Welcome to the bargaining section of the CUPE 3903 website!
- What We’re Bargaining For
- Bargaining Team
- Bargaining Surveys
- Bargaining FAQ
- Latest updates: Bargaining Reports
The Collective Agreements for Units 1, 2 and 3 expired on August 31, 2020. We are currently bargaining with our Employer, York University. Watch this page for information as more becomes available.
This section has been organized to provide members of CUPE 3903, York students and allies with all the information they need to follow, participate in and contribute to the bargaining process. More information will be added as it becomes available.
What We’re Bargaining For
This round, the focus is on equity. While we are pushing to address under-representation and improve policies around equity hiring, “equity” as a concept is much broader; something that is relevant to everyone who works at York University. Below are some bargaining priorities that center equity and fairness for all.
Hiring Equity
It is past time to address under-representation at York University, while respecting the integrity of seniority and incumbency. In this round of bargaining, this includes provisions for intersectional equity hiring across job security programs, for new hires, and equity in ticketed course directorships.
Ensuring Graduate Student Success
Most PhD students and many Master’s students are also employees working as Teaching Assistants or Graduate Assistants. This means their working conditions intersect with their student status in many ways. This round of bargaining, we are looking to extend funding for the last term of the sixth year, ensure fairness for students with disabilities by guaranteeing full access to their collective agreement right to funding extensions, and ensure that graduate funding is stable and predictable by enshrining it into the contract.
Job Stability for Contract Faculty
Not knowing what you will be teaching from semester to semester isn’t good for students, and it’s certainly not good for contract faculty who do more than half of the teaching at York. This round of bargaining, we are looking to strengthen provisions that give contract faculty who have been working at York for at least five years a certain level of stability and predictability in their work.
Dignified Retirement for Long-Serving Members
People often think of contract work as temporary, but this is far from the truth. Over half of teaching at York is done by contract faculty; a large number of these instructors have been working at York University for more than 20 years. After being such an important part of the university community for so long, they deserve a dignified path to retirement just like anyone else who has provided this level of service. This is why we are suggesting a new program to allow members to retire with dignity, and bargaining for improvements to post-retirement benefits.
Fair Treatment of Nursing Clinical Course Directors
Did you know the hands-on portion of Nursing courses are taught by Unit 2 members called Clinical Course Directors (CCDs)? These CCDs have been mistreated by York University for years – a situation that has been worsened by the pandemic. This round, we are bargaining improvements to the conditions of work for Nursing CCDs — for our members, and for the future nurses they teach.
Protecting Graduate Research Work from Union-Busting
Research done by graduate students is important to their own development as scholars as well as the integrity of the many research projects done at York University. Yet, the employer has cut more than 800 jobs since 2016, and is trying to hide away that work in non-unionized positions, which is a blatant attack on the very concept of union protections. To make matters worse, they misappropriated $74,000 that was meant to incentivize hiring of graduate assistants who do research in 2019-2020. This bargaining round, we need to stop York’s union-busting by protecting graduate student research jobs, and make sure that incentive money is actually going towards hiring graduate researchers.
2020-2021 Bargaining Team
To reach the Bargaining Team, you can email 3903bargaining@gmail.com.
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Gizem Çakmak | Unit 1 |
| Niloofar Golkar | Unit 1 |
| Martin Schoots-McAlpine | Unit 1 |
| Stephanie Latella | Unit 2 |
| Lina Nasr El Hag Ali | Unit 2 |
| Zoe Newman | Unit 2 |
| Tai Vo | Unit 3 |
| Vacant | Unit 3 |
| Vacant | Unit 3 |
| Sarah Westerhof | BT Recording Secretary |
| Parbattie Ramsarran | Grievance Officer [Ex-officio] |
Bargaining Surveys
Bargaining surveys help the Bargaining Team elaborate proposals and priorities for the upcoming bargaining round. Be sure to fill yours out, and encourage your colleagues to do the same! Click here, then select your unit.