On Thursday, January 29th, the Ontario Legislature passed legislation to end the strike by CUPE 3903, and forcing our workers back to class starting Monday, February 2nd, 2009.

CUPE 3903 Representatives are currently negotiating the details of the “Back-to-Work Protocol” for striking members of all three units, and this will likely take a few days to complete. Keep checking list-serves and this website for updates.

In the meantime, please refer to York University policies and statements about return to classes at the links below.

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Above photos by Alex Pylyshyn

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To the members of CUPE 3903:

In the very early hours of Saturday morning, January 24, 2009 the Bargaining Team and the Executive of CUPE 3903 held an emergency meeting. We voted, by a substantial majority, to reject binding arbitration and to offer to continue to bargain.

York University made it clear that they had no intention of bargaining. The mediator indicated that York held their position on the basis of both “economic feasibility and principle.” Although we significantly lowered our demands, York made no movement and offered the same pass that members rejected by 63% in forced ratification.

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‘Freedom should mean that people have the right to set up institutions that will act as a counter-force to the anti-social elements of society who build up economic institutions to suppress the people and exploit them.’

- Monsignor Moses Coady. Antigonish Movement, Nova Scotia 1920s-1940s

January 10, 2009 - Toronto, ON.

Over the past two weeks, Israel has unleashed a savage and unrelenting assault on the Gaza Strip, killing over 750 Palestinians, at least a third of whom are children. This follows a prolonged complete economic blockade that prevented essential supplies from reaching Gaza, and this blockade killed, malnourished and impoverished many more. Earlier in 2008, in March, the Israeli Air Force bombed and destroyed the headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in Gaza. Now, in its latest assault, the Israeli Air Force has bombed the Islamic University of Gaza. These actions are continuing iterations of Israel’s apartheid policies against Palestinians.

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Neil Smith talks about the strikes and protests happening throughout the world today, and the common issues that underlie them. Brought to your form the Speaker Series at the Shoreham Picket.  Part 2 of the video can be found on the Strike Video Site - http://cupestrikevideo.wordpress.com/

January 9, 2009 (3PM)

Yesterday (Thursday, January 8th) at a general membership meeting, the
bargaining team and executive presented the employer’s latest offer to
the membership. The offer was resoundingly rejected by the membership,
with 90% of members in attendance voting to refrain from sending the
offer to ratification. In response, instead of bargaining at the
table, the employer has notified CUPE 3903 that it has begun the
process of holding a forced ratification vote.

What is a forced ratification vote? A Forced Ratification Vote (what
they refer to as a “supervised vote”) is, essentially, a loophole in
the labour laws that gives the employer the power to circumvent the
bargaining process—to contact striking members directly and compel
them to vote on a deal of the employer’s own choosing.

The employer is only legally allowed to use it once. The forced vote
is a powerful instrument that the employer uses in order to maximize
confusion and minimize the need to make meaningful movements at the
table.

Needless to say, the union is disappointed that the employer has once
again walked away from the bargaining process. This disappointment is
compounded by the fact that the deal does not adequately address our
three main priorities:

Job Security (Unit 2)
Graduate Funding (Units 1 and 3), and
Funding (All Units).
The union is encouraging all members to reject this offer by voting
no. The employer is counting on our members settling for a
concessionary offer.

Unions that are able to beat a forced ratification find that they are
able to put the bargaining team in an immensely strong position. Your
no vote will signal to the employer that the offer is not adequate,
and as such, they will need to table an offer that addresses our three
main priorities. In future negotiations, their forced offer becomes
the floor for a settlement, as they cannot avoid bargaining at the
table any longer.

VOTE NO TO FORCED RATIFICATION!

Please check for further updates as further details will be posted
regularly. Union members will receive packages that give more specific
information on the employer’s offer.

From: Ninth Floor Sitters
To: York students, teachers, workers and friends
Date: Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Subject: Sit-in communique-Let’s Trickle

We’re still seeping.

Last night, we ran out of floor space outside President Shoukri’s office, so we seeped our way to the Senate, on the ninth floor of the North Tower.

This morning, York personnel were surprised to find it raining outside Senate.

This afternoon, we had a teach-in on the Lawyers’ Movement in Pakistan (also link here for their Dharna / Sit-in). We were also happy to see our puddle represented on the You Tube website “York U Sit-In TV Presents Cribs.”

This evening, we have a pictionary tournament.

Tonight, let’s trickle.

Down

the

stairs

to

the

eighth

floor.

All power to the picket lines!

Raindrops of the world unite!

The Ninth Floor Sitters

NinthFloorSitters@gmail.com

As many of you are already aware, the CUPE 3903 Bargaining Team will be meeting with the bargaining representatives of York’s administration on Saturday, January 3. We sincerely hope that the administration’s representatives will present our BT with a progressive offer: an offer developed with the sincere aim of ending the strike and helping all of us at York return to our important work of teaching, learning and research.

In the meantime, we urge all CUPE 3903 members and their supporters to do their part to aid our Bargaining Team. For this purpose, we invite you to communicate to York administrators your request that they work hard to see that their negotiators bargain seriously and in good faith with CUPE 3903 representatives. For this action, you may either use the (updated) action letter on CUPE’s website, found at http://cupe.ca/action/3903-york.

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On Wednesday, members of the Trans Feminist Action Caucus joined picket at York’s southern campus, Glendon College for a special conversation to address key equity issues both within our union and in our strike demands. While walking the “small but mighty” Glendon line, members spoke about their experiences during the strike, and about the major equity concerns that are embedded within our bargaining demands.

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