Let’s get a bit of jargon out of the way first, shall we?
Priorities are broad areas that have been identified by our members as areas of concern. Proposals are our requests for changes that reflect these priorities, framed in contract language. These proposals are collected into a package to present to the employer. If the employer does not agree to all of them, then the Bargaining Team will return to the membership and ask us to identify pillars--things on which we want the Bargaining Team to stand firm.
Why do we need to bargain?
Our Collective Agreements (one per unit) expired on August 31, 2011. The old ones are still in effect (you can find them here), although in a bargaining year, no new monies are sent from the employer to the local for funds like Extended Healthcare or Professional Development (for the list of funds, visit HERE). Note however, due to the administrative error regarding September pay being late for 1,400+ members, the employer did transfer Childcare funds and Ways and Means funds in late September (a remedy that arose because the local mobilized in response to this administrative blunder).
Our Bargaining Team puts together a package of proposals, based on direction from the membership, and meets with the employer’s Bargaining Team--who will have their own package of proposals--to attempt to reach an agreement about a new contract.
How is the Bargaining Team selected?
Bargaining Team members were elected in the spring of 2011. If a Bargaining Team member cannot continue, then elections are held to replace them. The three units vote only for the Bargaining Team members who represent them.
Do members have input into the package? / What informs the writing of proposals?
The proposals are written with input from members such as: a survey distributed to members in June; a few consultations with different units; input from committees. Also, staff are consulted because they are well versed in the nature of recent grievances (and are in a good position to note how current parts of Collective Agreements are [mis]interpreted by the employer). The Bargaining Team also reviews equity guidelines, recommendations from what was not gained in past rounds of bargaining, and other collective agreements (e.g. 3903 at UofT).
On August 18 we held a General Membership Meeting to get input into the priority areas and on September 8, October 4, and October 26 we held General Membership Meetings to get membership input on the proposals.
What will the employer do?
The employer’s bargaining team consists of four members: Barry Miller and Rob Lawson from Faculty Relations, Alice Pitt who is the Dean of Education, and John Brooks, the lawyer and chief negotiator. The two bargaining teams will first agree on bargaining parameters, and then exchange proposals. While our proposals are based on consultation with the membership, theirs are based on consultations with President Shoukri.
What is the timeline?
Our bargaining is starting, in earnest, in late October. The contracts expired at the end of August, and meetings prior to November were primarily to request information the employer was reluctant to but is obliged to supply upon request. For the first few weeks, the Bargaining Team and employer will meet once or twice a week. Likely by January 2012 meetings will be intensive (long, daily)… that said, we cannot predict how this process goes. Bargaining may be over in a week. It may take six months. It depends on what offer the employer makes and what instruction (what we’ll let go from the proposals, what we will hold out for) members give the Bargaining Team.
What are the issues?
See the page about priorities.
How much flexibility does the Bargaining Team have?
The Bargaining Team bases its package and its priorities on direction from the membership, but in order to bargain effectively, they must have the ability to move on certain issues.
Our three CAs are complex documents. The BT makes changes to language through considering how it will impact on other clauses. Sometimes a change in language in one place opens up too many risks elsewhere. That is why they seek input on proposals… both to know where to change language and to stick to their guns at the bargaining table.
If the employer does not accept the package, then the membership will vote on pillars--proposals that we would like the Bargaining Team to stand firm on. Not every proposal can become a pillar, though.
Why are gains important?
A lot of our proposals address gaps or shortfalls in our existing benefits. Others are attempts to mitigate the effects of the systemic underfunding of postsecondary education. If teachers are underpaid, overworked, and plagued by job insecurity, they suffer, their students suffer, and York suffers. Right now class sizes are huge, and in some departments more than half of the courses are taught by contract faculty members--and that’s a trend that’s afflicting universities all over the Western world. Our Unit2 members help to fill that gap, but their labour is not recognized as vital to the university. It’s going to take more than one collective agreement in one Canadian university to stem the tide, but we can bargain for things that will improve our working conditions and the learning conditions of our students.
Our proposals are ambitious, but in any negotiation it makes sense to start from a higher position than we’re expecting, so that we have room to manoeuvre. Depending on how negotiations transpire, it’s possible that the membership might identify a pillar that the employer will not accept--such as summer funding for Unit 3, or the need for teaching-only positions to come from among contract faculty, some of whom have more than a decade of experience. But that’s only one of many possibilities, and whatever happens, we’ll work it out.
What can I do to help?
Yes, please! If you’re interested in helping to keep members informed, contact Claire Major, Communications Officer, at cupe3903communicationsofficer@members.cupe.ca
If you’re interested in representing your department on the Stewards Council or in working on ways to engage the membership in issues that matter to us as precarious workers, contact one of the Chief Stewards:
Sarah Hornstein, Unit2: cupe3903chiefsteward2@members.cupe.ca
Sidrah Laldin: Cupe3903chiefsteward3@members.cupe.ca