We have been made aware that certain departments at the University of Waterloo have changed how they pay out TA's without notifying the TA's of this change. Instead of 4 even monthly amounts, they decided to pay out based on % of workdays that month had during the TA contract. Since May had far less working days, some graduate students received substantially less than expected at the end of the month for TA pay. The union has already identified about 120 graduate students who have been impacted, indicating that they are experiencing difficulties paying rent and affording food. This change could have affected 1200-1300 total graduate students.

The GSA stands with CUPE 5524 and with graduate students during these difficult times, and we want to reassure graduate students that we will be supporting you throughout this issue. We will work collaboratively with CUPE and university departments to keep graduate students aware of changes like these in the future. In response to graduate students facing these difficult times, the GSA will be temporarily increasing our food security services by providing 150 FREE Odd Bunch boxes per week for the next 3 weeks. Graduate students can also submit an application for the GSPA Emergency Loan, which is an interest-free emergency loan available to full-time graduate students who are experiencing short-term financial difficulty.  

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If you have any other questions, comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to the GSA at gsagm@uwaterloo.ca