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TORONTO — Five CUPE locals representing university workers are filing notice to bargain with their employers today in an effort to coordinate their fight against tuition fee increases, among other issues, at the bargaining table.

Three other locals, representing both academic and support workers, are already in negotiations.

We cannot continue to bargain as if our employers are independent of the provincial government when so many provincial decisions — like lifting the freeze on tuition fees — affect us in the workplace,” said Janice Folk-Dawson, chair of the CUPE Ontario university workers coordinating committee. “Members will be going to the table looking for language to protect our incomes from erosion due to tuition increases, protection from the increasing encroachment of the private sector into universities through contracting out and other security measures for both academic and support staff units.”

The locals filing today are Local 233, Ryerson University; Local 3902, University of Toronto (U of T); Local 3907, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), U of T; Local 3906, McMaster University, and Local 4600, Carleton University. Already at the table are Local 793, University of Waterloo; service Local 3261 and child care Local 2484 at U of T; Local 3905, Lakehead University, Locals 229, 254 and 1302, Queen’s University; and Local 2992, University of Western Ontario.

Coordinating our efforts means we all stand a better chance at bargaining collective agreements giving university workers the respect and dignity that comes with decent wages and working conditions,” Folk-Dawson said.

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For more information, contact:
Janice Folk-Dawson, Ontario university workers coordinating committee, 519-766-8376
Mary Catherine McCarthy, CUPE National Representative, 416-274-2637
Pat Daley, CUPE Communications, 416-299-9739 ext 264