The Martlet

Hundreds of students have signed a petition to consider replacing elected members of the UVic Students’ Society Board of Directors in response to their inability to settle the wage dispute with unionized workers that has left workers picketing the Student Union Building.

The petition is the first step in bringing to referendum the question of whether students want to keep the current UVSS board.

“Sitting on the picket is a passive way to ask for what we want,” said José Barrios, a Munchie Bar employee in the lowest wage bracket, earning $9.95 (including vacation pay) before the strike. “[The petition] is a way to be more proactive and take a democratic approach, where students can all vote.”

Student workers such as Barrios are asking for a $1.50 raise immediately, while the employer, represented by the UVSS board, hasn’t offered more than a $1 raise over three years.

Neither the union nor the employer’s spokespeople think the petition or a subsequent vote to remove the board would help negotiations.

“Without the board, we’d have nobody to negotiate with,” said union spokesperson Ben Johnson. “The union has nothing whatsoever to do with the petition, and we don’t support it.”

Caitlin Meggs, UVSS chair and spokesperson for the employer, said bringing the question of removing the board to referendum should be reserved for when the board isn’t doing their job.

“I think it’s more of a threat, and that’s not the way bargaining should go,” said Meggs.

Though it only took Barrios and other students a few hours to collect signatures from over five per cent of the student body, as required to add the question to the UVSS Annual General Meeting scheduled for Oct. 16, he did not submit the petitions at the board meeting he was present at on Sept. 22 when the AGM agenda was approved.

Unless an emergency board meeting is held to add another item to the AGM agenda, Meggs said it’s now too late for him to have his referendum included in the AGM because board bylaws require the agenda be advertised two weeks before it occurs. However, the board could hold a special general meeting late October for the referendum.

“It’s just a slow process,” said Meggs. “And while we are worrying about that, it distracts from the negotiations.”

The union and employer continued mediation on Monday (Sept. 21) when the union’s economist went through the financial records of the UVSS to try to help them find where the money for the full raise could come from.

At an open UVSS meeting on Sept. 8, Meggs promised to meet the union’s demand if they could find the money for it without going into deficit.

But even if the latest offer by the employer was accepted, prices at several food outlets in the SUB will go up when the building is reopened.

Both parties indicated they expect negotiations to continue this week.