1 of 3 groups of York University contract workers to head back to work after accepting offer

TORONTO – One of three groups of York University contract workers that walked off the job more than three months ago has voted to accept the school’s latest offer.

The Toronto university says members of CUPE 3903 Unit 2 are to return to work Monday, but classes will not resume immediately, adding that details will go out to students as soon as possible.

The union says the strike will end for more than 1,000 course directors as well as some teaching assistants and instructors who are not full-time graduate students.

But it says members of two other units that represent 2,000 other teaching and graduate assistants will remain on the picket line of the 15-week strike.

The university says it wants the bargaining teams for the remaining striking workers to consider taking the offer to allow all students to complete their term.

The strike, which began March 5, saw contract faculty, graduate teaching and research assistants walk off the job over wages and job security.

“Units 1 and 3 have been on strike for fifteen weeks because we cannot accept precarious work and the decline of academic integrity at York, and in all Ontario universities,” CUPE 3903 chairman Devin Lefebvre said in a news release Friday.

“We will continue to work toward a fair contract.”

The Liberal government under outgoing premier Kathleen Wynne introduced back-to-work legislation in May days before the Ontario election campaign began, but the bill did not pass.

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