Yesterday, the organizing Prof. of an introductory Biology course given an award of excellence. The class has about 1700 people in it and, of course, numberous TAs (11 I heard). The TAs are currently on strike / lockout. A rally took place at Hart house, just outside the ceremony. About 1200 people demonstrated in protest, surrounding half the building with a double line. Undergraduates and some faculty were present. We circles the building for an hour and a half. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 5:30. At 5:30, it was decided that the rallying line would enter the building. International students set up roadside pickets since they can be expelled for participating in political actions. About 800 people entered Hart house. The ceremony was taking place on the second floor, there were two exists. Both exists were blocked by members of the rally. It was about 6pm. The campus police informed us that because we were blocking the entrances that we had created a fire hazard. The membership was polled and those who wanted to stay were notified that this was a serious political action. Some people left. The Metro police were called. Oh yeah, the President of the U of T was inside the room (Robert Prichard). On Monday, the administration moved up the "restructuring" date - and all 2400 members of CUPE 3902 will be fired as of Feb 1. The recent offer in the negotiations was *less* than the Jan 6 offer, turned down by 95% of the membership. The metro police showed up around 7pm, about 8 squad cars and a couple of wagons. Our demands were straighforward, we wanted to talk with Prichard for 10 minutes in front of the local news camera. He wouldn't talk. By this time, we had let some of the people out (eldery). By this time the entire leadership of CUPE 3902 had resigned to avoid immediate arrest. The police sectioned off the area and "contained" the protest - now singing Beatles songs and union favorites. About 200 - 400 people, who had been informed of all possible penalties, remained blocking the two doors. After another hour or so, Michael Finlayson showed up (VP Admin, Human Resources). We was wearing a cowboy hat. He ordered *all* the students arrested and expelled. The police informed those by the doors that they would have to permit people to leave otherwise they would be "picked off one by one." The union called their lawyers. Another half an hour was fairly tense. Some of us purchased water and filled plastic jugs in preparation of the use of pepper spray (one of the local newsmedia had managed to get a camera inside the hall of excellence ("shame! shame!"). Somewhere around 9pm, the lawyer had managed to negotiation for amnesty - for all involved. The members of the room, which included some of the wealthiest alumni of Toronto (not to mention corporate sponsors) (I had heard that this was also an opportunity for fund raising). They filed out while the protestors lined both sides of the halls hissing quietly, and speaking, not yelling, "shame" "negotiate" "we don't want a multiple choice university" and that sort of thing. We left as a group. It was 9:30pm.
We gained nothing, except maybe a 3 minute blurb on the news. Most of the participants are not hardcore protesters. In 5 days 2400 TAs will be fired. Many thanks to the undergraduates who participated are risked arrest and expulsion.
Thanks for reading,
ken CUPE 3902 Solidarity Committee