As The Strike Continues, So Does York’s Unhappy Holiday (Part 1)

“Deep in the heart of the York U jungle
You can hear the unions rumble
Ooooh Ooooh
Strike U! Strike U”

-Graffiti written on a scaffolding wall during the construction of the (now completed) William Small Commons Parking Structure, 2001. The writing is a play on the “fight chant” at the time for York’s varsity teams (then known as the Yeomen), with the original’s “yeomen” being replaced with “union” and “York” with “Strike”.

Perhaps I was one of the lucky ones to have completed my undergraduate studies at York University when I did. I studied History from September 2001 to April 2006, starting my studies less than a year after the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 3903, representing the University’s Teaching and Graduate Assistants as well as “contract” (i.e., non-tenured) faculty, brought York to a standstill for 78 days. Classes had to be extended well into May just to complete the semester, severely cutting into summers students so desperately needed to work in order to pay for their studies. CUPE 3903 threatened to strike twice more when I was studying, in October 2002 and again in 2005, with deals only being reached at the 11th hour. However, the volatility of the situation meant midnight was going to strike sooner rather than later, which it did on November 6, 2008. Then, the over 3,000 members of CUPE 3903 walked off the job after negotiations again broke down with the University, with no resolution in sight after 44 days of striking. Instead, what is happening is both sides are attacking each other and blaming the other side for holding up negotiations, hoping the other side cracks so they can begin talking again. This dangerous game of chicken might work at General Motors when there’s no third party in play, but here there is, as both sides’ selfish war of attrition is needlessly inconveniencing the year of York’s students who are supposed to be the most important part of the University.

On the union side, ostensibly, there are two central issues at play in the strike- wages (surprise, surprise) and job security for contract (i.e., “non-tenured”) faculty. I won’t take a lot of time to comment on the demands, except to say that neither side has it right. With regards to wages, CUPE is hoping for an effective raise of anywhere between 22%-47%, expecting York to raise their already exorbitant salaries so they can be in line with the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) in Toronto (roughly $23,000 a year). There’s nothing wrong with wanting income to get to COLA, but TA’s already get $36/hr. for 10 hours a week and, despite CUPE’s many pleas to the contrary, nothing stops them from getting outside work (it’s just not preferred, but then again it’s preferred that undergraduates don’t get outside work either and we all know that’s not possible for many of them). Conversely, York has it wrong on the contract faculty issue, as York refuses to allow long-time contract faculty to get tenured positions. The reasons are monetary, but if a professor keeps on receiving new contracts from the University, isn’t it clear that York should just keep them around forever anyway?

However, neither of those two issues are the primary reasons why both are still miles apart from a deal (and the bargaining table, it seems). The real issue is 2010. That’s the year CUPE is hoping all of its locals will have contracts ending so they can have a “co-ordinated” bargaining session with not just the universities but also the province. The goal is to orient the university TA’s in much the same manner as the elementary and secondary school teacher unions in Ontario having, in effect, one province-wide union. Thus, CUPE 3903 is demanding a two-year deal to ensure that they will have a seat at the province-wide bargaining with their brethren, while York is countering with a three-year settlement.

Amidst the knowledge of the length of this strike and the one in 2000, there is some justified fear that a lengthy province-wide shutdown will occur in a year and a half (which may be why York wants its deal to expire after 2010). Five schools already have contracts expiring in 2010- Ryerson, McMaster, Ottawa, Windsor and Brock- and four other schools (including York) are in bargaining in the hopes of getting a 2010 expiry. CUPE’s responses to the fears is that they’re going to use the opportunity to push for gains for all students, including undergrads. However, aside from a scant mention of a tuition freeze (but only if CUPE manage tuition protection for themselves), there’s little in the Ontario University Workers Co-ordinating Committee Action Plan document that speaks directly to undergrad needs, and a lot that speaks to CUPE members’ needs (to see the document itself, go here http://www.cupe.on.ca/aux_file.php?aux_file_id=870).

What you will see in the Action Plan- if you go to Page 8 of the section “Projects to Improve the Bargaining Committee” you’ll see an entire page devoted to the propaganda campaign they’ll unleash onto the unsuspecting student bodies of the universities. There, CUPE explains they’ll hold barbecues, pub nights, “exam de-stressors” and other student events to make them appear that they’re a student-friendly organization. However, there’s nothing honest about that intention, since CUPE is only going to be friendly to ensure that students don’t rally against them in the event of a strike. There’s only one word to describe an action like that: “sickening”. Just like this strike the students will be used as pawns, and there’s nothing “student-friendly” about that.

Of course, it’s not like York University can have a pass from criticism either. This is an institution that has been insalubrious ever since I stepped foot on the (faux) hallowed grounds of the Keele Campus that September day. It’s so bad that my brother and I often joked about York that it was “the University that taught logic but never used it”. Some of those examples are merely comical, such as York’s decisions to close underground passageways at night (when it is the coldest) or entirely; or York’s decision to design the school (reportedly) after a campus in Arizona (hence all the wind tunnels, which make sense in the searing desert heat but never in the dead of Canadian winter). Other examples are simply disturbing, such as the fact the only weapons of defence that York Security has are notepads (I know Voltaire once said “the pen is mightier than the sword” but I doubt *that* is what he meant) or the inexcusable decision by then York President Lorna Marsden to suspend Daniel Freeman-Maloy for three years simply because he used a megaphone. More recently, the University sat idly as reports of sexual assaults grew on campus, culminating in a disturbing “residence room invasion” and a creeper on campus during the last academic year.

So it’s no surprise that the “Tweedledee and Tweedledum” administration bungled the negotiation process here as well, despite also having noble intentions. On top of rejecting the entirely reasonable demand by CUPE that contract faculty have somewhat better job security, York’s many missteps have been calling for binding arbitration right from the start (as opposed to having fruitful negotiations) and “negotiating through the media”, providing a strawman version of CUPE’s demands to the press in the hopes of simply winning the Public Relations battle. The worst part is that the President of York, Mamdouh Shoukri, has been visibly absent throughout the whole ordeal, as if he thinks that not addressing the problem will make it go away. That sure isn’t a trait I’d want in my leader.

York’s Remediation Plan- released on December 18- also does not offer much hope for a quick settlement. Assignment due dates and/or exams cannot be scheduled (or rescheduled) until the course has had at least its second class after the strike ends, but that’s as much relief that students will get. The plan calls for a “maximum” (not minimum) 2.5 weeks of class time to make up for the remaining month that was left of the Fall semester and exams to be scheduled over 12 days. Allowing further compression is the ability for York to schedule classes on “virtual” days, meaning, for example, if a class normally meets only once a week it could meet another day of the week to fit its second class in. The real kicker is a provision calling for a Winter Semester to be no longer than 55 days (11 weeks of Monday-Friday classes), with an exam schedule that is also just a dozen days.

Doing the math, this provides a “best possible” end (including exams) to the 2008/09 year on May 8, if an agreement is reached right on January 5 (when York reopens from the Christmas break). This would allow a “normal” 13-week Summer schedule but there’s no reason why York wouldn’t shorten that either. The 2001 strike ended in mid-January, so if this strike also ends then (which I’ll place at January 16), the end of the Winter term (allowing it to start on a Monday) comes on May 22, necessitating the shortening of Summer by a week. To run two straight semesters of 55 days and a dozen day long exam period, the strike would need to be resolved no later than January 26. However, don’t forget that York’s Plan stated the last round of Fall classes would take place over a “maximum” of 2.5 weeks, not a minimum. Allowing for York’s “virtual day” provision, presumably classes could be held over just a week for a two-week exam period coupled with a 55-day Winter and Summer terms, meaning the latest date for the strike would be February 6 (so that the final “Fall week” could be on February 9 with exams on February 16-27). Based on the math, at the very least it’s hard to suggest that York would be willing to negotiate meaningfully until late January- if it doesn’t subvert the process by bringing in a “forced ratification vote”, the government (or both) first.

Those are the issues surrounding the strike. Tomorrow I will highlight what needs to be done to resolve this strike and ensure that this problem doesn’t happen again.

-DG