I am putting this out there because these thoughts have been rattling around my head for a while, and I could use the input of other people at Mac, especially grad students but also undergrads as well. As a graduate student, I have gotten a few emails from my department asking for graduate student volunteers for the upcoming fall open house events. The thing is, this is all volunteer work and obviously none of it is paid.

Normally, I would be all for this. I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours volunteering over the past few years, and enjoyed it, but I am starting to think this is doing more harm than good in the context of volunteering for the university. You see, the graduate student stipends, within my department but also university-wide, have barely increased over the past decade. Cost of living is appallingly high, but the university won't acknowledge this. To the university, the grad students are not employees as they are getting a degree out of their education, so they don't deserve a living wage. None of the research work is paid even if it results in reputation-boosting publications for the university. As for the TAships, they pay very little. We are assigned a limited number of hours per course, which are non-negotiable. Most grad students end up working more than the hours they are allocated, with no extra pay. Imagine this- you are pressured into grading a whole lot of lab reports or essays within a limited number of hours. You are told that you can't have your work re-assigned and you can't be paid for doing more hours. Most grad students suck it up and deal with it, because they don't want to be the ones stirring the pot in their department.

So where does this leave us? most grad students that are not supported by their parents have other part-time job(s). Some students rely on food banks due to food insecurity. McMaster is more than able to support these students, but they are not doing so. And to add insult to injury, students are asked to volunteer at events to advertise the university. The university, which employs the grad students, is asking us to volunteer our time to do more work for free. I hope that at least one other person appreciates the absurdity of the university asking its employees to volunteer to do work that they can afford to pay them to do.

The only reason that this continues is because there are students willing to volunteer. Kind-hearted students who love volunteering or enjoy their program and wish to share their research are willing to do this without getting paid. I get it, I also love volunteering, but this is not doing us any favors as graduate students. We should be refusing to do work that we are not paid for. I believe that the university would capitulate and pay us if we refused to work for free.

So this is basically a call for action. Please consider everything I have mentioned here when you make your decision about volunteering. And if you are an undergraduate, you can also abstain from volunteering in solidarity. There are so many other places that can use your passion and your dedication-- you can volunteer for shelters or community-run initiatives that actually help people, instead of doing unpaid work for a university with a $700 million dollar endowment.

One last thing-- the CUPE strike vote is open, please remember to vote!