With the clock ticking, CUPE 3903 is preparing to renegotiate their collective agreement with York this summer.
CUPE 3903, which represents contract faculty, teaching assistants, and graduate and research assistants at York, is currently preparing for negotiations by collecting data via surveys that were sent to all three units of their membership.
Charles Battershill, communications officer, says survey results are currently being calculated, with each unit’s priorities coming to the forefront of the negotiations to follow.
“The results of the survey are going to be pulled and cumulated, and once decided, it’s going to be given to the bargaining committee, and they are going to construct the bargaining strategy,” says Battershill.
CUPE 3903’s agreement with York is set to expire on August 31, 2014.
In addition to the data collection, the union has opened nominations for their executive committee and bargaining team, with the nomination period starting on February 5 and ending on February 19.
Battershill says although information they collect now will help them formulate points and issues for the negotiations, it’s still hard to decide on what gets passed.
“Bargaining platforms happens on two ends, which is driven by executives who have experience negotiating with the university and the data they collect from their membership,” says Battershill.
“Typically, at the beginning of bargaining, there are a lot of issues raised and but as time progresses, a lot of issues are filtered away.”
In 2012, a strike was narrowly avoided, when an agreement was reached between the union and the university just before their April 12 strike deadline.
The last time CUPE went on strike was 2008— it lasted for 85 days and is the longest faculty strike in Canadian university history.
The strike ended on January 29, 2009 when the provincial parliament passed back-to-work legislation, forcing union members to return to work immediately.
Hamid Adem
News Editor
