Warning message

Please note that this page is from our archives. There may be more up-to-date content about this topic on our website. Use our search engine to find out.
(Toronto) - Despite contact talks that have continued this week, the strike by 2,400 teaching staff at York University continues.

And the union representing Contract Faculty, Teaching Assistants, Research and Graduate Assistants says university administrators are stonewalling on all of the key issues.

CUPE Local 3903 has put forward proposals which have reduced a number of its key demands, including lowering wage demands for Graduate Assistants, dropping a proposal to raise the value of summer funding for Teaching Assistants, and moderating the numbers of positions under its job security proposals for Contract Faculty.

Says Local 3903 President Joseph Kispal-Kovacs, All of these represent significant moves on the part of the union, and they follow on the heels of a number of other reductions in our demands which were made in the period leading up to the beginning of the strike.

The response of the employer has been a loud, consistent, and unequivocal NO. The last time the York administration made any move on monetary issues came a week before the beginning of the strike. This was in the form of a small increase in their wage proposal and a reversal of their initial

attempt to do away entirely with a key program to ensure job security for long-serving Contract Faculty, says the CUPE President.

Rob Heynen, bargaining team member and Local 3903 Treasurer adds, Their absolute intransigence on every key issue has led to this strike, and is responsible for its continuation. We call upon the entire York community to join us in telling the administration that enough is enough: it is time to start bargaining seriously and to start addressing the issues on the table in a fair and flexible manner.

For information:
Joseph Kispal-Kovacs, President, CUPE Local 3903
(416) 877-2103 (Cell)
Michelle Lowry, Local 3903 Communications Cte.
(416) 877-2109 (Cell)
John McCracken, CUPE Communications Rep.
(416) 292-3999 (o)

opeiu 491