Bargaining Team Report Back
Week of August 7, 2023
With no bargaining meetings scheduled with the employer this week, the Bargaining Team met twice, on August 8 and August 10, to discuss the proposals exchanged at the table on August 3 and to further develop our monetary proposals.
Bargaining Special General Membership Meeting (SGMM): August 10, 2023
The 4th Bargaining Special General Membership Meeting was held via Zoom on August 10, from 12:00pm to 3:00pm. At the SGMM, the Bargaining Team presented updates on the proposals we exchanged with the employer at the last bargaining meeting and solicited members’ feedback on two significant issues—our wage proposals and the future of the Job Stability Committee (JSC).
As the Bargaining Team (BT) noted in last week’s report (for the week of July 31), we have serious concerns about several of employer’s proposals that together suggest an attempt to assert and expand management rights at the expense of our members. We remain optimistic, however, that we can find common ground on the issue of streamlining and speeding up the grievance process to eliminate the current delays and backlog.
Members of the JSC and BT sought members’ input on whether the JSC should continue its work or whether the issue of Unit 2 jobs stability should be addressed solely at the bargaining table. The JSC emerged from the last round of bargaining as a way to resolve, with the help of a mediator, Unit 2 job security proposals that were not resolved at the bargaining table. In the JSC, the Union has worked to develop a program that would provide much greater job security to a much larger proportion of Unit 2 members, especially low-to-mid-seniority members, than have been covered by previous job stability programs. Yet progress has been slow, and the employer continues to resist implementing a meaningful program that would have a low barrier for entry, firm minimum teaching guarantees, and give Unit 2 members the stability they deserve.
The BT also presented a draft of our wage proposals to the membership, which have been shaped by the results of the bargaining survey conducted in May and June, cost-of-living increases in the GTA since 2020, and the wage freeze imposed on us in the last round of bargaining by the Ford government’s unconstitutional Bill 124. The bargaining survey indicated that members of all units see monetary issues as central in this round of bargaining and want a very significant increase in our compensation to make up for the last three years of frozen compensation and significant inflation. Between 2000 and 2019, we consistently negotiated increases that kept us competitive with the rising cost of living, but over the last three years, our real wages (that is, our wages adjusted for inflation) have fallen 10.57 percent.
After Bill 124 was declared unconstitutional by the Ontario Court of Appeal, many other unions successfully used wage reopener clauses in the collective agreements, signed when the bill was in effect, to retroactively negotiate significant wage increases covering the illegal wage-freeze period. Unfortunately, we have been unable to do the same because of the “poison pill” in our re-opener, which requires that all appeals regarding the constitutionality of Bill 124 be concluded before we can invoke the re-opener. Because the re-opener will expire at the end of the month, before the court rules on the government’s appeal, we are faced with needing to negotiate, in this round, increases that will cover both the wage gains we could have won last time in the absence of the wage freeze and the significant increases in the cost of living over the past three years.
At Thursday’s SGMM, we discussed two alternate proposals for making up that lost ground. Based on members’ feedback, the Bargaining Team will bring both to the next GMM, along with other monetary proposals, at which time members will vote on what the BT will present to the employers at the bargaining table on August 29 and 31.
Join us for the upcoming GMM on August 24 from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. The Bargaining Team needs your input to approve important proposals on wages and funds!
Upcoming Bargaining Meetings with the Employer
CUPE 3903 is committed to open bargaining, which means all members are welcome to attend bargaining meetings (either in person or via Zoom). The in-person location for these meetings with the Employer is 519 Kaneff Tower on the Keele Campus; see below for details about accessibility. Here are the next few meetings with the employer (also shared on 3903’s website’s calendar):
Thursday, August 17, 2:00 to 5:00pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwudOygqjkoG9QMI26obGfNsHlnOR6ouD6B
Tuesday, August 29 from 10:00am to 12:00pm and 1:00 to 5:00pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vdeyrrz8tHtScfk2N4sQDoNZnj_6vm7ke
Thursday, August 31 from 10:00am to 12:00pm and 1:00 to 5:00pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvc-ihqD4tH924nZSvkKGhbZCA85G0_q96
There is a one-hour break between noon and 1:00 pm
Upcoming 3903 Bargaining Team Meetings
As always, we encourage members to participate in our regular bi-weekly bargaining team meetings (without the Employer), all on Zoom. Here are the next few bargaining team meetings (also shared on 3903’s website’s calendar):
Tuesday, August 15, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83656704778?pwd=d2FmUG45NFFRZDFGVmo4WmZXZjIrdz09
Thursday, August 17, 1:00 – 2:00pm https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwudOygqjkoG9QMI26obGfNsHlnOR6ouD6B
Tuesday, August 22, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83049384675?pwd=OW42SFd3REtxMTNCdlBjcjA2V2MzQT09
Thursday, August 24, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88622252249?pwd=RlhmLzdYWlo3OTZrV2VEMVBpYWVWZz09
Tuesday, August 29, 9:00 – 10 a.m.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vdeyrrz8tHtScfk2N4sQDoNZnj_6vm7ke
Thursday, August 31, 9:00 – 10 a.m.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvc-ihqD4tH924nZSvkKGhbZCA85G0_q96
Accessibility of Bargaining Meetings
For the regular twice-weekly bargaining team meetings, Zoom captions will be enabled. For the bargaining meetings with the Employer, CART will be available. If you require ASL interpretation or reimbursement for childcare/caregiver/attendant care or have any other requests for accommodation, please contact our Equity Officer, Nadia Kanani, at cupe3903equity@gmail.com.
Due to the high demand for ASL interpreters, we encourage members to provide, when possible, two weeks’ notice if ASL interpretation is required.
Kaneff 519, the location for 3903 bargaining on August 1, has some interior doors that are not power assisted. If you require support with any doors, please email the 3903 Equity Officer (cupe3903equity@gmail.com) to let us know when you will be arriving, so that someone can come out to meet you at the elevator on the 5th floor. All gender, single user, accessible washrooms are located on the same floor. Masking in the meeting room is encouraged.