On Monday, February 12, the bargaining team for Units 1, 2, and 3 met to continue working on the union’s position in bargaining. CUPE 3903 is very disappointed that the employer’s bargaining team has refused to meet with us at all this week. York’s advertising has been touting their willingness to bargain “any time, any place, as long as it takes”. It is dispiriting to see that these were empty words.
Nonetheless, our bargaining team continues to take bargaining seriously. The team met with members from the School of Nursing to discuss the six Nursing-specific proposals that are part of our bargaining package. These proposals were drafted by members in Nursing to address issues that have been plaguing their working conditions for years, such as problems over qualifications, clinical class sizes, and notice of assignment. The members from Nursing worked with the bargaining team to develop a nursing-specific bargaining strategy, which will be taken up with the employer on February 28. The bargaining team also took time to strategize around the red line issues identified by the membership at our ‘Red Lines’ General Membership Meeting.
The bargaining team will meet with the conciliator next Friday, beginning at 10 am in 109 Atkinson. We continue to work towards achieving a contract, and ask that York do the same.