, the wider issue of the de-prioritization of student workers by the university must be addressed. Wages for master’s and doctoral teaching assistants also remain insufficient.
Teaching assistants at all levels earn above the minimum wage, however they don’t work many hours—some work as little as two hours weekly. The total income for student TAs, regardless of education level, is below that of a minimum-wage part-time employee.
The university should prioritize their student-employees more than they do now—they should be able to sympathize with the financial struggles of young students in an urban setting, and provide them with adequate compensation for their work.
Living on what is effectively below part-time minimum-wage earnings is nearly impossible. We urge Concordia to better understand and accommodate the financial situations of its students.
The university needs to be held accountable for who it chooses to prioritize in its yearly budget. In light of former CFO Sonia Trudel’s obscenely large severance pay of $235,000, the university administration may need to rethink their priorities.
Having said that, The Link would like to see more action from TRAC to put pressure on the university to come to an agreement. Once this year’s agreement expires, stronger collective action should be taken in order to push for a finalized—and sufficient—pay-rate.
The team at TRAC has one job—to represent their members. In recent months, they have organized mini-demonstrations to get attention, but now we all need to say that enough is enough.
