Picketers ask President Shoukri some pressing questions - when can we go back to bargaining?

M.J. says, “Support CUPE 3903 in their strike against York University”
This video was not made by the strike committee but it was so great we had to post!

Dec 5, 2008: Picketing can be cold, long and tiring. But our picketers have figured out how to stay strong on the lines. Power to our pickets, that have been working so well to bring power to the classroom!

From: Dhruv
To: students, friends and the whole York Community
Date: Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 6:59 AM
Subject: Latest Video from the Ninth Floor!

Hello everyone,

Below is the latest video from The Ninth Floor. Hope that you enjoy it.

We hear that the week of actions was a success.

All power to the picket lines!

CUPE 3903 takes its picket to Bay street in a form of a Block Party!

York administration doesn’t want word to get out. It stopped a City TV journalist from covering the sit-in being staged by York undergrads and CUPE 3903 members in front of President Shoukri’s office. The sit-in demands that President Shoukri host a public forum and answer questions from the concerned community - something CUPE 3903 has been doing since the begginning of the strike. This video features Alex Bilyk, the Director of Media Relations for York University.

Chair person of CFS expresses student support for CUPE 3903! We are in this struggle together!

Who are Unit II members and what do they do? What does it mean to be exploited by a ‘progressive’ university? Lacour explains the reality of precarious work and reminds us what we’re fighting for - Job security for our contract faculty!

Please take a moment to watch these two videos from PBS’s Newshour with Jim Lehrer.  Part 1: Rising Costs, Less Financial Aid Squeezes Students and Part 2: College Costs Rising at Unprecedented Rate discusses the rising tuition fees, the number of qualified students who are denied entrance in public schools and the difficulty of students, once admitted to get the classes they need to graduate.

These eight CUPE vs York ads were entirely produced by M.F.A. film and theatre students as well as CUPE 3903 union members. These individuals were not paid to specifically produce these ads. They, like picketers, were provided minimal strike pay which is funded from union dues paid by members on every paycheck prior to the strike. The equipment and space for these ads was either the personal property of these members or was borrowed, without charge, from various resources available to them as members of the artistic community.

–> To see all eight of the CUPE vs York U “ads,” LINK to our Video Mainpage and scroll down for more.

–> To check out all of our Strike Video Diaries, go to CUPE STRIKE VIDEO website.