Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3902, Unit 1 voted to ratify the tentative agreement struck up between the union’s bargaining team and the university’s senior administration.
In an email released to union members, Megan Harris, Unit 1 Vice-Chair, wrote that more than 1,100 members voted in the ratification process, and of that number, 86.1 per cent voted in favour of the tentative agreement.
This past week, over 1100 @cupe3902 members voted to ratify their tentative agreement. 86.1% votes in favour of the tentative agreement. #UofT #WeAreUofT #UofTCampusTour2018 #WeAreUnit1 #onlab #highered #CUPE3902 pic.twitter.com/ypvHWp0i6t
— QPUofT (@QPUofT) February 16, 2018
Unit 1 represents more than 7,000 academic employees who work at U of T, including teaching assistants, student and postdoctoral course instructors, and exam invigilators at all three campuses. Roughly 15.7 percent of the unit’s membership voted in the ratification process.
The tentative agreement was reached on February 9 after more than five months of negotiations, largely concerning the graduate funding package, which the union wanted to increase from the current $15,000 to $20,000 over the next two years, ending in 2020.
The copy of the agreement is unavailable to non-members of the union during the voting process, according to Aleks Ivovic, Chief Spokesperson of the unit’s bargaining team.
The Varsity has reached out to CUPE 3902, Unit 1 for comment.
