02) AN HISTORIC WIN AT YORK UNIVERSITY

By Sam Hammond

            In the previous issue of People’s Voice, we were forced to leave our reporting of the massive TA and GA  strikes at U of T and York Universities in mid-stroke. At our publishing deadline, the spotlight was on the U of T, while negotiators at York, although engaged as we will see, were relatively silent.

           On March 20, about 1600 strikers from U of T voted by a narrow 50-vote majority to put the administration’s latest offer to a ratification vote. The offer was not recommended because the negotiating committee was not unanimous. Over the weekend of voting on March 21-22, the offer was turned down by a narrow majority of 112 votes. Clearly the struggle was polarizing not only the negotiators, but the membership as well. The next offer of accepting binding arbitration was recommended by the negotiating committee, and accepted by a healthy majority on March 26.  The strike was over, but not the struggle. You might safely say that the militant members of CUPE Local 3902 had fought the U of T to a dead heat, a significant accomplishment.

            At York University, where CUPE Local 3903’s 3,700 members walked off the job on March 3 and turned down previous tentative offers, there was a landmark breakthrough that has been described from “significant victory” to “York U capitulation”.

            Directly from the Union’s webpage we quote….

            “The Employer has agreed to tuition offset language, indexed to 2012 rates. This means that if tuition fees for domestic or international students rise above 2012 rates – which are the same as the 2005 rates – the University will increase funding for all in-program and incoming students to offset the tuition fee increase.

            “It also means that the international students will receive increased funding equal to the amount of the recent international student fee increases. In brief, this means the Employer has agreed to the substance of the Union’s tuition indexation proposal.

            “The Employer has agreed to make LGBTQ an employment equity group, and agreed to the Union’s proposal to meet with the Union at the Employment Equity Committee within three months of ratification to begin the implementation process.

            “For Unit 3, the Employer has agreed to increase summer minimum funding from $1,750 to $3,000, in addition to previously agreed-to Graduate Financial Assistance and wage increases. This represents a further increase of $750 over the Employer’s last offer, an increase of over 70 per cent.

            “On the question of the back-to-work protocol, the Employer has agreed to pay all Unit 1 and Unit 3 members 100 per cent back pay for the time on strike.”

            And further from Local 3903, “The last three weeks of our struggles have been an incredible source of energy: undergraduates, other unions on campus, and many social justice organizations have walked the lines with us; our Unit 2 (contract faculty) members have continued to support their Union comrades; the media has started to take seriously the problems in the University sector; our comrades at CUPE 3902 at the University of Toronto marched for four hours between our two campuses in an act of extraordinary solidarity.”

            Solidarity. The essential ingredient, the catalyst of determination. Despite being instructed to resume teaching, some professors in departments such as film, political science, environmental studies, sociology and equity studies had refused to work until all striking workers had a deal.

            The students and their organizations were solid. There was a proliferation of “open letters” of support from faculty and even administrators, and even some fair media coverage.

            What was won at York will certainly be a dilemma for the “impartial” arbitrator at U of T, as the solidarity goes full circle and puts the spotlight back where it began. It is hard to analyze just how profound this victory is. The solidarity that fuelled it was not the stuff of idealistic altruism, but rather a pragmatic reaction to the attack on post-secondary education by the same neo-con agenda that is rapidly dismantling our social services and privatizing everything that moves.

            Part of the newly negotiated York University agreement stipulates that the Union and the University will collaborate on joint submissions on funding to the Ontario government. Why would this be so important as to warrant formal language in a Union agreement?

            From the Globe and Mail of March 12: “Employers and industry groups will be included in negotiations leading to a new funding formula for universities in Ontario, the provincial government announced Thursday… Late last summer, Ontario signed strategic mandate agreements with each of the province’s 44 universities and colleges, deals aimed at focusing each school on its strengths and reducing duplication across the system. Everything, including how tuition is set, will be on the table as part of the funding review, ministry officials said.”

            “Employers and industry groups”, wow! They will now sit at the table and decide on “strengths”, “reducing duplication”, “how tuition is set” and “funding review”.  This is the “lean and mean” doublespeak of austerity, cutbacks and the acceleration of assembly-line training, and research for corporate needs. No wonder academics are alarmed. God forbid there should be extravagant duplication of Tolstoy or Mark Twain when important research on good money-makers like fracking are needed. Gender studies, First Nations' languages, equity? How wasteful.

            Beneath the ivy-clad image of gothic archways and smooth waters of tranquil meditation, there exist the violent undercurrents of struggles for and against the neo-liberal corporate agenda as it penetrates the universities. The struggle for that agenda is expressed in the Globe and Mail quote. The struggle against it is expressed by the unionized TA’s, GA’s, and Contract Faculty, in solidarity with the most progressive academics at all levels, the labour movement, First Nations and social justice groups. 

            Hurrah for CUPE and for this historic win at York University.

(The above article is from the April 16-30, 2015 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)