To Christina Rousseau
Chair, CUPE 3903 Executive

Dear Madam,

I am writing to draw your attention to an international call sent by French University teachers. For the first time since 1986, we are now on a national strike, with various local situations. I know the whole world seems to think we are priviledged socialists (!) but some of us did fight bitterly to get their current civil servant status, which is now under threat.

We do need your support.

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February 4, 2009

Greetings to CUPE 3903,

On behalf of the Executive and members of the Syndicat des chargées et chargés de cours de l’Université Laval (SCCCUL), I am writing to offer our support and solidarity in your recent conflict with York University.

We have been following closely your union’s struggle for decent working conditions for contractual faculty at York University. The decision taken by the Government of Ontario to force you back to work flies in the face of the most basic principles of collective bargaining.

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February 2, 2009

Members of CUPE 3903:

On behalf of the entire NDP caucus I would like to express our thanks to the executive, the bargaining team and all the members of CUPE 3903 for their hard work and commitment during the recent struggle at York University.

Faced with an employer who refused to negotiate, the members of 3903 acted responsibly and vigorously in an attempt to negotiate a collective agreement that recognized and reflected the long term, best interests of the students.

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TO ALL York undergraduate students, members of the York Federation of Students, York Faculty, York Staff and other members of the York community, Canadian Federation of Students - Ontario, CUPE 3903 staff, CUPE locals, CUPE Ontario and National, members of the Ontario NDP caucus and their staff, ATU bus drivers for TTC, GO & VIVA, members and unions in the broader labour movement, other campus and student communities, community groups, and the thousands of individuals from near and far who courageously stood up in support of our strike…. THANK YOU!

CUPE 3903 may be a fiercely independent local, but without all your help and encouragement from strike day 1 we couldn’t have waged such a long and successful strike and created the space to raise and communicate such critically important issues about university workers, working conditions and the destructive impact of underfunding of education workers at York, in Ontario and in Canada.

Although the Ontario law passed on Thursday, January 29, 2009 ended our 85-day strike, it has only strengthened our spirit of struggle to continue the fight for quality higher education, workers rights, labour and social justice, academic freedom, and affordable and accessible education.

Stay tuned for more ways to remain involved and continue the struggle.

Power to the Classroom!

Statement of support for CUPE 3903

We are faculty members at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. We stand with CUPE 3903 members against the Liberal government trying to order you back to work and denying your collective bargaining rights. The York University administration has refused to bargain with you and this sets the very dangerous precedent that any administration could refuse to bargain with its faculty or education workers and simply wait until the government forces workers back to work. We join you in demanding
that York’s Administration return to the bargaining table. If the government can force you back to work it will be a defeat for all educational and other workers. A victory for CUPE 3903, however,  will be a victory for all of us.

In solidarity,

Patricia Brace, English
Shana Calixte, Women’s Studies
Shannon Hengen, English
Jennifer Johnson, Women’s Studies
Gary Kinsman, Sociology
Reuben Roth, Sociology and Labour Studies
Alexis Shotwell, English and Philosophy

CSN / Quebec teaching unions denounce Ontario’s interference in collective bargaining at York University

MONTREAL, Jan. 28 /CNW Telbec/

The Ontario government is passing up a chance to improve teaching conditions at York University by legislating an end to the strike by the university’s contract faculty and teaching, research and graduate assistants, says Ronald Cameron, the president of the Fédération national des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (CSN), which represents both sessional lecturers and teaching assistants in Quebec.

“Instead of back-to-work legislation, Ontario should address the underlying issues that caused the strike at York by Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903, issues which are increasingly prevalent at university campuses across Canada,” said Mr. Cameron.

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NDP is the lone party to defend the collective bargaining process.

Ottawa (27 Jan. 2009) - Legislating an end to the strike at York University “shows a lack of respect for the collective bargaining process” by the McGuinty government in Toronto, says James Clancy, president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).

“When it comes to labour rights, the McGuinty government is not starting 2009 on a positive note,” says Clancy.

“Only two weeks ago, the government announced it will appeal a landmark decision granting collective bargaining rights for farm workers in the province. Now they have introduced back-to-work legislation at York,” he notes.

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Today in the question period at the Ontario Legislature premier Dalton McGuinty  responded to ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton by agreeing to call York University president Shoukri  and encourage him to return to the bargaining table with CUPE 3903. Hampton was pressing McGuinty to use the time created by the NDP in there opposition to the McGuinty government back to work legislation to facilitate a negotiated settlement that would make the legislation unnecessary.

Earlier in the morning, representatives of CUPE 3903 and CUPE ontario president Sid Ryan held a press conference at Queen’s Park to announce that they had engaged lawyers to take legal action against the legislation should it pass.  “We believe this legislation is unconstitutional in that it erodes the collective bargaining rights guaranteed by the Canadian constitution.”  said Ryan.

However, Ryan along with Union Chairperson Christina Rousseau and 3903 spokesperson Tyler Shipley, said the preferable course of action is to use the next 24-48 hours before the legislation passes to reach a negotiated settlement at the bargaining table. “These are the precious hours that are available to us to make a win-win situation for students, union members and the university administration as we go back and resume classes.” said Tyler Shipley.  “Let’s not squander them.  We urge the university to come back to the bargaining table and negotiate this out.”

Dear Premier McGuinty,

On behalf of the over sixty-thousand graduate student members of the National Graduate Caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students — including those at York University — I would like to state our
opposition to legislating the members of CUPE local 3903 back to work.

It is our position that such legislation is one-sided and counter to the guarantee of the right to fair collective bargaining. Indeed, back-to-work legislation was even deemed as substantial interference with freedom of association by the BC Supreme Court.

While we recognise that the strike has been long and costly, the actions of the Ontario Government have not helped.

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After months of CUPE 3903’s earnest attempts in bargaining, York University has refused to budge. Instead, York University has chosen to wait it out until the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty has stepped in to legislate the workers back to work. This is an unprecedented attack on the collective bargaining process, an attack on organized labour, an attack on workers in Ontario and Canada. Please help striking workers at CUPE 3903 in standing up against back-to-work legislation that will have consequences for the entire labour sector, NOT just CUPE 3903, NOT just educators, but EVERYONE in a union. If we don’t stop this now, it will undermine attempts to stop it later.

1. Reinforce CUPE 3903’s Picket Lines on Monday, January 26
2. Mass Rally against Back-to-Work Legislation on Tuesday, January 27
3. E-mail your MPP now: http://demandastance.com/cupe/
4. Write or email newspapers and broadcasters to say that you stand in support of all those who are working with us to defend collective bargaining and the labour process.

See more details below…

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