AGA 2025 Committee Elections

Executive Committee Nominations

The following candidates submitted their nominations within the period designated by the Constitution. However, as none of the positions are “contested” as defined in Article 52.17, additional candidates may nominate themselves from the floor of the AGA.

General Coordinator

Magda Teeuwsen — MA English

My name is Magda Teeuwsen. I am completing the 2nd year of my MA degree in English Literature, and have held two TA contracts in that time. In my time at Concordia, I’ve been involved in leadership roles, serving as VP Admin and VP Internal for the English Graduate Student Association. In these roles, I’ve mediated between faculty and students, organised and chaired meetings, and managed social events and departmental initiatives. In the past year, I’ve gotten more involved with CREW, and am now eager to participate further as General Coordinator with CREW For A Better Deal. As students and workers, it’s important to protect our right to do our jobs fairly and safely within the university, and I hope to participate in the valuable work that’s already been started by CREW. CREW’s work is important to me because of its commitment to member-led democracy, and I hope to work alongside my fellow workers in order to accurately represent our needs.

I have a background of student organizing in undergrad, where we faced consistent barriers, often in the form of committees, sub-committees, and sub-committees-of-sub-committees. I’m intimately aware of the difficulties posed by working within the constraints of university bureaucracy. I’m not naive about the frustrations inherent to this work. However, it is through this experience that I’ve come to understand the importance of grassroots, community-led organising, and it is through the enthusiastic, supportive environment of our recent strike that I remain optimistic about the future of student and worker organising.

General Secretary

No nominations received.

Internal Affairs Officer

Matthew Galamaga — MA Philosophy

My name is Matthew Galamaga, I'm an MA in Philosophy and I am running to serve as your internal affairs officer! I became involved as a member of CREW's 'Data Working Group' during the strike and would be delighted to continue serving my comrades, and their data, in the future. Some of you may remember me as one of the strike picket captains, as well as the person who designed the system for resolving all errors and issues related to strike attendance. My own programming work and background primarily revolves around designing software and hardware solutions to connect data systems not originally designed to communicate with one another, which I feel will serve me well as internal affairs officer.

My goal for my tenure is to build off our current data processes to create a more automated and centralized back-end, such that our data is more accessible, informative, and serves us all better. Many of our processes still require significant manual work and technical knowledge, making it daunting to involve individuals who don't already have this knowledge in the nitty gritty data work. I aim then to try and make our data more political by lowering the barrier for entry, facilitating our various committees to more autonomously access the data they need, and thus increase the interoperability of all aspects of CREW's functioning. Thank you for considering me for this position and I look forward to serving as your internal affairs officer.

External Affairs Officer

Euryale Cliche-Laroche — MA Philosophy

I am Euryale Cliche-Laroche and I am a TA and first-year MA student with the Philosophy department. You may recognize me from my heavy screaming on the picket line, from my involvement in the percussion squad and from phone banking. As a more recently involved student-worker, joining strike preparations firmly renewed my investment in union-work. Coming from a background of organizing for trans and lesbian communities in Québec and student organizing in feminist and student union spaces, I know the importance of well-maintained networks of connections in our ever-growing fight for dignity and justice. In this spirit, I present myself for External Affairs alongside my comrades in CREW For a Better Deal.

As we understand it, winning better working conditions just a year after landing our new collective agreement may be an uphill battle; however, our next round of negotiations will be held alongside other unions. Therefore, working to further expand our collaborations with other unions at Concordia will be key. I will also ensure our interests are always represented at the CSN, FNEEQ, CCMM, and with our allies in upcoming mobilization efforts.

Yet current anti-union, anti-protest politics and academia-wide cuts target student-workers’ rights: we must expand our solidarity to allies beyond our university. I will ensure CREW develops trusted alliances with unions across Montréal and further – both francophone and anglophone – as well as with varied grassroots movements in mutually uplifting collaborations. With your trust, my work as External Affairs Officer will aim for greater transparency and cross-union structured mobilization.

Grievance Officer

Lenny Apesos — MA Religions & Cultures

Hi, my name is Lenny Apesos and I am an MA student in the Religions and Cultures Department. As a more recent active member of CREW, it was the strike that deepened my perspective and involvement in the union. I have gotten more involved in mobilizing my department and spoke out against the Employer’s scare tactics regarding our new Collective Agreement. The role of Grievance Officer is an essential part of our mass movement, as it is the touch point between the needs of our members and the implementation and enforcement of policies that protect our rights as workers. This is an important role to maintain integrity of trust between the membership and those with formalized roles.

Our current back-to-work protocol has put a lot of our workers in tense positions. Our jobs are already precarious, and our supervisors have an outsized role in the stability of our careers, which makes advocating against workload violations particularly stressful. As an international student, I understand the anxiety surrounding justifying your presence as a resident to an actively hostile provincial government, and how this may hinder anyone’s willingness to participate in union activities or advocate against unjust treatment. As Grievance Officer, I will be committed to aiding your security and right to protest unfair and unsafe working conditions.

Bargaining Officer

Jason Langford — MSc Geography

As a member of the bargaining committee since January of last year, I’ve been (obviously) very deeply involved in the process since the beginning. While I’m very proud of the work me and my fellow committee members were able to accomplish in our first round of bargaining, the final agreement and the events surrounding it were not what I had hoped for. With any political project, there are successes and failures which must be held in tension with one-another. As we head back into another round of bargaining, I want to use my experiences and knowledge to help the new committee get up and running, building on our strengths while integrating the many lessons learned over the past few months.

Communications Officer

Tyisha Murphy — PhD Film Studies

My name is Tyisha Murphy, I am here to talk about the role of Communications Officer. As one of the main liaisons, this position requires a clear and consistent effort to keep members informed and empowered in their positions as student workers.

As a former DOrg, I have witnessed how effective mobilization can be when the union supports organizing around time-sensitive issues that directly and materially impact members. Last semester, when we were fighting for the contract extension indemnity, I facilitated conversations with my fellow TAs while I was halfway across the world. This is to say that while a physical presence can be a crucial factor, the importance of having one-on-one conversations is absolutely integral in order to build a united front. We were able to rally not just one department, but three, to come together and take collective action for what they deserve — and we won.

The responsibility to communicate with such a vast network of diverse members is crucial in CREW’s fight to win more. I strongly believe that the union could adopt more effective strategies for email and social media communications. An example is the documentary crew that captured key moments of the strike before those efforts were cut tragically short. I strongly believe that we have so much more to offer to showcase the resilience and strength of this collective. The documentary crew is only one initiative, and there can be more which encourages members to get more involved.

Mobilization Officer (Two Positions)

One nomination received.

Firoza Farooqi — MA Philosophy

I’m Firoza; I’m in my first year of my MA in Philosophy, current Department Organizer and with the CREW for a Better Deal platform. Over the last few years, I’ve been involved in various different forms of organizing, from student-led groups to grassroots initiatives, collectives, and organizations—so in beginning my MA at Concordia last September, I knew I wanted to be involved with CREW in some capacity. Some of you might even recognize me from the pickets as a Picket Captain, being on the Mobilization Committee, and possibly from the SGA where I spoke out against the tentative agreement among others in my group.

I’m very familiar with coordinating events and actions, workshops, educational materials and confident in my ability to do so—however, I understand a significant aspect of the role of a Mobilization Officer is preparing for large-scale mass mobilization to create the capacity for future union action. This will involve a necessary departure from understanding specific demographics of our membership, such as international students, as homogeneously apolitical—rather, I believe making steps to address the structural constraints that prevent them from being politically organized will be necessary for the future strength and unity of our union. I believe building strength and capacity for our union will not just involve expanding our reach, but addressing the immediate needs of our membership, bringing new members in and equipping them to lead union activities they feel strongly about and align with our collective values, and having an organized practice around knowledge sharing.

Bargaining Committee Nominations

The following candidates submitted their nominations within the period designated by the Constitution. With seven nominations for this four-person committee, these positions are not considered “contested” as defined in Article 52.17; additional candidates may nominate themselves from the floor of the AGA.

Théa Bashore — BA Urban Studies

I am pleased to present my candidacy for CREW’s next bargaining committee. I’m in my first year of a BA in Urban Studies, having already completed a BA in History and currently working as an undergraduate RA in the History department. I have eight years of experience working in unions, as a treasurer for CUPE 4512, a shop steward and regional organizer for CUPW Montréal, and as an organizer and trainer for the Montréal IWW. As well, while I was Finance Coordinator for the CSU, I negotiated both the collective agreement with CSU staff, and the undergraduate health plan with StudentCare. I believe that my experience in other contexts makes me a valuable complement to other BC members who have more experience with CREW itself.

In the upcoming negotiations, I believe that our most important tasks will be, first, to ensure that members feel invested in our demands and, second, that we work with Concordia’s other unions to build a united front and flip pattern bargaining against Concordia. In order to ensure member investment in demands, I would propose a demands conference based on CUPW Montréal’s model, where invested members spend a weekend workshopping and prioritizing demands before they are presented to the GA for ratification. To ensure coordination with Concordia’s other unions, I would work with the bargaining officer and EC to find common ground with as many unions as possible, and work with our CSN advisors to develop a plan to maximize our collective leverage against Concordia.

Bee Upshaw — MA Philosophy

My name is Bee (they/she). I am a writer, and active member of CREW. Many of you may know me from my participation in our wonderful union. I am currently a philosophy graduate student here at Concordia with an interest in accessibility, and have been closely following the CREW union since shortly after our reaffiliation campaign. As such, I hold a good deal of institutional memory, including the ongoing work-ban in the philosophy department, working with the feminist workplace committee, and more recently, contributing to our historic strike by leading chants, making noise with the percussion squad, and having important conversations about our strike with members of the community who asked questions. I have also worked with the GSA to help secure a key donation to our strike fund, and showed up to our picket line every day we were on strike. By attending several open bargaining sessions over the past year, I have also learned a lot about how Concordia negotiates at the table, their strategies of obfuscation, weaponized incompetence, and absurd hypotheticals, and I've also witnessed first-hand how our bargaining team presented a united front to the employer, such as their very comprehensive financial analysis. I feel that my empathy, devotion, and communication skills would make me a wonderful member of our next bargaining team. As a member of the bargaining committee, I will be unwavering in advocating for our membership's need for better wages, safer working conditions, and increased job security. Concordia works because we do!

Will Riley — PhD Film & Moving Images

My name is Will Riley; I’m a first-year PhD student in Film. You may recognize me from the picket line as a picket captain (every morning from 7am-1pm!), or you may recall the short videos posted to CREW social media accounts that I helped to co-create. I’ve been an active participant in various student groups at my previous university, both in public-facing and behind-the-scenes roles. Reflecting on how I might best contribute to CREW activities and discussing with other like-minded members made it clear that my skills best suit me to run for a BC position.

I’m running for the Bargaining Committee as part of an organized effort to ensure transparency in the bargaining process and reaffirm the role of the Bargaining Committee in representing the general membership and not the employer. Key to the success of the Bargaining process is a strong and principled approach that foregrounds the needs of the general membership and recognizes that working on the BC is a demanding job that requires a significant amount of time and effort from individuals with certain expertise/know-how. I pledge that as a member of the BC, I will encourage others to step in when/if a clear gap forms between the general membership and the BC as an entity or personal circumstances arise that limit my ability to be present and active. I affirm and enthusiastically support the CREW Members for a Better Deal platform that will have been circulated ahead of this vote. Thank you!

Conorr Norquay — PhD Film & Moving Image Studies

I’m Conorr, a first-year PhD student in Film & Moving Image Studies. Prior to CREW, I was an active rank and file member within PSAC/UTE Local 00042, OPSEU Local 596, and USW Local 1998. I also come from Greater Sudbury, a mining town in Northern Ontario renowned for its infamously long and arduous union strikes. You might remember us for our more recent hits back in 2021, when Laurentian University became the first post-secondary institution in Canada to declare insolvency. Both have been formative in shaping my deep affinity with union culture and collective organization, and why I’m running with CREW for a Better Deal.

My experiences with Laurentian are a stark reminder that administrative authorities do not share the material struggles that so many of us endure, and reckless decisions will be made if we do not fight for what we deserve. I am well-versed in Concordia’s financial statements and credit rating reports, and I will use that strength to defend our union against austerity attacks directed toward our membership in the upcoming bargaining cycle. I firmly believe that a strong negotiator is defined by their commitment to principles, and I live and die by mine. Let’s make our voices heard this year.

Liam Riley — PhD Film Studies

I’m a first-year PhD student and TA in Film Studies. I worked with an incredible team to produce the videos posted to CREW's social media during our recent strike action. I also had the pleasure of meeting many of you on the picket line as a strike captain. On the line, I was grateful to participate in the enthusiastic fight to improve our working conditions and the need to work and live in dignity in a city that is becoming increasingly inhospitable. While my disappointment in our movement’s premature demobilization is immense, I am just as optimistic that there is not only more to win for our members, but that we can win.

I’m running for a position on the Bargaining Committee because I am deeply invested in the future of this union, a union which needs a course correction in preparation for an incredibly important period of bargaining. We must arrive at the table prepared to fight for, and win, a real raise — one that truly accounts for inflation — in a threatening time for our members. I promise to adhere to the CREW for a Better Deal platform. Informing my work in preparation for bargaining will be a principled stance where my politics are clear and stated, a support for mass mobilization and representation of our union through open and honest transparency, and a rejection of the Employer’s rhetoric; we as workers will not bear the burden of Concordia’s proposed austerity.

Tamsyn Riddle — MA English

I’ve long been involved in student activism, starting with my undergrad in Toronto, where I was among the core organizers of a grassroots anti-sexual violence collective. We met with students to analyze the pitfalls of university policies and organize protests against particularly egregious cases. Additionally, I filed a human rights complaint against the university for its handling of sexual assault cases, which was ultimately settled in my favour. This experience taught me how to analyze dense policies, read between the lines of legalistic language, and how to hold my ground in mediation sessions with university administrators and lawyers. Infuriatingly, it showed me that the neoliberal, corporatized university won’t give student-workers what we need without a fight. This year, I was honoured to fight alongside you during long days of picketing, scab-hunting, and more. I am eager to continue the fight against increased austerity measures from a university that apparently has endless money for private security to attack student protestors, and yet insists that it can’t afford a living wage for its workers. At risk is our ability to secure minimum contract hours, our job security, and our ability to secure a raise above inflation. We can’t protect our rights without the threat of going on strike, and this threat is meaningless unless we have the resources and mobilization to see it through. In the bargaining committee, alongside CREW for a Better Deal, I will ensure we have strong demands and an energized membership who can take on the university—and win.

Elliot Lauzon-Schlachter — MA Environment (Impact Assessment)

Hello fellow CREW members :) I had the privilege of participating in strike planning as a picket captain, and was incredibly inspired by the show of solidarity, despite the tensions that naturally emerge during this incredibly important process. I am also called to action by proposed bill 89, that would severely restrict the bargaining chips that unions like ours have in negotiations, and the recent union-busting behavior of companies like Amazon. Therefore, as a member of the BC, I would strive for two main points: easing remaining internal tension by working towards full transparency in negotiation, and assist the EC in working towards inter-union solidarity, in opposition of anti-union trends. My 2+ years of community organizing with the Lachine Sustainable Food System, guiding various committees and participatory processes, as well as my 2 years sitting on the COVIQ's administrative committee, prepare me well for these tasks. Overall, I am hoping to help build off the momentum of the last round of negotiations, towards securing the best possible conditions for our hard-working members.

Auditing Committee Nomination

Akira Oikawa — MA Media Studies

Hello, my name is Akira. Many of you know me as the COMS DORG, the minute-taker, or the strike's coffee machine guy. Today, I here because I am running for a position on the Auditing Committee.

CREW is still a young union, and yet so much has already been accomplished. We are currently building it together, writing History through our actions. And the best way to ensure that this History is properly recorded is through transparency and constant retrospection.

As a member of the Auditing Committee, I would ensure that the actions of our union, through the decisions we take, the motions we vote on, the solidarity we show, properly reflect what we want and what we represent.

Our members from the Executive Committee and the Bargaining Committee put tremendous efforts into driving this union where the membership wants it to be. But this is also why they need someone to constantly shadow them. Such is the duty of the Auditing Committee, to constantly remain one step behind the union's driving force and breathe down their necks to ensure that the dues you pay are used to serve a cause we can collectively get behind.

During this year, I had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people who can, and who will, bring the change this university needs. I place my trust in this union's ambitions, and I hope that those same people, all of you, will put your trust in me for this position.