March 11, 2025
To the Queen’s University Administration:
Principal Patrick Deane (principal@queensu.ca)
Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Matthew Evans (provost@queensu.ca, matthew.evans@queensu.ca)
Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration) Donna Janiec (janiecd@queensu.ca)
Vice-Principal (Research) Nancy Ross (nancy.ross@queensu.ca, vpresearch@queensu.ca)
Associate Vice-Principal (Faculty Relations) Dan McKeown (dan.mckeown@queensu.ca)
Faculty Relations Office Director Michael Villeneuve (michael.villeneuve@queensu.ca)
CC: PSAC 901 (info.officer.psac901@gmail.com, president.psac901@gmail.com)
Dear Principal Deane, Provost Evans, and Queen’s Administration,
We are writing as the Executive Committee of CUPE 3903—a union representing thousands of academic workers at York University—to express our unwavering support for Queen’s University’s graduate student workers, represented by PSAC 901. Their strike sends a clear signal that Queen’s neglect of graduate workers’ fundamental needs has reached an alarming crisis point.
The University’s refusal to meet PSAC 901’s priority demands is unacceptable and troubling. PSAC 901 graduate workers are asking for respect: fair wages, a guarantee to address Queen’s impact on housing affordability in the community, tuition minimization for workers, paid hours to learn teaching content, and an equitable balance between funding and labour. The contributions of these graduate workers through their teaching and research are essential to building Queen’s reputation. The University’s reputation is only ever damaged when these same workers are presented with offensively inadequate offers at the bargaining table.
Graduate workers at Queen’s are actively producing knowledge, pedagogy, and research that improves the society we live in. The administration needs to recognize the true value of public sector research for all of us. The Queen’s community is made immeasurably stronger by the public services that PSAC 901 provides.
We strongly urge the administration to take our comrades seriously by addressing their very legitimate demands, which support the needs of their whole community. We urge the University to provide PSAC 901 members fair compensation, as well as the resources and support they deserve.
We support PSAC 901 in condemning Queen’s neglect of critical issues that affect our entire sector, including poverty wages, funding packages that have remained stagnant for decades, and rampant food and housing insecurity. These systemic problems harm not only Queen’s employees and students, but the wider community as well.
The CUPE 3903 Executive Committee proudly stands in firm solidarity with Queen’s Graduate Workers, recognizing how their struggle as academic workers is shared with our own struggle. The labour of PSAC 901 members is a crucial part in transforming education and research both in Ontario and beyond.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee of CUPE 3903
Find this statement here as a PDF. Follow PSAC 901 on Instagram, and follow their Bargaining Team as well! You can also check out their website for more details.