Strike

York University Back-to-Work Legislation Round-up

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January 24th statement by Premier McGuinty:

The strike is also at the point where the academic year is in jeopardy for York students. In challenging economic times, when we need all our people at their best, we simply cannot afford to delay the education of 45,000 of our best and brightest young people. [Link]

Toronto Star: McGuinty to recall the Ontario legislature for 1 pm, Sunday January 25th, 2008 to introduce back-to-work legislation (BTWL)

Earlier today I was advised by Mr. Pearson that there is no reasonable prospect of a negotiated settlement between York University and CUPE Local 3903,” McGuinty said. “The sides are in a clear deadlock, and despite our best efforts to bring the sides together, that has not changed. [Link]

CBC News: Backgrounder on back-to-work legislation

Back-to-work legislation is generally used to end a strike – or lockout – in an industry that the government decides is essential to the operating of the economy. It can also be used to end an illegal strike, either by a group that is deemed essential and is therefore prevented by law from going on strike, or workers who have gone out in violation of an existing contract.[Link]

When will classes begin?

Update, 11:30am, Sunday: Toronto Star: Feb 2nd return date.

York officials said that means classes could not begin until Feb. 2, extending the school year until June 2, and costing students one of the four months they have to work or study in summer. [Link]

Update, 2:50 pm, Saturday:Toronto Star: NDP will delay BTWL; Thursday is the earliest return to class.

Hampton said CUPE’s willingness to continue talking — despite York’s refusal to budge — proves that bargaining should continue. That’s why the NDP is opposing the back-to-work bill. [Link]

Update, 2:15 pm, Saturday: Reading unconfirmed reports (blog comments right now, so caveat emptor) that the NDP will not be supporting the BTWL. If this hold true, then BTWL will take somewhere in the range of a week to pass all the readings. In addition, the union executive, flying squad and strike committee are meeting this afternoon. I’m expecting to hear something from them later in the day.

11:15 pm, Saturday: NDP & BTWL. This time it will be political: The NDP passed the TTC BTWL without holding it up. Will this hold true for the York BTWL? Not necessarily so: because there is a leadership contest and 25% of the leadership vote comes from affiliated unions. Andrew Steele, writing for his Globe and Mail blog, suggests that this means:

As a result, each of the four leadership candidates will compete to be the most against back-to-work legislation.

Not only will that mean failure for the government to secure the unanimous consent of the Legislature to dispense with debate of the legislation, but a potential filibuster that could extend the debate far beyond a few days. [Link]

Coleman on Campus: Conjecture from early January as to why McGuinty would not introduce BTWL & how long it would take to return to class:

It will take a minimum of 24 hours to recall the legislature and will take the better part of a week (if not longer) of sitting in the house to pass back-to-work legislation, which will also face opposition from the NDP. [Link]

What is the union’s reaction to this?

10:00 am, Sunday: In a posting last night, CUPE 3903’s Bargaining Team and Executive  released a statement within which they write that they are rejecting binding arbitration:

We are convinced that by rejecting binding arbitration, we are keeping members’ best interests in mind. We lose very little by refusing binding arbitration. We have rejected binding arbitration since bargaining began, and it would be inappropriate to accept it now. We considered carefully the larger political implications of our decision. We want to continue to bargain on our own terms. We refuse to undermine the dignity of our members by accepting an offer that our members already rejected. [Link]

I’m not quite sure how, once BTWL is passed, they’re going to do this beyond a symbolic gesture. They could decide to defy the BTWL, but the union’s spokesperson has said they wouldn’t be doing that:

Tyler Shipley, spokesperson for the striking CUPE employees, said the union will instruct its members to return to their jobs despite the possibility of challenging the law in court. “We’re certainly not going to encourage our members to do anything illegal,” he said. [Link]

According to today’s CUPE 3903 Strike News, picket lines will be up this week, 7am – 5pm.

CUPE 3903 is organizing a grievance and work-to-rule campaign (WTRC) when classes resume. The details of what this will look like are very loose at this time. 3903 WTRC in the past , like all WTRC, have involved following the contract to the letter. This has meant, for example, that TAs would not answer student email as it is not required by the contract. What I’m hearing is that this WTRC will try to be more disruptive than WTRC in the past. How this will affect students, if it is enacted, is difficult to say for two reasons: the first is that no details have been given. The second is that, in my experience, implentation by individual union members will be uneven.

2:15 pm, Saturday: There is a 3903 protest planned for 1pm 12pm tomorrow (at Queens Park, I would expect) in front of Queens Park. So, this will get a lot noisier…

Could the BTWL be challenged in court?

Update Saturday, 12:30 pm: Supreme Court decision (Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia) that was touted as the reason why BTWL wasn’t an option. Now it is suggested that the exception of a “clear deadlock” has been met, which is why the BTWL is a reality.

Even where a s. 2(d) violation is established, that is not the end of the matter; limitations of s. 2(d) may be justified under s. 1 of the Charter, as reasonable limits demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.  This may permit interference with the collective bargaining process on an exceptional and typically temporary basis, in situations, for example, involving essential services, vital state administration, clear deadlocks and national crisis. [Link] via Torontoist

Doorey’s Workplace Blog: Legal analysis as to why any BTWL could be challenged by CUPE

So there is little doubt that, if McGuinty ordered a legislated end to the York strike, the government would face a new complaint before the ILO, which it would no doubt lose.  This hasn’t frightened governments in the past, because the ILO’s only power is public embarrassment, and our governments have not cared about that.  But now the stakes are raised, because in addition to the ILO complaint, the McGuinty government could also find itself facing a Charter challenge.  Were the government to lose that argument, and the Court find that Section 2(d) protects a right to strike, governments across Canada could then find themselves unable to use back to work legislation in other cases–garbage strikes, transit strikes, etc. [Link]

Implications of CUPE 3903 rejecting forced ratification

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At the brink

Quickly trickling down my network of contacts is the news that members of CUPE 3903, of which I am a member, have rejected the offer that was put to a forced ratification vote.1

Also surfacing, in the form of a press release, is York University’s President York President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. When York has anything to say, it’s usually done through spokesperson Alex Bilyk, so Shoukri getting a voice now is especially noteworthy. And what does he have to say?

“We made it clear before the vote that we were making a fair, reasonable and comprehensive offer to settle the contract, especially in this worsening economic climate. The Union characterized our offer to its members as a negotiating tactic, but it was not. We have no intention of negotiating for the sake of appearance. This is our offer for settlement. Now it is up to the Union and its members to reconsider their demands and step back from the brink.”

‘Dems fighting words, no? Shoukri goes on to say “the clock has run out on CUPE” (whatever that means) he’ll make plans to shorten or cancel the summer term.

I’ll make the quick point that the University is just as much a part of this brinkmanship as the union they’re blaming. It seems that we’ve now moved into the phase of the strike were the University tries to union bust.

For some context, in the often quoted 2000-2001 strike, the University forced a rejection vote, received a no vote from two units withing the union and within less than a week, there was a new offer and a settlement. I say often quoted because this is the same logic the union was using to, in part, convince members to vote no to this forced ratification. A no vote would force the University back to the bargaining table.

Here where the past doesn’t map to the present: I don’t think the administration of the University feels it has anything to gain from making concessions to the union. This means no quick settlement. I, obviously, have no proof of this beyond their actions for the past seventy days. Yet, they have shown me by negotiating for only seven eleven days in the past seventy, by sending out a deal to be ratified that was wholly underwhelming (and likely to be voted down by the union), by upping the economic rhetoric and by playing the media game almost perfectly, that they’re in no rush to come back to the bargaining table.

Image: “At the edge of the glacier.” Creative Commons License.  Thanks to Beppie K.

I hope I’m proven wrong; that there is a quick return to barganing and a new, negotiated contract. A return to the classroom to teach and the posibility of finishing degrees (undergrad and grad and grad alike). I’m writing this hunch down because I’m frustrated by the President’s statement and the brink we’ve both come to. That he lacks the ability to see the other side is just more proof that we’re nowhere close to being done this strike.

  1. The official results: 63% overall, 61.7% from Unit 1 (TAs), 59.3% from Unit 2 (Course Directors) & 70% from Unit 3 (Graduate Assistants) [↩]

The longer the strike, the more dangerous it gets

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Ugh:

The mediator between the two sides at York University broke off talks Saturday night, as the strike by teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants continues in its fourth week.

(G&M Article)

and:

Attempts to end a strike at York University ended yesterday when a mediator suspended talks between the school and its striking teaching staff.

The talks, which had restarted Thursday and continued Friday and yesterday, were called off last night.

(Star article)

In somewhat related news, the senate has approved Law students at York’s law school, Osgoode Hall, return to classrooms. The time-sensitive nature of a Law student’s course of study and job-related requirements were part of the arguments put forward to argue that the return was necessary. I’m not sure that you can make this argument for law students and not make it for other undergraduates. But I digress… Making this decision easy is the fact that most professors at Osgoode are not members of YUFA, the university’s faculty association. The slow resumption of classes on-campus is not totally unexpected. York international business students have already resumed classes, again, taught by instructors not a part of YUFA.

Last Friday at the Northwest Gate I experienced my scariest “line rage” moment to date when a Seneca student, whose classes that are still on-going, pulled up into the “out lane” saying she needed to get on campus quickly to get medication. She had said the same thing on Thursday and was allowed through the line1. Someone recognized her on Friday and suggested that it appeared as though she could be telling a fabricated story. When it was suggested that she might be lying, she got out of her car, begin yelling at the picketers to “get out of my fucking way” and dragged the gate open to try and drive though. When the gate was closed by fellow picketers, the student got more and more upset, yelled at more people on the line and at one point said “Yeah, but what if I had been sick?” She called women “whores” and men “fuckers” and, after a lot of yelling, got back into her car and peeled off in the direction of another gate.

I relate this story because I’m a little worried about escalating conflict at picket lines now that more students could be coming back to campus. It does suck for Seneca students who have to make their way through the picket line to attend classes. If more and more York students return and feel as though they have to be somewhere at a certain time (as attending class often necessitates), then I can imagine it’s going to get more heated on the lines. As outlined in the link above, LLB students are covered by the senate’s ruling (see subsection 2.2.1) that students cannot be punished academically for not crossing a picket line. This means that law students who do not attend class cannot be penalized for it.

I hope that students who do feel like they need to cross the picket line to attend class and drive to campus realize that they will be waiting in line for a while and take that extra time into account. I also want to point out, that if anyone takes public transit to campus, they can just walk across the line.

  1. Its interesting to note that when in a situation like this, the standard that I measure such requests — like a person in a car saying they live on-campus but they don’t have their address with them to prove it — is “Will not letting this person through hurt our position?” If the answer is yes, then I’ve come to the conclusion that expediting them through the line isn’t a bad thing. The difficulty here is that I have to assume that all of these requests are genuine. For me, it’s hard to believe that everyone is truthful about their requests all the time. How can I quickly evaluate a person’s story though? Simply, I can’t. It’s an imperfect system. But I’m not so focused on maintaining the lines to let no exceptions through. And to have a situation where someone is held up when they should have been expedited through the line, then that’s a more egregious error then letting the odd lying prick though [↩]

New post up at Voices from the Picket Line; reflections on talking about the strike on-line

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Picket line day 2Yesterday I started a new blog called Voices from the Picket Line in part because I was disappointed by the way that regular (whatever that means) CUPE 3903 member’s voices are missing from much of the coverage about the current job action.

I started out yesterday writing about what its like to be a graduate student and how some of the arguments I’ve read to solve our strike-related issues–like if we don’t earn enough money to pay monthly bills, we should just get an extra job–are often not an option. In my post I also finish with some quick thoughts about what TAs working extra jobs might mean for an undergrad’s experience.

I’ve had a good response thus far, with two more submission coming in last night. I posted one today that outlines life of a recent PhD graduate and course director. I’ll leave judgement up to others, but I’ve found the stories interesting and compelling. I look forward to posting more1.

Some of my strike-related posts have been garnishing some attention on line as well:

This ExcaliburOnline article covers how the Internet is shaping up as a “new battleground” in the York Strike. My site gets singled out:

People on both sides of the strike have also begun to utilize the Internet to post their feelings about the strike on websites such as Twitter and their own personal blogs. Gavan Watson, a TA from the faculty of environmental studies at York, has a blog that illustrates the life of a union member on the picket line. His blog, Gavan Central (www.gavan.ca), has given readers an up-close-and-personal look at what it’s like to be on the picket line. In his blog, Watson explains the life of a picketer and the troubles of being on the line. “We had perhaps what I would call irate drivers who rushed the line [and] got visibly upset at the whole idea of having to wait. We got a lot of honks in support and a few middle fingers from the drivers along Steeles,” it reads. Watson has also frequently updated his Twitter account with information.

What’s interesting is that I’m trying my hardest not to battle. Obviously, I have a bias and am walking the picket line, but I’m very interested in getting my impressions out and letting others come to their own conclusion. In my personal posts on this site, I’ve tried hard not to tell anyone to have one perspective or another; rather I hope that by sharing my experiences and thoughts that it helps people who are interested make a better-informed conclusion on their own.

My other posting where I outlined my important issues in the strike got mentioned on the YU Blog. Interestingly, the argument articulated by this student was part of the impetus to start Voices from the Picket Line. Hana wrote:

I want to hear a TA speak about his or her inability to make ends meet, a contract faculty professor who has no job security from year to year, a union member laid off without any severance pay. Most importantly, I want the union to acknowledge the inconvenience it’s caused students. I want the undergraduate voice to be supported by CUPE 3903, before I lend them my support by appearing in a rally.

So Hana, Voices from the Picket Line is for students (and others) like you.

  1. If you are a CUPE 3903 member and want to write a contribution, please feel free to do so and contact me: mailbox [at] gavan.ca [↩]

York Universirty strike issues, as I see them

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Barricade sunrise, day 2I’m not a part of the bargaining team, union executive or even a union steward. I’m simply a union member, a course director / teaching assistant who is walking the picket line. Had you asked me four weeks ago if this was something I was going to do, I would have said no. A strike wasn’t even on my horizon: I was interviewing participants for my doctoral research and teaching a first year course. I am on strike now and the issues, as I understand them, are important enough for me to be on strike. Here is why I’m walking the line:

1. Contract Faculty need better Job Security

Currently, contract faculty know that they are employed for 12 weeks at a time, so a contract faculty (any contract faculty–whether they’ve worked one year or twenty) could be let go at the end of their current contract without any warning or impediment.

2. Classes–including lectures and tutorials–need have an improved student to teacher ratio.

For both the quality of education for undergrads and workload for TAs and Course Directors, these ratios should be smaller.

3. Child and Healthcare Funds indexed to to growth in the union.

Our union has increased in size by 28%, so the funds available for childcare have increased accordingly.

4. A wage indexed to Inflation.

In their final offer before strike action, the University offered a wage increase of 3% for 2008-2009. Current inflation is greater than the wage increase, so in a year we would be earning less than we do now.

My union (CUPE 3903) is poised for a strike and I’m feeling naked

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This time next week, I might be on strike.

Here’s the local media’s take on the potential disruption:

York University faces possible strike (Toronto Star)
York plans to cancel classes in event of strike (Globe and Mail)
NORTH YORK: Strike looms at York U. (insidetoronto.com)

Follow the most recent Google-indexed updates

Optics are big when it comes to strikes and the fact that the union has asked for a 30% wage increase, especially in this time of “financial crisis”, will make winning the opinion war on this strike especially difficult. You’ll read from the comments on the above articles that people are already pointing out that CUPE 3903 employees are “already” the highest paid TAs in the country. While I hardly agree with the logic behind the argument (those students are nothing but GREEDY!), I’m afraid that most people will see it in that simple way.

There are other, in my opinion, important issues that are being brought to the bargaining table, but the wage issue will colour public perception. Part of the problem is that CUPE 3903 represents so many kinds of university teachers: TAs, GAs, RAs and sessional faculty. Each of these groups have different needs — sessional faculty, for example, have significant job security concerns that should be addressed (a problem with being a sessional is that you can work for X years for the university and be “let go” at the end of the current teaching assignment without warning, renumeration or an attempt to turn these long-term sessionals into tenure-track positions). There isn’t one issue that we, as union members, can get behind and offer the general public as an easy-counter position: all of our issues are mired in institutional practice and minutia. People aren’t going to take the time to be interested in it.

Generally speaking, I do not want to walk a picket line or strike. I would rather keep with my day-to-day staus quo. But my prediction if we do strike: it will be long and bitter. The general public will have a hard time understanding what we’re striking about. So, before we picket, I think it would be wise to would drop the 30% wage increase demand and elucidate one, significant issue that would be easy for the general public to understand and (potentially) support. But I’m no union tactician.

Thursday, November 6th is the big date…