Dear YUFA members,
We write to you with increasing concern about the hardline approach your union’s bargaining team is taking toward your employees in CUPE 1281, our sibling local—an approach that has led to a strike that could easily have been avoided.
YUFA’s stated goal in negotiations is to create two new managerial positions, an Executive Director (ED) and an in-house lawyer. However, YUFA has designed these positions in a way that would enable them to take over existing staff work and dismantle staff job security and protections. This move has prompted an Unfair Labour Practice complaint from CUPE 1281, whose members cannot be expected to consent to the erosion of their collective agreement.
CUPE 1281 counter-proposals offer solutions that would allow these new positions to be created by building on the existing collective agreement. In our view, the counter-proposals should have immediately settled the issue and ended the strike. Inexplicably, YUFA has rejected these solutions. It’s hard to avoid the impression that YUFA is uninterested in reaching an agreement in good faith, but is looking to force terms onto its employees.
YUFA’s defence of its hardline position is unpersuasive. The claim that creating the ED position will bring YUFA in line with the sectoral norm is misleading and ignores important sectoral differences. For example, the Trent University Faculty Association and the Federation of New Brunswick Faculty Association both have EDs, yet they have no staff representatives who take on casework. At the Ontario College of Art & Design, the ED is their staff representative. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology has both an ED and a member services coordinator, but both are covered by the same collective agreement. And many faculty associations have no EDs.
Similarly, the argument that hiring an ED is necessary to free the YUFA Executive Committee from the work of managing CUPE 1281 staff is also misleading. YUFA claims that an ED is required to advise the Executive on how to respond to CUPE 1281 grievances and support YUFA during contract negotiations with CUPE 1281. YUFA’s position has been that an ED would free more time for the Executive Committee to work on issues of concern to YUFA members and make executive service more attractive to new members.
But these arguments ignore the fact that CUPE 1281 staff already do the administrative work of an ED without one, like distributing tasks among themselves, tracking their hours, and organizing their leaves and accommodations—all in consultation with the YUFA Executive. And, if YUFA really needs to hire someone to support staff coordination and organization, they can accept CUPE 1281’s proposal (tabled on October 22, 2025) to hire a Staff Coordinator within the bargaining unit.
There is also no reason an in-house lawyer cannot be unionized and part of the bargaining unit. Progressive organizations such as YUFA should voluntarily welcome and encourage expansion of unionization.
We urge YUFA to adopt more constructive, less divisive ways of addressing the Executive’s concerns about responding to staff grievances and negotiating CUPE 1281’s collective agreement. YUFA could address those concerns by working collaboratively with its staff in the following ways:
- proactively, by writing an “Executive Manual” that provides clear, accessible and easily navigable instructions for how executive members can fulfill their duties without violating the CUPE 1281 collective agreement;
- negotiate (with the advice of a lawyer, if necessary) letters of understanding to resolve issues that require modifying the collective agreement;
- hire an external consultant to develop policies and practices that protect staff and members alike from harassment and discrimination; and
- if grievances still occur despite the above precautions, hire external lawyers on a case-by-case basis.
In sum, YUFA can solve its Executive workload and labour-management issues without eroding the job security of its staff. Such solutions would build on a foundation of respect for employees and their collective agreement rights. They would allow YUFA to renew its commitment to a more collective and collaborative workplace for its staff and members, while providing a positive example within the wider labour movement.
When YUFA members face threats and challenges at York University, your staff employees listen to you, validate you, defend you, advocate for you, and empower you. Will you do the same for them now, as they enter the fourth week of a strike to defend their collective agreement and job security? Please consider writing to the YUFA Executive to express your support for your staff and for a compromise that will end this needless strike and restore labour peace. Here is an email template that you can use or adapt (also downloadable in .docx format).
In Solidarity,
CUPE 3903 Executive Committee