Union will organize strike if needed
After their April rally earlier this year, CUPE 2626, the union representing teaching assistants, tutors, residence life workers, and other employees at the University of Ottawa, is planning to pressure the Labor Relations Board of the U of O to reach a new settlement.
On Aug. 31, 2022, the union’s agreement with U of O, which covered issues such as tuition increases, scholarships, and graduate funding, expired. Since the agreement’s expiry, representatives from CUPE 2626 and U of O have met 11 times and exchanged six packages, but have not signed any proposals.
The impasse has caused the union frustration with what Catherine Larocque, CUPE 2626 president and Ph.D. nursing student, describe as U of O’s “clearly predatory financial priorities.”
The deadlock led to both parties moving their meetings online via Zoom, with a mediator relaying information between two separate breakout rooms.
“Quite frankly, the two last sessions have been extremely frustrating,” Larocque said in an interview with the Fulcrum. “Our priorities are not being discussed and the employer is really kind of taking control of the process.”
According to Larocque, U of O has proposed removing graduate students’ winter break, which CUPE 2626 has consistently opposed. As of September 1, this is U of O’s “most important proposal.” The negotiations have stalled in the nonmonetary stage, which includes CUPE 2626’s agenda of adding a land acknowledgement to their collective agreement with U of O and adding Indigenous identity as a protected ground against harassment.
“It’s been a year [since the agreement expired] and we still haven’t gotten to the money,” said Emily Kotow, the liaison officer for CUPE 2626 and a Ph.D. philosophy student. “We haven’t even talked about freezing tuition for all students, equalizing international tuition, increasing TA hours, and all our other priorities. It’s wild.”
CUPE 2626 will be hosting ice cream social on September 6 at the UCU terrace and a rally on September 26 at 3:30 PM on Tabaret lawn under the slogan “WTF: Where’s the funding.” The slogan aims to highlight the contrast between the university’s budget cuts and their increased spending on administrator’s salaries. Larocque cited the $443,142 salary of U of O Dean Bernard Jasmin, which is the highest university or college staff salary in the Ottawa area.
The union is also drafting a petition which will include topics of tuition freezes and graduate student salaries. In October, CUPE 2626 plans to mobilize: gathering signatures on the petition, making phone calls to unions on campus and strengthening its ties to U of O’s graduate associations. Additionally, Larocque says the union may plan a one-day walkout of all students in November.
Through the rest of the semester, Larocque believes CUPE 2626 will put pressure on U of O through bargaining, rallying, petitioning, and growing links within the community.
There is no deadline by which the U of O Labor Relations Board must sign an agreement with CUPE 2626. If negotiations continue to fall short of a signed proposal, the union will file for conciliation with the Ministry of Labor, which means an arbitrator from the province would mediate the two parties’ discussion. If they do not reach an agreement, CUPE 2626 is prepared to organize a strike.
“Of course, a strike is the last resort,” Larocque said. “But we’re preparing ourselves for any eventuality. And if that means we continue to not make any progress and we get to that stage, we want to have the capacity built that would allow us to have a successful strike.”
