Collective Bargaining Update – August 24

Employees who are members of the CAW, Local 555 Unit 1 bargaining unit will have the opportunity to vote directly on whether they accept or reject the University's Final Offer that was tabled last week.

A message from the University's bargaining team said, “The University continues to respect that CAW is the bargaining agent for staff at the University but despite 21 days of bargaining, we have not been able to reach a new agreement. We believe that it is in everyone's best interest, especially our students, that we reach a timely conclusion to this round of bargaining so we tabled our Final Offer to Settle with the union on August 20.

Since then, we have continued to hear concerns that the September 1st strike date that was chosen by the union was fast approaching. We have once again reviewed our options and have decided to file an application with the Ministry of Labour for a Final Offer Vote.” (The full text of the bargaining team message can be found here.)

A Final Offer vote is supervised by the Ministry of Labour through the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB). It is a secret ballot. A Frequently Asked Questions document on final offer votes is available here.

The details of the vote have not yet been determined but should be announced by the OLRB within the next few days.

The memo from the University's bargaining team also said that they, “will be available to meet with the union at anytime as we move towards the scheduled August 31 bargaining date to help to clarify any questions or address any issues the union may have.”

CAW, Local 555 Unit 1 represents about 2200 support and technical staff that provide services in areas across the University. Additional information on labour relations is available here.