All Posts Tagged With: "York University Strike 2009"
York union backtracks on back-to-work lawsuit
Won’t challenge McGuinty government in court
In an abrupt change of tone, the union representing striking teaching assistants and contract faculty at York University has declared it will not challenge a forthcoming back-to-work order from the provincial government.
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, CUPE 3903 spokesperson Tyler Shipley said the local union has decided “not to pursue a legal challenge to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s back-to-work legislation at this time.”
“Our members have shown tremendous determination, but they are tired of waiting for York to take the process seriously,” said Shipley. “It is time for someone to take responsibility for getting campus life back to normal.”
More from CUPE 3903′s release:
The Liberal government should not imagine that back-to-work legislation resolves any of the key issues in the strike, particularly the reliance of universities on underpaid, contingent workers to do most classroom teaching.
“Our concerns are not going away, they are systemic and go well beyond the York campus,” noted Shipley, adding that the local will continue to address the trend to insecure teaching jobs, the need for minimum funding guarantees for graduate students, and the value of coordinated bargaining through other channels.
“These issues are still alive at York and across the province. We’ll be working with our sister locals to make sure they are addressed in ways that protect the interests of workers, students and hardworking parents who are being asked to shell out more tuition fees every year,” said [CUPE 3903 Chair Christina] Rousseau. “Unless administrators change their priorities and the Ontario government invests in our universities, they should brace themselves for more job actions in the coming years.”
Calls grow for back-to-work order in York strike
Toronto newspapers blame union for impasse, urge McGuinty government to step in
Montreal mayor Camillien Houde said that to lead people, you first had to know where they were going.
If the editorial boards of Toronto’s newspapers are any indication, public opinion—centre, left and right—has run out of patience, and wants an immediate end to the strike by teaching assistants, research assistants and sessional lecturers at York. Canada’s third-largest university has been shut down since November.
This morning, all four Toronto dailies called for the government to pass back-to-work legislation. The editorials sometimes invoked common images—metaphors like “held hostage;” reminders that a premier who called himself “the education premier” should be troubled by the inability of 50,000 university students to get an education—but there were subtle differences in the way each argued the case for government intervention, as well as whom they blamed for the impasse.
According to the Sun (headline: “McGuinty fiddles while York burns”), York students are victims of a “fraud”, which it says “has been perpetrated by labour and management at York, aided yesterday by Premier Dalton McGuinty.”
“It’s fraud because students are not getting the education they were promised and for which they paid, in advance, in good faith.” The Sun called on the government to “recall the legislature and pass back-to-work legislation.”
The Globe and Mail, surprisingly, delivers an editorial that is a blistering screed against the union. Whereas the Sun said students were victims of a fraud perpetrated by both sides, The Globe opens its editorial with the following: “In the midst of a recession, tens of thousands of young people looking to further their education are being held hostage by the country’s most well-paid teaching assistants, who are unwilling to accept a pay increase beyond what most workers expect in the current climate. The interests of organized labour have overtaken those of students. York University has now been shut down for 11 weeks only because of the needs of striking teaching assistants, graduate assistants and contract workers.”
The Globe says that “the university’s initial offer of a 9.25 per cent pay hike over three years was reasonable; its revised offer, which tacked on additional benefits and wages, was better.” The Globe also notes that the union is trying to strengthen its hand in the future by pushing for a two-year deal (instead of past three year deals) that would expire in 2010, at the same time as many other collective bargaining agreements. “That strategy,” writes the Globe, “should be an incentive to Dalton McGuinty, the Ontario Premier, to draw his own line in the sand. Forced to wade into the dispute this week after months of steering clear, Mr. McGuinty appointed mediator Reg Pearson to “bang a few heads together.” But the time for mediation is over. To discourage CUPE from shutting down more campuses when it can, the Premier should heed the Opposition’s calls to promptly legislate an end to the strike.”
Back-to-work legislation for York? Don’t hold your breath
It’s awfully quiet at Queen’s Park
This morning I awoke to lots of chatter about the possibility that the Ontario government will recall the provincial legislature in order to pass back-to-work legislation designed to get York students back into their classrooms.
Apparently, CUPE sent out a message last night to its members saying they’ve heard from a “Queen’s Park leak” who says “the Liberals are preparing the legislation” to order them back to work and is preparing to recall the legislature to pass a back-to-work order.
At this time, CUPE has not put forth any public statements that include this information, though it has already publicly called for supporters to mobilize against back-to-work legislation.
CityNews Video: York students lose the most in strike standoff
Read Facebook discussion on the York University Anti-Strike group
So what’s going on at Queen’s Park? Nada, apparently. The legislature is not scheduled to return until February 17, and my sources at Queen’s Park say they’ve heard nothing about an early recall. Apparently nothing has changed since the legislature left for its winter recess in mid-December. And no recall of the legislature means no back-to-work order anytime soon.
This is politics, and the government must factor in political considerations. It will take a minimum of 24 hours to recall the legislature and will take the better part of a week (if not longer) of sitting in the house to pass back-to-work legislation, which will also face opposition from the NDP.
While the legislature is in session, the government will have to face Question Period and the press gallery every day. The questions posed to them will be simple and uncomfortable. The toughest question: If it was going to act, why did the government wait until now, instead of acting a month ago?
No government wants to put itself in that position.
CUPE’s statement is designed to mobilize its members to counter growing public sentiment in favour of government action. CUPE is correct in stating the government is preparing legislation. It would be irresponsible of the government to not have legislation prepared.
But tabling that legislation? Recalling the house? Doing it all in the next few days or even weeks? Unlikely. Preparation isn’t the same as action, something CUPE likes to point out about its 2010 plan.
Video: York students lose the most in strike standoff
Union and admin urged to act “responsibly” as summer job offers are revoked
According to Lydon Coopman, spokesperson for the anti-strike group York Not Hostage, many students are already starting to lose summer job offers due to the months-long strike by teaching faculty and graduate students at York University.
Speaking to CityNews today, he says the ongoing lockout will definitely prolong the school year, and that students will be the ultimate losers. The group is urging both the union and the university administration to act “responsibly”.
