Thursday meeting ended quickly without resolution

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A meeting Thursday afternoon between York University administrators and the union representing 3,300 contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate assistants ended quickly without a resolution.

Both sides have now taken their fight online, giving their respective accounts of what happened at the meeting.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3903 posted a message to supporters on its website Friday morning, expressing disappointment the administration walked out of negotiations at the bargaining table after 15 minutes.   

“CUPE 3903 went back to the bargaining table on November 13th hoping to see some reasonable indication from the university about their willingness to take the bargaining process seriously,” the statement read.  

The wage issue was again brought up with the university maintaining its offer of a 9.25 per cent increase over three years while the union countered with 11 per cent over two years.

“CUPE 3903 members find it quite hypocritical to suggest that CUPE 3903 is being ‘unreasonable’ in its wage demands, when York administrators clearly have not had any problem in giving themselves ‘excessive’ wage increases,” the union stated. “Over the past three years, CUPE 3903 members had an overall wage increase of 6%. However, during this same time period, one Associate Dean received a 43% wage increase, the University’s President’s salary rose by 39%, and the Registrar had a 34% salary increase.”

The union also repeated its stance against binding arbitration, saying “it is neither a sound nor a democratic solution to the current impasse in negotiations. Fair bargaining is the only answer here.”

The post concluded asking the York administrators why it only stayed to negotiate for 15 minutes if they were committed to the concerns of the 50,000 undergraduates currently out of class due to the strike.

Administrators responded on the university website, claiming the union had invited them to meet with the government mediator to present a framework proposal that was fair and equitable.

“Rather than presenting a framework proposal, the union instead commented on a few outstanding matters, most of which the employer had previously addressed in earlier meetings,” the administration stated, repeating the union’s demands of wage increase and benefits amount to a total cost of 41 per cent over two years. “The university, in its concern for the 50,000 students affected by the strike, expresses its strong disappointment that the union raised expectations among all parties but then did not present a framework proposal at the Thursday meeting.”

Students will be voicing their concerns at a rally Monday morning in front of Vari Hall, hoping to see the end of the strike sooner than later.