The Units 1, 2, & 3 Bargaining Team (BT) held their first official joint meeting with the CUPE 3903 Executive Committee on Friday, 27 March, 2026. Most of the meeting was devoted to identifying, debating, and discussing possible “priority” bargaining concerns as the BT continues the process of drafting proposals for our next collective agreements.
Priorities are not determined unilaterally by the BT. Rather, the BT — in collaboration with Staff, Executive, Committees, and other CUPE 3903 members — attempt to review a diversity of resources relating information on member needs.
These resources include the bargaining survey, correspondence and comments shared in Town& Halls and Department visits, information collected through committee work, information shared by the Employer through an articled mandate in our collective agreements, information on our sector and other sites of collective bargaining shared with us from CUPE National and CUPE Ontario or other unions, individual and aggregated grievance experiences, informal suggestions, observation of developments and initiatives undertaken by the York University Administration, synoptic assemblages of different research conducted by BT members, and more and more and more…
One of the best ways to ensure that your needs are addressed through bargaining is to make them heard in the many bargaining forums and deliberative spaces where you can provide input directly!
Over the next few weeks the BT will be discussing and voting upon bargaining proposals to bring before membership for approval, rejection, and/or modification at a future Special General Membership Meeting (SGMM). This SGMM (the first, but not the last, in our bargaining process) is tentatively scheduled for the week of 20 April. Members are therefore strongly encouraged – indeed, requested! – to attend future BT Meetings and Town Halls and contribute directly to the discussion of proposals and other bargaining matters there! And, as always, members can also contact the BT directly at bargaining@cupe3903.org.
Additionally, the BT has also considered altering the internal parameters governing BT procedure, as previously approved by membership at the February GMM. Any such change would first have to be recommended by the BT at a BT Meeting, and then formally approved by membership at an upcoming GMM or SGMM, if it were to go into effect. More information on this proposed change will follow at future BT meetings.
The BT has its next meeting on Tuesday, 31 March, 1 – 2:30PM. Beginning in April, regular BT Meetings will be held every Tuesday, 10:00 AM – 12PM. All BT Meetings are hybrid. Agendas, through which the BT shares other important bargaining documents with membership, are available upon request to the BT. Zoom and room information can be found on the CUPE 3903 calendar.
Additionally, there will be a Unit 2 Town Hall held Wednesday, 8 April, 2:30 – 4:30PM. Anticipate future Town Halls on other subjects to appear on the CUPE 3903 calendar very soon!
That’s all for now! We hope to hear from you soon!
– Corey Orszak, Bargaining Team Unit 1 Representative