The following message was sent on April 5, 2018 from Richard Wellen, President of YUFA, to Rhonda Lenton, President of York University, and to Devin Lefebvre, Chairperson of CUPE 3903: 

Dear President Lenton and Chairperson Lefebvre,

As you know, the offer that CUPE 3903 members will be voting on in the supervised vote that starts tomorrow includes a proposal to revive a program in the YUFA Collective Agreement that provides for a fixed annual number of Special Renewable Contract appointments (SRCs) for long-serving Unit 2 contract faculty members. We have informed both parties--long before the supervised vote was called--that the current proposal is not acceptable to YUFA since it departs from the much better terms and conditions (salary, job security, sabbatical opportunities) that were available in the original program.

The fact that negotiations have proceeded on a proposed SRC program which requires the agreement of YUFA without involving YUFA in the discussions has been a significant impediment to the achievement of a settlement in the current labour dispute. We therefore propose to both parties that, if Unit 2 members fail to ratify the Employer’s SRC offer on Monday, April 9, YUFA, CUPE 3903, and the Employer should engage in immediate tri-partite negotiations to settle on an SRC program that is based on the language that was in the YUFA Collective Agreement when the program was last active. This will assure that CUPE 3903 members can vote on a proposal that they know that the YUFA Executive Committee and Bargaining Team can recommend to their members. Although we know there are other important issues in dispute, we believe that this tri-partite effort could be a significant ingredient to a settlement between the parties.

If Unit 2 members vote in favour of the current offer, then any revival of the SRC program remains subject to negotiations between YUFA and the administration.

Best regards,
Richard Wellen
Associate Professor
President
York University Faculty Association (YUFA)
[email protected]