TORONTO – The Ontario government has launched a commission to look into a contract faculty strike at Toronto’s York University that has left tens of thousands students out of class for more than a month.
Labour Minister Kevin Flynn says an industrial inquiry commission will examine the remaining issues in the dispute and report on any steps that can be taken to address them.
More than 3,000 York graduate teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate research assistants walked off the job March 5 in a dispute over wages and job security.
All three bargaining units of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 3903 rejected the university’s latest offer in what the union called a “forced ratification vote” earlier this month.
READ MORE: Striking York University contract staff begin voting Friday on latest offer
The university this week called for binding arbitration, but the union refused, saying it wanted to negotiate a deal and move to arbitration only as a last resort.
York has argued the two sides have reached an impasse and that they are, in fact, at the point of last resort.