York University staff avoid strike with new union deal
Posted June 30, 2022 4:32 pm.
Last Updated July 1, 2022 9:11 am.
York University staff members avoided a strike after a new deal was reached with the union ahead of midnight on July 1.
Sonny Day, President of York University’s staff association, told CityNews that both sides bargained for almost 19 hours on Wednesday. A new deal was reached ahead of the deadline.
“On behalf of the Bargaining Team, I’m very happy to report that we have reached a tentative agreement with the employer in Unit 1 bargaining,” Day said in an email.
“We will be presenting this agreement to the Executive Board for review on Monday evening, and pending approval of the board it will then be presented to the membership for ratification.”
Day said that over 1,700 York University staff members were prepared to walk off the job if a deal was not agreed to by Canada Day.
RELATED: Ford warns teachers to be back in school in fall as contract talks loom
He called negotiations “a very long and difficult round of bargaining.”
“… The incredible solidarity and resolve that you and your colleagues have shown has enabled the Bargaining Team to achieve a deal that includes significant wins,” Day added. “We will be sharing more specific details about the agreement after the board gives its approval.”
York University, 2020. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS.
In what is now referred to as the “2018 York University strike,” CUPE Local 3903 — the union representing contract professors, teaching assistants, and graduate assistants at York University — walked off the job for 143 days.
It was the longest strike in the post-secondary sector in Canadian history, surpassing the previous record of the 1976 Laval University 108-day strike. It ended on July 25, 2018, after Ontario’s Legislature passed the “Urgent Priorities Act.”
