5,000 U of T part-time staffers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), including teaching assistants and student instructors, are in contract negotiations with U of T. At issue, said union representatives, are job security and transparency in hiring practices.

“The protection of rights, and the transparency of hiring processes does not exist,” said Colman Hogan, a spokesperson for the Sessionals’ Bargaining Committee at CUPE local 3902. Hogan said that U of T’s manual on hiring and posting of teaching positions is vague, and the union wants it clarified. “We want to at least make this in the wording of documents,” he said.

Colman said that fuzzy language is the problem. Phrases like “teaching excellence” are cited in the manual as criteria for selecting candidates, yet gives no definition of what this entails. CUPE argues that this has led to arbitrary hiring practices.

Wages and benefits for part-time instructors are also on the table.

“On average, between OISE, York, and Ryerson, sessional staff is paid $6300 for a half course,” said Hogan. “At U of T they are paid $5000 for a half course. [CUPE] could come to the table demanding wage parity with York who pays the highest right now at $6500, but what we are arguing is to be recognized as lecturers who exist. Most [part-time faculty] are not treated that way. If we were treated as lecturers, we would then fall in to a pay scale equivalent to a lecturer position. Teaching four courses would get $50,000, and we would get a pro rate percentage, which would equal $68,000 for the year.”

Since their first bargaining session last Thursday, Hogan said there has been little progress. “They [U of T] are not tabling wages and benefits right now,” he said, and added that the university is offering “less protection on discrimination and harassment than they had already agreed to give teaching assistants previously.”

Angela Hildyard, VP of Human Resources at U of T, only said “It would be inappropriate for me to make any comments at all, [because] the University does not want to bargain through the press.”

Both parties are preparing to head back to the bargaining tables this week.