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CUPE 3903 Strike News
--+ November 29, 2008 +--

1. Bargaining Update November 28

The Bargaining Team met with the employer yesterday and today to emphasize areas that must be addressed to end the strike.

Yesterday we presented the Employer with our revised framework and they presented us with some revised and new proposals.  Their new proposals do not come near to reaching the heart of our key demands, however it is good to see that the employer has recognized the importance of certain important issues.  The following are some of the areas where we have begun negotiating:

•    We would be willing to accept their counter proposal on vision care to be set at $400 every 24 months (up from 300 every 24 months and down from our $450 proposal), as well as their proposal that "paramedical services" (including chiropracty, physiotherapy, massage therapy, naturopathy, podiatry, psychology – now covered only by our Extended Health Benefits plan) would be moved into the normal insurance plan.  However, they have offered this with the condition that we delete the existing 175k Extended Health Benefits Fund, which we must insist on retaining for the purpose of covering other necessary health costs and for subsidizing extra costs incurred by members.

•    We are excited about the inclusion of "fund protection" – which would ensure that future membership growth does not affect the level of funding per member.  However, the employer has only attached this "fund protection" to a limited number of funds.  Without adequate catch-up of all funds, targeted growth to certain funds, and an expansion on the funds that would qualify for indexation of the proposed "fund protection" we are not yet prepared to settle this issue.  The employer will thus have to make more significant strides in order to lead us to settlement.

•    One exception to the funds that have not acheived sufficient catch-up levels is the UHIP fund, which is a fund to pay for half of the health insurance premiums of international students that is not covered by the FGS.  The combined sum of the Unit 1 and Unit 3 funds will now reach 77,000, up from 44,500.  This will cover all of our current international members and leave 9,000 that can be used to subsidize insurance premiums for family members.

•    Another positive move was the inclusion in the Unit 3 Collective Agreement of many leaves that are now in the Unit 1 agreement .

•    We also saw a first overture on the idea of post-retirement benefits.  However, as it is would only cover $1500 per year, this still promises to be insufficient for retirees whose health bills will undoubtedly exceed this limit if they have any serious health problems.  Consequently, we responded that this offer is clearly insufficient and we will be pushing to raise this limit.

•    The key sticking point remains ensuring job security measures for Unit 2.  In response to our suggestions of an renewed SRC program (which has the full support of the YUFA executive), they have offered 10 positions of a 5-year teaching stream YUFA appointments (spread over their proposed 3 year contract).  Unit 2 CUPE members with 5 or more years in the affirmative action pool would be able to apply to be moved to YUFA with a 4.0 course load + service for $60,000.  Currently we have 67 members that would be eligible for SRCs, and we are seeking a 3.0 course load at $75,000, which not only takes into account job security but acknowledges the important role that these members of CUPE have contributed to the York community.  Not only are we unwilling to accept this proposal, but YUFA is very unlikely to accept the two-tier employment structure that it would institute within their collective agreement. 

 

 

While these developments are not all that we would hope for, we are encouraged that we have resumed fruitful negotiations.  We spent the bulk of today developing responses to the employer's proposals, and going through our outstanding non-financial proposals by reasserting our position on some, while revising and withdrawing others.  
   

We continue to seek more serious movement in our stated key areas of job security for Unit 2, raising the Minimum Guarantee for Units 1 and 3, and restoring our funds to their levels prior to major membership growth. 

We will be meeting tomorrow at the Holiday Inn Express, 30 Norfinch Drive (near Finch and 400), in the "Upper Canada Room".  The employer has set an expected time for meeting at 1pm.  We invite and encourage all members to attend and observe.

 

2. Rally Downtown in Solidarity with CUPE 3903  : ON STRIKE AT YORK UNIVERSITY

 Picket Lines will be coming down at 11 AM. Those signed up for the 10-2 shift can attend the rally instead, and those signed up for the 1-5 shift can attend the GMM instead, to receive strike pay.

 

 Fight against the Casualization and Devaluation of Educational Work

Contract Faculty, Teaching and Graduate Assistants at York University have been off the job since November 6^th. December 3^rd will be Day 28 of our strike.  We are calling on all unions, allies & supporters to come out to show your solidarity on:

Wednesday December 3rd, 1pm
Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

900 Bay St. (Bay and Wellesley) Toronto

CUPE 3903 Strikers, Deena Ladd -Workers Action Centre, Sid Ryan - President of CUPE Ontario, Cheri Di Novo - NDP MPP Parkdale-High Park, York University Faculty Association, Ontario Public Service Employees Union and others…

What are we striking for:

We are fighting against the widespread casualization of teaching jobs at York and across colleges and universities in Ontario. Our struggle is for a fair contract, a living wage, job security for contract faculty, and a reinstatement of benefit funds and ensures that university education is accessible to all!

Justice, equity, quality and accessible education are everyone's right:

CUPE 3903 members do more than 50% of the teaching at York University yet our contract is worth a mere 7.5% of the University's budget! There are about 900 contract faculty at York, some of whom have been teaching there for more than 10 years. York treats them as disposable workers. This strike is about justice and equity. Nearly 60% of these contract faculty are women, a quarter are Aboriginal or from racialized groups, and 28% have children under the age of 18. A number are single parents.

 Ontario Universities and Colleges are behaving like private corporations. If York keeps making huge savings on the backs of those who do the core work of teaching students, the die is cast for post-secondary education throughout Ontario. Tell Minister John Milloy to make Universities and Colleges publicly accountable by putting priorities where they belong – into the classroom and into good jobs.

 For updates and online action visit: www.3903strike.ca

More info: Katherine 416-828-3851, Rafeef 416-616-4796, Punam 416-779-3032

Precarious work is becoming a reality for more and more workers in all sectors

Lets stand together to stop the devaluation of people's work and lives

 

 

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CUPE Local 3903 | York University, 104 East Office Building

4700 Keele St., Toronto Ontario M3J-1P3
Tel: 416-736-5154 | Fax: 416-736-5480 | http://www.cupe3903.tao.ca
Please note that the cupe3903news@gmail.com email account is for outgoing messages only.
Direct all inquiries directly to staff or executive committee members.

Copyright © 2008 Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903