2008–09 York University strike

2008 York University strike
A CUPE 3903 picketer is arrested during a protest against back to work legislation on January 26th, 2009. It was one of the final sizable protests before the end of the strike
Date 2008-2009 (128 days)
Location Toronto
Caused by Contract expiry
Methods
Status Settled
Parties to the civil conflict
CUPE Local 3903
Lead figures
Casualties
Arrested 1

The 2008–09 York University strike was a strike by CUPE Local 3903, the union representing contract professors, teaching assistants, and graduate assistants at York University.[1]

The strike

The strike began on November 6, 2008 and concluded on January 29, 2009 when the provincial parliament legislated the union back to work. The strike lasted for 85 days, making it the longest academic strike in English-speaking Canada to that time, only surpassed by the subsequent 2018 York University strike.[2][3] 5000 students, including the Schulich School of Business and the Osgoode Hall Law School, were able to return to school a week prior to the end of the strike due to a deal struck by the union and the university. Much of the criticism focused on CUPE 3093 and York University President Mamdouh Shoukri's poor handling of the dispute.[4]

The Union went on strike due to a variety of institutional grievances, including job security for contract professors, elimination of the Non-Academic Student Code of Conduct, creation of whistleblower protection, and fund indexation. On January 20, 2009, CUPE 3903 defeated a forced ratification vote that would have ended the strike. On January 24, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty announced a rare Sunday recall of the provincial legislature in order to pass back-to-work legislation mandating an immediate end to the strike.[5] On January 29, the York University Labour Disputes Resolution Act was passed in the provincial parliament on a count of 42–8 ending the strike.[6]

Past labour disruptions at York University

York University has a history of faculty and teaching assistant strikes. In 1997, there was a faculty strike by YUFA[7] that lasted seven weeks. At the time, this was the second longest strike in Canadian University history.[8]

Key issues in the strike included retirement, funding, and institutional governance. In 2001, teaching assistants and contract faculty went on strike for 11 weeks, when the university broke its own record.[9] The central issue in the 2001 disruption was the administration's proposed attempts to remove tuition indexation language.

Future labour disruptions at York University

Members of CUPE 3903 held further strikes in 2015[10] and 2018 at York University after failing to reach an agreement with the university.[11]

See Also

References

  1. ↑ http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/11/05/205958.aspx. Retrieved 2009-02-06. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "York University on strike: Why it keeps happening again and again". Macleans.
  3. ↑ "York University beats its own strike record, divides Ontario Liberals, NDP". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail.
  4. ↑ Louise Brown (January 30, 2009). "York U. president denies he was M.I.A." Toronto Star.
  5. ↑ "Ontario to legislate end to York University strike", CBC News, January 24, 2009.
  6. ↑ "York University Labour Disputes Resolution Act, 2009, S.O. 2009, c. 1". Province of Ontario. January 29, 2009.
  7. ↑ "yufa.org". yufa.org. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
  8. ↑ Ripley, Louise (20 March 2007). "March 1997 YUFA On the Picket Lines". YUFA. Archived from the original on 4 July 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  9. ↑ Brown, Louise (November 7, 2008). "Strike brings York to standstill". The Star. Toronto.
  10. ↑ Louise Brown (March 31, 2015). "York University strike over; all classes/tutorials resume Wednesday". Toronto Star.
  11. ↑ Matt Dione (March 7, 2018). "York university strike: Confusion on campus". MacLean's.
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