Academic Assistants at Queen's University do the very important work of supporting, facilitating and cultivating student learning.  We are currently in contract negotiations to try and secure a fair wage for the work we do.  The Employer is pushing hard against any financial improvements to our contract.  While we were successful in 2012 in winning a $4/hour correction to our base wage, a further correction needs to be made to account for the 18 year wage freeze leading up to 2012 and another 4 year wage freeze between 2012 and 2016. Further, Teaching Assistants (TAs), who perform the same work as us, are paid approximately $10/hour more than our base rate.  The TA wage is evidence of the value of the work we do at Queen’s, and we deserve an hourly wage closer to parity.