---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 12:38:06 -0700

From: gamal <gamal@ualberta.ca>

To: presidnt@yorku.ca

Cc: mlowry@yorku.ca

Subject: Solidarity for CUPE 3903

Dear President Marsden;

I am writing this letter in protest of your administration's despicable and

thoroughly unfair treatment of the educational workers in CUPE 3903 over the

course of the current strike, which includes stalling at the bargaining table

and cynical attempts to undermine or weaken the union. As a former member of

CUPE 3903, and as someone who understands the vital role that CUPE members

play in both the daily life of the university and its perceived "success", I

find these tactics wholly unacceptable. Therefore, I demand that you and your

administration stop these activities immediately.

As you are aware, the strike has garnered tremendous popular support from a

wide cross-section of members from the York Community and beyond. This

suggests that the demands of CUPE 3903, which include keeping graduate tuition

fees at existing levels, and providing job security for contract faculty, are

very reasonable to say the least.

Unless your administration begins to act very quickly and forcefully in

settling this strike, many progressive people across the country and beyond

will have no other choice but to assume that your administration, in a

fanatical attempt to follow Harvard, University of Toronto, and other big-name

universities, is an uncaring place, where research dollars matter, but the

health and well-being of its workers matter very little. What a shameful

legacy.

Sincerely,

Gamal Abdel-Shehid

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation

University of Alberta