Negotiations between incoming, outgoing unions were previously rocky
The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) and the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) reached an agreement for the transfer of staff and services to the incoming UOSU. The two unions announced the move in a public email statement on March 5.
The development follows allegations that the SFUO laid off employees and began liquidating assets, following a breakdown in negotiations with the UOSU.
The UOSU has agreed to begin negotiations with CUPE 4943—the union representing SFUO employees— and begin a ‘recall process’, allowing employees to resume their current positions under the new student union. However, the UOSU’s available funding is still to be determined. The fate of services run by the outgoing SFUO and the levies that fund them will be voted on in a student referendum.
All non-essential levies will still be subject to the Ford government’s Student Choice Initiative, and students will be allowed to opt out of these fees on request. Services that fail to pass a referendum vote cannot request levies at all and would need to find alternative funding, or risk dissolving entirely.
