TORONTO – Two of three bargaining units representing teaching assistants at York University have rejected a tentative agreement reached last Friday night.
CUPE Local 3903 says one unit voted 59 per cent against and another voted 77 per cent to turn down the agreement and that both units remain on strike. Those units also represent graduate and research assistants.
However, a third unit of Local 3903 representing contract faculty at the Toronto university voted 65 per cent to accept the agreement.
York said it is now reviewing plans to allow as many students as possible to return to class in order to complete their terms. But the school said in a statement that for Tuesday at least, classes previously suspended remain so.
The university said it will be in contact with the provincial mediator to discuss the next steps in negotiations with the units that rejected the agreement.
Local 3903 chairman Faiz Ahmed said the local’s executive and bargaining team will try to schedule a meeting to map out their next steps. He said they hope to resume bargaining with York University quickly.
York had cancelled classes last Tuesday for 40,000 students after the 3,700 teaching assistants set up picket lines,
Nearly 1,300 members took part in Monday’s vote on the agreement reached with the assistance of a provincial mediator.
CUPE says about two-thirds of undergraduate courses at the universities are taught by non-tenured staff who are paid about $15,000 a year.
About 6,000 teaching assistants at the University of Toronto walked off the job last Monday after rejecting an offer, but most classes at U-of-T have not been cancelled.
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