A tentative agreement has been made between the labor union that represents teachers, teaching assistants, and graduate assistants, and York University.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3903 shared in an online update that the university submitted its final proposal to the union on Sunday evening.
Approximately 3,000 academic workers, responsible for teaching over half of the university's classes, went on strike on February 26th due to failed negotiations with the university.
The union stated that the proposal included some significant improvements, such as a 0.25 percent increase in the second year of the retroactive wage period, an enhancement to Graduate Financial Assistance, and a guarantee of at least 90 percent remediation pay upon completing contracts for the winter 2024 term.
At the peak of the strike, the union stated that the university had not yet resolved the issue caused by Bill 124.
The law set a limit on how much public workers could be paid, restricting their salary increases to one percent annually for three years. The province later removed this law after it was deemed unconstitutional.
The union mentioned that although they didn't achieve all their desired outcomes in the recent bargaining round, they were pleased with some significant gains made in the deal. They considered the deal to be the best possible result given the circumstances and believed it was worth endorsing.
The final salary increases over the six-year period of Bill 124 from 2020 to 2023 and the subsequent collective agreement renewal from 2023 to 2026 are lower than what was hoped for and what the members truly deserve. However, at 14.8% (or 17.8% if we include the 1% per year earned during the Bill 124 period), these increases are leading in the sector, which is still an accomplishment.
The union will conduct the vote for approval this week during a meeting with its members.
Earlier in the current month, students who were impacted by the strike requested refunds for their tuition fees. A petition endorsed by close to 5,000 students stated that the strike had a significant adverse effect on their academic experience.
York University experienced a strike in 2018 that lasted nearly five months before the government intervened to send workers back to work.
Information in this report was contributed by Shauna Hunt of CityNews.
