WATCH ABOVE: Teaching assistants were back on the picket line this morning. A tentative deal was reached last week, but they voted it down by a slim margin. Sean Mallen reports.
TORONTO – University of Toronto teaching assistants remain on strike after members rejected a tentative deal following a ratification vote on the weekend.
The results were revealed early Monday morning with 1101 union members voting against the deal and 992 voting yes. There were four spoiled ballots and 27 rejected ballots.
https://twitter.com/cupe3902/status/579888974027702272
Members of Unit 1, Local 3902 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees had voted by a narrow margin (789 to 739) to send the tentative agreement that was reached on Wednesday to a full ratification vote.
A CUPE news release says the proposed agreement would boost their annual funding package from $15,000 to $17,500, guarantee tuition relief for unfunded PhD and Masters students, and assure the continuity of the current semester.
The U of T teaching assistants began their strike on Feb. 27 and members are being asked to continue picketing.
Teaching assistants are also on strike at York University as hundreds of classes are set to resume Monday.
Graduate students and teaching assistants have been on strike for three weeks demanding higher wages and more job stability.
Mathieu Brule, a teaching assistant and PhD student at York University said the union’s offers amount to approximately 0.5 per cent of the school’s budget. They’re still waiting on the university to respond to the union’s latest offers.
They’re still picketing and say they are dealing with ongoing harassment.
“We did have some tense moments with drivers being particularly aggressive, shouting homophobic and very sexist slurs at us, threatening us, but thankfully there hasn’t been any violence incidents as there had been in the past,” he said.
Contract course teachers were also on strike, but returned to work after agreeing to a new deal.
The university’s senate is expected meet tomorrow to discuss resuming more courses during the labour dispute.
With files from The Canadian Press
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