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CUPE 3903 pickets are holding strong, despite managements attempt to break their lines.

Yesterday York University management ordered CUPE 3903 picket lines off university property, breaking a long tradition of negotiating picket line protocols with striking workers.

The locals 2,400 members are contract faculty and teaching and research assistants. They have been on strike since October 26 for smaller classes, higher wages, and job security for contract faculty.

Pickets at York are usually on-campus, since dangerous major streets surround the campus. York security, not the police, usually regulates the lines. Off the property, the lines become police jurisdiction. The local believes the police will take action against the lines for disrupting traffic.

The university is acting more and more like a factory and less and less like a university, says Chris Vance, CUPE 3903s communications officer. Management should focus on reaching a fair settlement instead of spending time harassing us and trying to undermine our pickets.

A mass strike committee voted yesterday to keep picketing on campus until forced off. The strong campus pickets so far have successfully disrupted the university.

The local is calling for letters of support to be sent to:

Lorna Marsden, President, York University
S949 Ross
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Fax : (416) 736-5641 Phone: (416) 736-5200
email: presidnt@yorku.ca

and to:

Marshall Cohen
BOG Chair
Office of the University Secretariat
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Fax: (416) 736-5796 Phone: (416) 736-5012

Please also email a copy to cupe3903@tao.ca, or fax to (416) 636-6951.

The local is also asking people in Toronto to come to their picket lines at the York University campus,4700 Keele St. (south of Steeles, east of Keele). For strike updates, visit the locals web site, 3903.cupe.ca.