The teaching support staff at Simon Fraser University voted 90 per cent in favour of strike action today, according to preliminary ballot results.
"You can say it's a done deal, but the decision still has to come from the membership on how to move forward," said Jeff Zurek, a bargaining committee member with the Teaching Support Staff Union.
The union's members will meet on July 3 to decide if and when to take strike action and what that would look like.
"It doesn't mean a picket line, it could mean talking to people in tutorials. We could hold tutorials outside, it could be withholding grades - who knows," Zurek said. "As you move forward you can ramp up the pressure."
The union - which represents groups like teaching assistants and distance education staff - has roughly 650 people at the Burnaby campus this semester.
The union has been negotiating with SFU for two years, wanting wage increases and improved working conditions, but no agreement has been reached. Zurek didn't have a figure for how much in wage increases the union is asking for.
"Our goal is to keep up with inflation or the cost of living. We want to keep the wages in line with the increasing costs of living in Vancouver," he said.
Both parties are scheduled to return to the bargaining table on July 10.
"If things start moving and we go into mediation, then that's fantastic. What we really want is bargaining," Zurek said. "We are using (the strike) to put pressure on the university to come to the table."
No one from SFU was available for immediate comment. Keep checking this website for updates.
