After five days of strike action, contract workers at St. Michael’s College have reached a tentative agreement with the university.
“We are pleased to announce that early this morning, after a long session of mediation yesterday, USMC reached a tentative first collective agreement with CUPE 3902, Unit 4,” read a press release issued last Thursday.
WYATT CLOUGH/THE VARSITY
The tentative agreement was reached Thursday at nearly 2 am. Contract workers, teaching assistants, and continuing education instructors, organized as CUPE 3902 Unit 4, returned immediately to teaching, marking, and other duties. The strike, which began the Friday prior, had impacted undergraduate studies in departments such as Book and Media Studies and Celtic Studies. The agreement was ratified unanimously the following day.
“We’re very pleased to say that we have successfully negotiated a first collective agreement that is fair to our members, fair to St. Mike’s, and strengthens quality post-secondary education,” said Tadhg Morris, a member of Unit 4’s bargaining team and a Celtic Studies instructor at St. Mike’s.
The primary issue relating to the strike had been job security. Under the previous system, instructors were required to re-apply for their position at the end of every year, no matter how long they had been teaching.
“If you’ve been teaching the same course for years, it doesn’t make sense that you have to constantly re-apply as if it is a new position. We want a situation where the course you previously taught you can teach again. Then, if you refuse, it goes to a seniority process where the next person in line, with a certain amount of hours, gets the position,” said Bader in an interview with The Varsity last week.
Gains in the collective agreement include consistent hiring language, hiring criteria, and paid training where necessary. The agreements, bargaining members say, have met the primary goals of the union, formalizing the hiring process of contract workers.
“The bargaining team was creative and we were able to break the impasse and achieve a fair settlement, without any intervention from the province,” said Abe Nasirzadeh, chair of CUPE 3902.
The provisions of the agreement will be implemented starting July 1, 2012 and will be in place until June 30, 2014. The agreement implemented for the next two years has given union members faith in the efficient system of bargaining.
“I think we’ve demonstrated — not just to St. Mike’s and the University of Toronto, but also to the provincial government and others who are trying to interfere with free collective bargaining — that the system works. More to the point, the system works best when employers and employees sit down and negotiate agreements free of interference and the threat of legislation,” said Nasirzadeh.
