The continuing CUPE 3903 strike and the attempted resumption of classes at York U

Road Sign at Keele Campus: Wrong Way

Road sign at Keele Campus: Wrong Way

It is not “business as usual” at York University.

Unit 1 and 3 members remain engaged in a legal strike. These members are not working. They are not teaching courses, tutorials, or labs. Picket lines remain around campus. Our picket lines will, as they have the legal right to do, cause delays in accessing campus. TTC and other buses (except Wheel Trans) are not crossing the picket lines.

We urge members of the York community trying to access campus to expect delays and remain patient.

Not all classes are resuming. The York University Senate has given individual faculty the right to suspend classes based on their assessment of their ability to maintain the academic integrity of their course. A number of departments have declared that they will not resume classes at all during the strike. In other departments many individual tenured faculty (York University Faculty Association members) and Unit 2 (CUPE 3903) members have made the decision to not be resume classes in order to maintain the academic integrity of the material’s presentation.

York University students retain the right not to cross picket lines. This is guaranteed by Senate’s Policy on Cessations of University Business. Students who exercise this right cannot be penalized for not crossing the picket line, and have the right to receive their education, grades and credits after the strike.

An end to the strike is readily available. The CUPE 3903 bargaining team has tabled proposals that, if accepted by the Employer, would quickly end the strike. They are only three in total, and in the context of the University’s $1,000,000,000 budget, cost the Employer almost nothing.

Our Bargaining Team has let the university know that CUPE 3903 is ready to meet to discuss their response, and hopes that classes can resume quickly, with all members of CUPE 3903 returning to their jobs and studies.