Who is bargaining?

YUFA’s eight employees are unionized members of CUPE 1281. Their Collective Agreement with YUFA expired on May 31, 2025 and we have been bargaining their renewal Collective Agreement since June.   Six YUFA Executive members make up the YUFA Bargaining Team: Ena Dua, Gertrude Mianda, Merouan Mekouar, Ellie Perkins, Art Redding, and Anna Zalik. This group is diverse in race, gender, and sexual orientation. Our bargaining team was appointed to ensure that equity considerations inform YUFA’s bargaining priorities with 1281. YUFA also retained two lawyers to assist us with the first stages of bargaining. The 1281 bargaining team includes all eight YUFA staff members, and representatives from CUPE’s Ontario regional office, with support from CUPE’s in-house lawyers.

How has bargaining gone so far?

We began bargaining on June 11, and met for 8 full days in June, July and August. The meetings were all held by zoom, at 1281’s request.  We agreed on a number of relatively small changes to the 1281 Collective Agreement.  On August 8, 1281 asked the Ontario Labour Board to appoint a conciliator. We continued to bargain for 3 days in August.  Due to scheduling issues, bargaining with the conciliator could not be scheduled until October 3 and 7. At the end of the day on October 3, 1281 requested a “no-board report,” which starts a countdown period after which workers may begin a legal strike or employers may lock out workers.  The no-board report was issued by the Ontario Ministry of Labour on October 9, meaning that a strike or lockout could begin as early as October 26.  We bargained again on October 7 and October 22, with the conciliator’s assistance.  Since July and throughout these days of bargaining, YUFA was constantly modifying its proposals, and 1281 was also making changes to its proposals.  On October 22, 1281 left their caucus room at 5 pm and did not respond to YUFA’s last pass, sent at about 7 pm that evening. Over the next few days, the conciliator attempted to arrange further bargaining. 1281 declined an offer from the Ontario Federation of Labour to help mediate at the bargaining table. 

At midnight on October 27, 1281 announced that they were going on strike.  On October 30, a CUPE lawyer acting for 1281 submitted an application to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, charging that YUFA had engaged in an Unfair Labour Practice at the bargaining table.  The complaint alleges that YUFA’s plan to hire an Executive Director and In-House lawyer outside the 1281 bargaining unit violates the Ontario Labour Relations Act because we were insisting on this “to impasse.”  1281 would not discuss this at the table.  Management and legal positions are not unionized staff jobs, under Ontario labour law.  YUFA engaged a new law firm to defend against 1281’s application, and our submission in response was filed on November 14.  On November 10, YUFA sent 1281 an invitation to resume bargaining.  They replied on November 18, and we have exchanged messages proposing bargaining dates in December. The conciliator remains engaged to assist us. The Ontario Labour Relations Board has scheduled a mediation meeting on January 12, 2026 regarding 1281’s Unfair Labour Practice application and YUFA’s response.

What are YUFA’s bargaining goals?

Our goal is to make YUFA more sustainable, both financially and organizationally.

Organizationally, we want to strengthen YUFA’s ability to represent and mobilize our members so that members are more engaged and involved in our union, and to facilitate the ability of a wider range of members to undertake Executive and committee roles, especially those who are BIPOC and/or have care-giving responsibilities.

Hiring an Executive Director will help YUFA officers and other members with their YUFA work, assist the Executive with their management responsibilities as the Employer of our union’s staff, and provide continuity across officers’ two-year terms. 

Organizationally, the Executive Director will help with communication and clarity on who is doing what, improving officers’ and members’ ability to undertake YUFA work efficiently while also handling their ongoing academic commitments.

Hiring an in-house lawyer will reduce YUFA’s expenditures on outside legal fees. We project that these savings will more than cover the in-house lawyer’s salary.

These goals for YUFA are particularly important now.   Ontario is experiencing a broad assault on public education and public services. At York University, since the current Executive took office on June 1, 2024, we have witnessed a potential lockout of YUFA during our own bargaining, the administration’s wide-ranging Faculties for the Future proposals, suspension of first-year enrollments in 19 programs, the restructuring of units at Glendon, the layoff of several colleagues who hold Special Renewable Contracts, declining international student enrollments, and a complex financial and governance crisis at York. Navigating these conditions requires steady leadership from the YUFA Executive, along with member mobilization and engagement, and strong staff support  for all of YUFA’s work.

York University’s “budget-cutting” approach has been to put workload pressure on all employees, tank morale with vague restructuring proposals, push all grievances to arbitration, and litigate nearly everything using costly lawyers. This has led to a surge in  YUFA’s legal costs (and we assume that skyrocketing legal costs have also contributed to York University’s financial crisis). From 2022-2023 to 2024 our professional fees, largely for lawyers, have more than doubled from approximately $474,000 to over $1 million annually, while arbitration and legal costs have increased from $306,863 to $920,830. Our in-house lawyer will be able to handle many of these grievances at a much lower cost, and provide specific legal advice to members and the Executive.

How will YUFA’s specific goals accomplish this?

Hiring an Executive Director and an in-house lawyer will make YUFA organizationally and financially stronger, while maintaining our staff complement.  We may even be able to find an Executive Director who is also a lawyer, and thus be able to combine these two positions. These management positions will be directly accountable to YUFA members, through the elected Executive.  We have no intention of laying off other staff members or cutting their generous benefits, leaves, workplace health protections, and job security provisions enshrined in the 1281 collective agreement.

Currently Executive members’ responsibilities include various components: administering YUFA’s initiatives and focusing our union’s voice (through our committee structures and in York governance bodies); political work that includes member mobilization and challenges mismanagement at York University, and managerial responsibilities. Past and current Executives have found the managerial responsibilities onerous and time consuming, such that officers have been unable to engage fully in other priorities, such as member mobilization across the university.

Our conclusion, based on discussions with past Executive members, other university faculty associations, public sector unions and national and provincial organizations, is that an Executive Director strengthens unions.  The Canadian Labour Congress, the Ontario Federation of Labour, many provincial teachers’ unions, the Ontario Nurses’ Association, nearly all University faculty associations of our size including at UBC, Regina, Saskatchewan, Queens, Manitoba, UPEI, McGill (“senior officer”), Wilfred Laurier, Carleton, Concordia, Montreal (“executive officer”), CAUT and OCUFA, all have Executive Directors. In addition, many larger unions including CUPE National, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the Ontario Federation of Labour have managers outside of the staff bargaining unit (some use the name General Secretary or other titles for these positions).

Why can 1281 staff not do this work?  Why must the new positions be outside the 1281 bargaining unit?

Section 1(3)(b) of the Ontario Labour Relations Act states that no person shall be deemed to be an “employee” in collective agreement terms who, in the opinion of the OLRB, exercises legal or managerial functions. In our staff’s CUPE Local 1281 bargaining unit, no manager has ever been part of the YUFA staff bargaining unit. Managerial functions have been the responsibility of the Executive, particularly the President, and Vice President Internal, acting as the Labor Management Committee. The rationale underlying this legal precedent is that managerial functions require those responsible for these tasks to be at arm’s-length from “employees”.

1281 has proposed to delegate a staff member, on a rotating basis, to carry out record- keeping (which is backlogged) and equitably organize staff’s tasks, leaves, and  assignments. This is not workable. The Executive has been repeatedly informed that the staff’s workload currently does not allow for support of many Executive members’ responsibilities, nor for support of the Executive as a whole. The staff’s “flat” management structure, which involves daily meetings to discuss and allocate tasks, has not been effective over successive Executive mandates, while the number of staff positions has increased from five to eight over the last several years.  The YUFA Constitution and Bylaws give clear management responsibilities to the Executive, and this language has never been contested by staff. The Executive Director’s job is to assist the Executive in managing the work of YUFA.

YUFA’s in-house lawyer, likewise, must be able to represent YUFA in all legal matters, and to provide unfettered legal counsel to the Executive. There have been situations where the staff and YUFA’s lawyers have had different assessments of what would be most effective for YUFA and its members. It is crucial that the Executive benefit from a breadth of knowledge in order to make the best decisions. Also, the in-house lawyer’s job includes counsel for YUFA’s elected officers on matters which may involve staff, even during labour disputes.

What is YUFA offering staff in this round of bargaining?

YUFA’s equity-oriented bargaining team is committed to reaching a fair settlement with staff for a renewal of their collective agreement. YUFA is offering Salary increases consistent with the annual Consumer Price Index. Our staff are highly valued for their expertise. Currently staff members are paid $155,184.85 annually, save for the sole Type 1 employee, who earns $128,008.51. With benefits included, the total compensation of most staff members exceeds $200,000 each. They have employer-paid pension contribution rates that are nearly 50% higher than those received by YUFA members from our employer. Staff are guaranteed ample funding for leaves and professional development. 

The current 1281 collective agreement includes strong workplace health and harassment provisions, which by agreement supersede the provisions of YUFA’s workplace violence and harassment policy and procedure which was approved by Executive in February 2025. One of the responsibilities of the Executive Director and In-House Counsel will be to ensure that health and safety provisions protect everyone in the YUFA workplace. 

Here is new job-protection language that YUFA has proposed: “No work regularly performed by Employees shall be contracted out or be performed by anyone other than Employees.  Persons not covered by this Agreement shall not perform work that is normally performed by employees covered by this Agreement.   An exception to this rule is when such work is performed by In-House Counsel or the Executive Director and the engagement does not result in the displacement, discharge, lay-off, or reduction of regular hours of work to Employees.”

YUFA is proposing no changes to the 1281 Collective Agreement protections for staff job security, full political autonomy, ironclad health and safety protections, and a bountiful retirement package. Our proposed provisions, counter to 1281’s claims, do not alter these provisions. 

What are the next steps? 

The YUFA bargaining team has invited 1281 to resume bargaining, with the support of the conciliator, and we are now discussing a return to bargaining. We are eager to end the strike and negotiate a settlement with 1281, including a resolution of their Unfair Labour Practices claim in the hearing scheduled for January 12.

How does YUFA respond to 1281’s communications?

CUPE 1281 communications have greatly misrepresented the bargaining process over the past few months. CUPE 1281’s claims and public campaign seem designed not to benefit staff interests but rather to discredit YUFA and hamper efforts by the elected officers of YUFA to assist our members and strengthen our union’s long-term viability.

CUPE 1281 is claiming that by even wishing to discuss an Executive Director and In-House Counsel with them, we are being unfair. However, exchanging proposals across the bargaining table is not engaging in unfair practice. Rather, that is the very definition of Collective Bargaining. In these negotiations, we have approached staff fairly, honestly, openly, generously, and in good faith.

Please provide a Summary of the Issues….

The crux of this dispute arises from YUFA’s decision to hire an Executive Director / In- House Counsel (one or two positions) outside of the CUPE 1281 Bargaining Unit to act as managers at YUFA, including of YUFA staff.  We sought to discuss this with 1281, invite them to be part of the hiring process, and make some modifications to the CUPE 1281 CA to facilitate the work of the new manager(s), which they have opposed and refused to discuss.

In making the decision to hire an Executive Director/in-house lawyer, we are taking back our union for its members, so that YUFA’s elected officers can devote themselves to their required work with colleagues, fellow educators, and other unions at York University, as well as across the post-secondary and broader education sectors provincially and nationally. Employing a lawyer and a manager of YUFA staff who are accountable to YUFA and its elected officers will help the YUFA Executive to effectively organize with our members and staff for a better university. 

In this way, our Elected Officers will have assistance with their responsibilities for implementing the strategic priorities of our union and coordinating its activities, including the work done by YUFA staff. Recognizing the complex political conditions facing post-secondary education at York, in Ontario, nationally and internationally, this approach will protect our members’ collective agreement rights, and also allow us to devote YUFA time and resources to member mobilization and cross-sectoral organizing.

We provide this Q and A so that our members may better understand what has unfolded so far.  YUFA’s regular bargaining updates for members are also available in the News tab on the YUFA website.

We look forward to a renewal of the 1281 collective agreement as soon as possible, and a return to an improved, respectful, and more effective YUFA with the support of our experienced professional staff.

In solidarity,

The YUFA Executive members of the Bargaining Team