UQAM teaching assistants block access to school, metro station

TheUniversity of Quebec in Montreal's (UQAM)student employees are blocking access to several ofthe school's buildingstodayduringthe first day of an unlimited strike.

Access to the school through theBerri-UQAMMetro station is also blocked.

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The union STUErepresents close to 3,000 teaching assistants and researchersacross theuniversity campus.

As part of the unlimited strike, the union members are not performingtheir usual tasks including marking and overseeing exams.

Union to continue with pressure tactics

Studentemployees say they will continue to hold protests and picket until they are back at the negotiating table with UQAM.

Chlo Fortin-Ct, a spokesperson forSTUE, said that the university relies on student employees. Teaching assistants take on the bulk of corrections in classes that sometimes have as many as 200 students.

"We want to show that without marking, UQAMcan't function," Fortin-Ct told Radio-Canada.

UQAM'sstudent employeeshave been without a contract since Dec. 31,2013.