Tag Archives: University of Waterloo

CKMS News – 2021-01-28 – On the road to unionization for academic workers at the University of Waterloo

January 28, 2021 CKMS News Leave a comment

One of many ongoing and underlying issues that the pandemic has brought attention to includes workers rights, safety, and wages. Across various workplaces, the importance of unions in giving workers a collective voice in the workplace has amplified, and this extends to the students at an institution we may not often think of: the University of Waterloo, and its student workers.

In this segment, I’ll be in conversation with Lynne Sargent and Nicolay Videnov, students who are part of the Committee to Organize uWaterloo, a grassroots campaign to unionize the academic workers at the University of Waterloo. Their interviews are complimented by Graham Cox, a researcher and organizer at the Canadian Union of Public Employees, referred to as CUPE during this show. With over 700,000 members, CUPE is Canada’s largest union. CUPE represents 70,400 workers spanning 233 collective agreements in the post-secondary education sector.

To learn more about Organize uWaterloo, check out organizeuw.org.

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca.

Music for this episode was courtesy of Dylan Prowse.

In Conversation With Rashmi

Anna Kuepfer, Jen Wilson & Jolene Knott

January 25, 2020 Rashmi Sanjay

Anna, Jen, Jolene

Started in 2018 by Anna Kuepfer, Abigail Loewen and Leah Wouda , SheCycle aims to end the cycle of poverty for women in Uganda with a focus on menstrual hygiene. SheCycle is creating an antimicrobial and reusable menstrual pad that is environmentally friendly, creates employment and has a sustainable business model. In 2019 the trio from University of Waterloo SheCycle project took the top prize of $30,000 in the World’s Challenge Challenge beating 17 other universities from 9 countries at an international competition where students pitch their ideas to address a global issue.

Lipoffkw is KW’s only lip-sync battle fundraiser. The team is entirely volunteer and made up of 4 local women Tiffany Iden, Jen Wilson, Jolene Knott, and Rebecca Petricevic who organize the most fun fundraiser. They have raised almost $10,000 for local charities and each year, they choose a different benefiting cause. In the past funds were raised for St. Mary’s General Hospital Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centre, St Mary’s General Hospital , YWCA KW, Homelessness Housing Umbrella Group and this year they are supporting ALL IN 2020. They strongly believe, together as a community we can end homelessness in Waterloo Region.

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In Conversation With Rashmi

Maria Almhana & Mac-Anne – In Conversation with Rashmi

June 29, 2019 Rashmi Sanjay

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Maria Almhana, arrived in Canada in November 2017 from Syria. She was confused, depressed, was not sure what to do. In January 2018 she applied to get “the 100 Syrian Women, 10,000 Syrian Lives Scholarship” from Jusoor organisation which had partnership with student-funded humanitarian initiative, International Student Overcoming War(ISOW), at Wilfrid Laurier University.
As the Syrian conflict escalated, she maintained hope and began to apply her education and skills toward those who were increasingly vulnerable. Currently, she is among 13 students coming from conflict zones at WLU who get the support from ISO. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in International Public Policy at Balsillie School of International Affairs.
She shared her story is of losses and some wins as a young Syrian in a time of war. Her experiences before arriving in Canada from Syria is something that her new friends in Canada may never understand. Even as she settles in this place of peace, with its quiet nights, its houses and streets intact, in her mind, she is building a bridge back to her home.

Mac-Anne loves her country and is so proud of her culture and the religious freedom, my next guest comes all the way from Ghana. Mac-Anne , her friends call her Mac, is an International student from Ghana, who completed her undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Mac is in her final semester of her Masters Program in Civil Engineering at University of Waterloo, she is focused on structures and construction and is also a climate change activist. I sit down with Mac-Anne as we talked about her experiences here in Canada. What it is like as an International student to adjust to life here. What life is like back in Ghana, food, culture and so much more.