Campus Unions Call On York To Negotiate with YUFA
CUPE 3903, YUSA, CUPE 1356, and Osgoode Hall Faculty Association are united in supporting the York University Faculty Association (YUFA) and its effort to negotiate a fair deal with York University.
On July 12, York University requested a “no board” report, which triggers a legal countdown to a possible lockout or strike. Despite claiming in their recent communications to have increased financial difficulties due to the CUPE 3903 strike, the university administration has not hesitated in veering toward yet another possible campus shutdown. These continual threats of labour disruptions also damage the student experience at York.
York claims that student enrollments are too weak to justify increases to faculty salaries that YUFA has requested to match the rate of inflation. Yet York does not have those same worries when it comes to the salaries of senior administration, which have increased by an alarming 47% since 2018 despite university revenue only increasing by 3% over the same period.
In its recent mass email, York blames its inability to support faculty members at the bargaining table on the “slower than expected recovery” since the pandemic began. Concerns about the impact of the pandemic did not prevent them from spending $260.5 million on building the Markham Campus over the same period.
York claims it wants to “reach consensus toward a common goal of a stable and thriving university”. Yet, continuing with its record of violating collegial governance, York is proposing to eliminate the joint committees with YUFA that would ensure consultation with faculty members about how reducing the number of courses and introducing much larger ones might impact teaching and learning.
Far from fostering a thriving university, York’s proposals to YUFA appear aimed at circumventing overwork protection, making increases to class size part of the normal routine, and freeing the senior administration of their obligation to consult faculty members and adequately research the potential impact of these changes. York must bargain in good faith with YUFA if it is truly committed to student success and what it acknowledges are the “absolutely essential” contributions of YUFA to this university.