CUPE's proposals seek to ensure some level of accessible graduate education and improved security for its contract faculty while York administration is only concerned with reducing people to dollar figures. The York administration is offering a wage increase below the rate of inflation, threatening to take away tuition protection from future graduate students, attacking job security provisions for contract faculty and offering next to nothing for newly unionized graduate assistants. Clearly the corporate oriented management wants to build a university that is commodified, emphasizes private interests rather than the public good and relies upon cheap and insecure labour. Through bargaining CUPE 3903 is resisting these trends and building a better university at York. James Beaton, York University Students face higher tuition and debt-loads.
Graduate students pay tuition during the summer as well as the regular academic year.
The students are basically working just to pay their tuition. Grant money is now conditional upon the formation of university-private sector partnerships.