City
University of Toronto and Union Reach A Tentative Deal
Representatives from CUPE 3902 and the University of Toronto reached a tentative settlement after two weeks of negotiations. Members of CUPE 3902 representing sessionals, TAs, and other contract staff will meet today to decide whether to ratify the tentative settlement or reject it and push the bargaining team back to the table.
The threat of a strike at U of T was never as great as it was at York, as the union and university officials have a better (some might say a working) relationship. The agreement comes as the much-talked about strike up at York University officially comes to an end, with 45,000 students heading back to classrooms today.
I think it's a great move for both the union and the university. I say this because I believe that the residents of Toronto don't want to watch another one of their institutions brought down by a strike.
In the midst of a global economic downturn that's likely to bring a number of businesses to their knees, residents simply aren't in the mood to suffer through another labor dispute - even if they agree with the strikers on the picket line. It's time like these that, as a city, we should be doing everything we can to avoid major disruptions. The economic climate is already hard enough, let's try to ease the burden on students, TAs and sessional workers.
I, for one, hope the members of 3902 ratify the settlement.
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One of the reasons that the U of T union has agreed is that they are representing TAs only. The York strike involved all three units of the union, some with different goals, such as job security. If the York situation had involved only Unit 1 (the TAs) it would have been settled quickly as job security was not an issue for Unit 1.
Nice to see U of T's union has a more pragmatic leadership.
Striking is a human and civil right.
I'm not a York student but from my vantage point the only "sense of entitlement" at York comes from York's president, its faculty deans and chief administrators who all make hundreds of thousands of dollars but want to crush the democratic and collective voice of student-workers. You may not agree with me, but I would suggest actually spending some time thinking about the huge inequalities that exist in our society. Strikes are never just about wages but even if we think in those terms: real wages have not changed in almost thirty years for most Canadians yet presidents and CEO salaries have risen exponentially!