Our Bargaining Team continues to work with the mediator to achieve a fair and equitable contract that recognizes the very considerable efforts made by our members to serve our students and the university during challenging times.
YUFA members met one month ago, in a General Meeting on February 15, and the members present voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike mandate vote. The following week, YUFA organized an electronic strike mandate vote as requested by that meeting, and 72% of members in a massive turnout voted to approve a strike mandate. As a result, thanks to our members’ strong support, we are making incremental progress on some issues.
The team still needs to see more movement from the administrator on our high priority proposals. A number of substantial issues remain unresolved. The employer has offered almost nothing in terms of YUFA’s key items of concern: governance, workload, compensation, and equity. Furthermore, they are attempting to rewrite the language on the Dispute Resolution Committee, so that the administration can avoid using this mechanism to resolve disputes internally. Our members strongly oppose this disabling of the DRC.
Our next mediation date is Thursday, March 17. The BT remains committed to the mediation process and stands ready to continue meeting until a tentative agreement is reached.
Here is a description of the contract approval process:
When the Bargaining Team has a tentative agreement to present to members, they bring it to the Executive. If the YUFA Executive votes to approve the tentative agreement, it goes to an electronic vote of the membership.
If there is no substantial movement in negotiating a fair contract, YUFA will go on strike as per the will of the membership (72% with 70% of members voting).
Our Team is currently engaged in very long mediation sessions and still hopes to negotiate a good contract. At the same time, YUFA Exec has mandated its mobilization committee to organize strike workshops for its members. Both paths must be pursued until YUFA has a contract. These next two weeks will be critical to Bargaining and we appreciate the ongoing support and encouragement of a majority of our colleagues.
Watch for: News update on sabbatical and strike protocols proposed by our employer and YUFA’s response to what they have proposed.
The Strike FAQ will be updated to reflect this new information soon.
In the meantime, members are encouraged to attend these strike preparation workshops this week:
Strike Action 101
Tonight! Mar 16, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
(see YUFA-M for zoom links)
Friday, Mar 18, 2022 02:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Picket Captain Training
Thursday, Mar 17, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
(see YUFA-M for zoom link)
Please continue to sign, send and share this open letter to York University's senior administration, and demonstrate your support for YUFA by sharing and using these Zoom backgrounds and infographics in your networks.