On Monday, January 15, the bargaining team for CUPE 3903 Units 1, 2, and 3 met with the employer and the conciliator appointed by the Ministry of Labour, Greg Long.
The bargaining team has prepared a comparative table of the proposals: Proposals and Responses up to January 22. All of the proposal documents which have been tabled so far are available on the Reports page
The employer provided some sign-offs on equity issues which had been agreed to in previous meetings. They have also provided a small update to their counter-proposal on accommodations procedures. These will be discussed in Thursday’s bargaining meeting, after the union’s Equity Officer has had a chance to review the language. This is the sum total of the employer’s engagement with our proposals in this meeting, which lasted all day: adding one sentence to an existing counter.
On this, the first day of the Strike Mandate Vote, it is clear that the employer intends to wait to see the results of the vote. They are expending an appallingly large amount of resources — social media, radio, open letters, etc. — to claim that they respect the process of collective bargaining and encourage members to vote no. However, for the third meeting in a row, our bargaining team waited all day for very little.
The employer is sending us a clear message. Without a strong YES in the Strike Mandate Vote, the employer wastes time, refuses to address key issues, and overall does not bargain. The employer has chosen to confirm the unfortunate reality of labour relations at York: there is no fair contract without a strike mandate.
Polling stations are open until Friday at the following locations:
Keele Campus:
- Vari Hall link: 9 am – 8 pm
- Vanier College (front lobby): 9 am – 5 pm
- William Small Centre (near the Tim Hortons): 9 am – 5 pm
Glendon Campus:
- across from the cafeteria: 11 am – 3 pm
There is also a mobile polling station on Keele Campus.