Strike Three

Vote for One Week Strike Passed at CSU General Assembly

NewsAdam Kovac — Published March 7, 2012

“It was definitely an interesting process, but I think that at the end of the day, the students spoke,” said Concordia Student Union VP External Chad Walcott after the vote. Walcott gave a presentation before the vote and fielded questions from students.

The show of hands, which took place in four separate rooms spread across Concordia’s two campuses, yielded 1,152 for a strike, while 557 voted against.

Discussion preceding the vote saw two changes made to the original question.

The first moved the date of the strike—which was originally set to begin on March 22—to a new date on March 15. The purpose of the change was due to the presentation of the provincial budget being moved to March 20. The new dates coincide with the last week of campaigning for the CSU general election. Polling begins on March 22.

The second motion passed was to ban blocking of teachers and students who wish to enter classrooms. While the motion passed, Walcott stressed that due to a lack of manpower, such a motion is nearly impossible to enforce.

“The motion does say that we’re not allowed to block buildings,” he said. “That’s something that hasn’t happened yet and that we never intended on doing. We expect that Concordia students will be able to conduct themselves in a respectful manner.”

Though discussion was generally respectful, there were a few occasions where things got heated, particularly when technical problems in broadcasting Walcott’s opening statement delayed the beginning of discussion period.

Student union President Lex Gill has since sent out an email to all undergraduates apologizing for the problems experienced at the assembly.

The day before, the Graduate Students Association held their own GA, at which an estimated 400 people voted, with a majority in favour of a strike. Their strike is set to begin on Monday.

More to come.