In what can only be described as an act of shameless hypocrisy, the UTSU has given itself a generous raise in salary. Ironically, this is coming from the same people who each year spend exorbitant amounts of money and energy on lobbying the provincial government to lower tuition fees. Furthermore, these raises are coming at the expense of services and funding for clubs.
To be fair, the nearly $200,000 raise includes the salaries of new hires, although since the UTSU refuses to release exact figures, we will likely never know much more than that, and the rest remains a matter for speculation.
U of T has a large student body and a vibrant campus culture. Someone needs to make sure that Metropasses are sold, that clubs receive the adequate funds and resources, and that the overall student experience is pleasant and accessible. The UTSU sells Metropasses and discount tickets and coordinates the health and dental plan. It also runs a food bank, a book exchange, and a variety of other useful services. Unfortunately, funding for some of these, including clubs, book exchange, and tickets, has been cut. If these services are being cut, do we really need five full-time executives and a small army of staff people? Moreover, while these services are important, they seem to be overshadowed by the UTSU’s other activities. To many students, it can seem as though the UTSU is first and foremost an activist group, often advocating positions which conflict with, rather than further, student interests (case in point: the UTSU’s support of the TA strike). It is our money that is being spent; we need to re-examine what kind of student government we want.
The UTSU collects roughly $1 million from students each year, more than $735,000 of which is spent on salaries. UTSU exec members make approximately $25,000 per annum. I am not necessarily suggesting that we make UTSU executive positions part-time and unpaid, but the situation as it stands borders on absurd. If the UTSU focused solely on services and not on issues that do not directly concern students, it would not need to have full-time exec members, nor would it need to hire as many staff. This would, in turn — wait for it — drop fees for students.
Let me be perfectly clear: I believe in fair wages and incentives, but when services for students are being cut — the very services which are the UTSU’s raison d’être — and jobs are being created out of thin air, something is awry.
This entire situation may seem rather perplexing to anyone who attended the all-candidates debate last year. Every incumbent candidate, all of whom are currently in office, went out of their way to emphasize how important clubs and UTSU services are to students and to the overall campus experience. Now they are cutting these in order to dole out raises and hire new staff — both of which could only be conceivably justified were they to be needed for an increase in precisely those services, which are being cut.
Part of the problem that has led to this flagrant lack of accountability is the UTSU’s relationship with the problematic Canadian Federation of Students and the fact that a portion of our student fees ($78.54, to be exact, not including the health and dental plans), is automatically given to the UTSU. Students have no say in whether or not they want to be represented by or pay into the UTSU or its umbrella organization, the CFS. But I digress. This lack of accountability permeates nearly every aspect of the UTSU and its activities.
I knew something was not quite right, but I was determined to give the UTSU a chance to explain. After all, there may very well be a perfectly reasonable explanation. After speaking to two of the exec members and after being fed frustratingly vague answers, however, I was left to conclude that the numbers simply do not add up.
The UTSU denies that services and club funding are being cut and insists that it will not be raising the salaries of the executive — according to Corey Scott, UTSU VP Internal & Services, only the Board of Directors can sign off on a raise of executives’ salaries — but the auditor’s report suggests otherwise.
The UTSU has cited an agreement with CUPE as the reason they refuse to disclose more accurate information. This in itself is troubling, because it seems that once again, the UTSU is putting CUPE’s agenda before the interests of the students it claims to work for. Many concerned students are demanding answers and have even launched a campaign called “Stop the Salaries.”
Once again, the UTSU has demonstrated a complete disregard for the students it purports to represent. By cutting services and hiring more staff, the UTSU is doing the student body a terrible disservice, and by refusing to be more transparent, it is demonstrating contempt for democracy and for the students. For all its (justifiable) vitriol against Rob Ford, the UTSU sure has taken a page out of his playbook.
