Academic Assistants at Queen’s University do the very important work of supporting, facilitating and cultivating student learning. They are currently in contract negotiations to try and secure a fair wage for the work they do.
The Employer is pushing hard against any financial improvements to the contract. While they were successful in 2012 in winning a $4/hour correction to their base wage, a further correction needs to be made to account for the 18 year wage freeze leading up to 2012 and another 4 year wage freeze between 2012 and 2016.
Further, Teaching Assistants (TAs), who perform the same work, are paid approximately $10/hour more than the Academic Assistants’ base rate. The TA wage is evidence of the value of the work that Academic Assistants do at Queen’s, and they deserve an hourly wage closer to parity.
