Retrospective: Great York University Strikes

1978
The York University Staff Association (YUSA), made up of 1,000 secretarial workers and library technicians, prepares to strike in the fall of 1978; they’re worried about administration contracting out their jobs, as well as the notion new technological advanc- es may make some of their work ‘obsolete.’ They also ask for a 10-percent wage increase, where the university offers four percent.
Then, on Monday, Sept. 18, 1978, YUSA walks off the job, forcing campus bookstores, postal offices and libraries to close. They see support from almost every university union and student council; even Toronto police offer picketers tips on “how to keep things running smoothly.”
Students staged a sit-in in the office of then-president Hugh Ian MacDonald, and pooled together for a 700-person rally in Curtis Lecture Halls, protesting the strike. When the main bookstore is re-opened using non-union workers Sept. 21, students protest and the store is closed.
On Oct. 5, 1978, the two-week long strike is ended as both sides agree to 7.2-percent wage-and-benefits increase.
1997

On March 20, 1997, the York University Faculty Association (YUFA) walk off the job after the administration remove articles dealing with retirement from their collective agreement.
The administration offers them an eight percent base wage increase, but YUFA ask for five percent more and smaller class sizes. Most classes, meanwhile, are cancelled, and the libraries closed; students are not penalized for missing classes.
On April 2, the administration and YUFA meet in a YFS-sponsored forum in the Student Centre Underground. Some students criticize the YFS for marching the picket lines.
The focus turns from retirement and class sizes to wage inequalities when late in the strike YUFA members realize female faculty earned an average of $13,500 less per year than male faculty – their new slogan becomes “Equity Now.”
A number of their demands are met, and, after 54 days, the strike ends, May 13, 1997.

2001

In Sept. 2000, CUPE 3903 storm into then-president Lorna Marsden’s office insisting she resume contract talks since the negotiations that usually take place in late summer were cancelled – the union wants a five percent wage increase, the admin offers one percent.
Talks are fruitless. The strike begins Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000, and students are given the option of attending classes or skipping them without academic penalty.
The numbers debated by CUPE 3903 Unit One and the administration draw closer, but a gap remains; Unit Two demands better job security. In a show of support, students also rush the administration’s offices.
CUPE 3903 picketers are forced off York property by Toronto police Nov. 8 after the university says they’re failing to comply with picket protocol. The YFS host a discussion about the strike, but when admin fail to attend, they fill Marsden’s spot on the panel with a six-foot papier-ma?che? replica of Marsden’s head.
After 11 weeks, the strike ends Jan. 11. Two weeks later, students demand tuition refunds.

2008
Stalled negotiations over a new contract press CUPE 3903, representing over 3,200 aTAs and contract faculty, to hold a strike mandate vote October 2008. The union has gotten by on a work-to-rule basis since the previous October.
CUPE 3903 asks for a 3.6-per- cent wage increase geared to inflation and cost-of-living; smaller classes sizes and whistle-blower protection are also at issue. The admin believe CUPE 3903’s terms are unreasonable, and that they want a strike.
In late October, talk of a CUPE 1356 strike – of custodial and maintenance staff – also arise. The YFS makes clear their support for CUPE 3903.
By the end of October, admin confirms a Nov. 6 strike would see classes cancelled.
On Nov. 4, CUPE 1356 settles, avoiding a stike. But, two days later, CUPE 3903 walks off the job.
After a week, student support for CUPE 3903 is apparent, and the union dismisses the admin’s 9.25-percent over-three-years wage increase offer.
Two weeks in, a student group opposed to the YFS support of CUPE 3903 aims to remove then YFS pres Hamid Osman from office; talks break down between the union and admin; and students rally for both to end the strike, even if binding arbitration is necessary.
The strike stretches on through the winter break; in January 2009, premier Dalton McGuinty recalls the Ontario legislature so back-to- work legislation can be enacted. On Jan. 26, 5,000 students from At- kinson and Schulich resume classes; the YFS starts a petition asking president Mamdouh Shoukri for a tuition refund. The next day four CUPE 3903 members are arrested in a rally at Queen’s Park, and law firm Juroviesky and Ricci LLP file a class action suit against York on behalf of students.
On Feb. 2, 2009, back-to-work legislation is enforced and students resume classes. On Feb. 11, the university gives the students the option of dropping courses and re-enrolling for the new semester at no cost. On April 7, 2009, the administration and CUPE 3903 reach a tentative settlement.
The strike had gone on for 88 days, the longest in the history of any Canadian educational institution.