CUPE 3903 is united in solidarity with PSAC 901 at Queen’s University. The fight to defend over 200 Postdocs is one that matters to all academic workers. We condemn their Employer’s actions to try and force early career academics to research and teach without a living wage and without basic healthcare protections.
We are disturbed that their Employer has veered aggressively toward a potential lockout, which would be “an unprecedented move, the first time in Canadian research history that any employer—public or private sector—has ever locked out Postdoctoral employees”.
While these workers, who conduct cutting-edge research, bargain for decent wages—and to make up for having been stuck at 1% increases since June 2020—the Queen’s upper administration sits on millions of dollars in investment funds, budget surpluses, and private sector donations. While the postdoc researchers at Queen’s who bring in millions in grants to the university try to negotiate for mental health and emergency hardship supports, their Employer canceled their pilot project for comprehensive healthcare, despite providing basic healthcare services to nearly 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Shame on Queen’s upper administration.
Queen’s has a responsibility to its postdoc researchers, many of whom relocate from outside Kingston and even Canada; we support their demand for their Employer provide the necessary support and care these individuals deserve, including relocation funds.
We at CUPE 3903 are all too familiar with these moves by an Employer who values profit over actual people and their lives. We reject the attempt to build a university on the backs of workers who struggle to survive. When workers are under attack, we rise in solidarity to fight back.
Keep up to date with PSAC 901, and learn more: