Safety on campus during strike action

The university is aware that recent strike action by Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) members and supporters has caused significant concern over the last week. To date, the university has received over 100 formal strike incident complaints from faculty, staff, students and contractors.

Reported experiences include being physically blocked and refused entry to Science Road, buildings, parking lots and parkades across campus, as well as preventing essential perishable deliveries and hazardous waste removal. Reported behaviour has also included picketers interrupting classes in session and harassing teaching faculty, yelling at students, staff and faculty using profanity, name calling and banging on vehicles.

Faculty, staff, students and their families have asked the university to respond to and prevent this behaviour from continuing. The safety of our community members is our priority. We expect all within the SFU community and those who access our premises to maintain our commitments to safety and respectful conduct.

We respect TSSU’s right to legal strike action and acknowledge those TSSU members who are doing so lawfully. However, the university will not tolerate intimidation, harassment, disruption to activities taking place in classrooms, and roadway and parking facility blockades.

The university has brought these complaints forward to TSSU leadership on multiple occasions and is logging reports of this disruptive strike activity while assessing options for further action.

• If you need urgent security support, please contact Campus Public Safety’s 24-hour emergency line at 778-782-4500.
• Other supports for faculty, staff and students are available on SFU’s Community Supports website. Faculty and staff can also access mental health supports via the Employee and Family Assistance Program.
• If you witness or experience inappropriate behaviour, such as interruptions to activities in private spaces like classrooms and offices, intimidation, roadway or parking facility blockades, please take note of the location, time, descriptions of people involved and what actions were taken so you can provide as much detail as possible on the Strike Incident Report Form.