College

U of T strike averted

CUPE 3902 and U of T have a tentative agreement

For those who have been following the possible strike situation at U of T, it seems that late last night (or very early this morning) the two sides came to some understanding. Like any such agreement it still needs to be ratified by the union membership. But in any typical bargaining situation once an agreement has the support of the bargaining team it’s pretty much a done deal. There’s no reason to imagine this situation is exceptional.

So CUPE 3902 maintains its very admirable record of avoiding strikes even when there is a mandate to have one. U of T surely deserves some credit here as well. As a rule, I’d suggest, it takes two reasonable bargaining efforts to avert a strike and only one unreasonable bargaining position to create one, so kudos to both sides. And I’ll admit I was wrong. Despite my gutcheck sense that this one might go all the way they pulled it out of the fire.

Questions are welcome at [email protected]. Even the ones I don’t post will still receive answers, and where I do use them here I’ll remove identifying information.