The Niagara labour community came out in force on Thursday, October 23rd to support CUPE 4207’s Solidarity Rally & Community BBQ, held outside Glenridge A at Brock University. The event brought together workers, students, and community allies in a powerful show of solidarity and unity for CUPE 4207’s Unit 1 (Instructors, Course Coordinators, Teaching Assistants, Lab Demonstrators, and Marker-Graders) and Unit 5 (Faculty of Education Instructors) as they continue to fight for a fair deal at the bargaining table.
The community solidarity rally highlighted three key issues central to both bargaining units:
Fair Wages: keeping pace with the rising cost of living;
Class & Seminar Sizes: protecting quality education and working conditions for in-person and virtual learning spaces;
Preference in Instructor Hiring for PhD Students: balancing teaching opportunities fairly so that there is no risk to academic progress, and so that no teaching group is used to undermine another teaching group.
The event was well attended and strongly supported by Union locals across the Niagara region, including: CUPE Locals 9102, 1263, 4156, 1317, 911, 1295, 2328, and 2977, as well as members of BUFA (Librarians and Faculty Members), OSSTF Local 35, OSSTF District 22, OSBCU, COPE 343, and the Niagara Regional Labour Council. Community organizations, such as the United Way and local political allies, including City Councillor Caleb Batzlaff and representation from MPP Jennie Stevens’ office (NDP), also joined in solidarity.
Undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows from Brock University added their voices, emphasizing that improving working conditions for CUPE 4207 members means improving learning conditions for students. “I was the last one to arrive in my seminar and it was standing room only – there was no chair for me to sit in. It was awful,” shared an undergraduate student.
“We’re fighting not just for fair wages, but for the integrity of education at Brock,” said Tracy Kennedy, Vice President Unit 1 Instructors for CUPE 4207. “When instructors and teaching assistants are overworked and underpaid, students lose out. The show of support at our Solidarity Rally and BBQ proves that this fight belongs to everyone in the Niagara Community, and the labour movement across the province.”
The message was clear: the Niagara community is united in demanding fairness, respect, and quality education at Brock.
CUPE 4207 Unit 1 and Unit 5 members won’t back down until wages, class sizes, and hiring practices reflect the true value of the education its members deliver.
