Thursday, October 29th 2009

By selma al-samarrai

The looming potential of a CUPE 3906 Unit 1 strike is prompting preparation by the University administration and the union, as the union moves into a legal strike position on Oct. 31.

Andrea Farquhar, director of public and government relations, explained that the University Administration has been taking contingency measures to prepare for the potential strike, “We’ve been working on continuity planning since last spring for a number of possible disruptions, CAW negotiations, post-doctoral fellow negotiations, H1N1 pandemic and CUPE negotiations so our preparations are for any of these… For CUPE [3906] we’re trying to ensure with faculty members what their roles are, what they need to think about and all of those sort of things to make sure they’re prepared to communicate with students. I think it’s really incumbent on the University to ensure they’re prepared and unfortunately when you’re in labour talks you need to be prepared for possibility of a strike.”

A small protest held by the Undergraduate Support Committee on the afternoon of Wed. Oct. 28 was aimed at the purpose of criticizing the University Administration’s manner of handling the negotiations with the CUPE 3906 union.

Alexander Ramirez, a protest participant and a third year Political Science and Labour studies student who established the Undergraduate Support Committee alongside other Labour Studies students explained, “The majority of students have no idea what’s going on, I have personally handed out 3000 flyers to students and about a dozen knew what was going on. We’re trying to bring awareness to students, to get them to know what’s going on. You don’t have to agree with it you just have to read the information because in two days, the likelihood of a strike is very imminent.”

At 5.00 p.m. on Wed. Oct. 28, a Unit 1 Strike Information Session was held by a few members of CUPE 3906 to discuss the implications of a strike on the union members. The information session, held in Hurlburt Hall in the Divinity College building, gathered the attendance of approximately 120 individuals. Mary-Ellen Campbell, the President of CUPE 3906 and Derek Sahota, Bargaining team member of CUPE 3906 were the two key presenters of the session.

Prior to the beginning of the session, two small packages were handed out to the attendants, one regarding Picket Lines, and the other regarding strike and picket FAQ. The presentation began with the reading of the Union Equity statement and a quick bargaining team report update delivered by Sahota through a power point presentation, followed by a step-by-step presentation of a strike and picket FAQ by Campbell.

Some of the strike information that was presented included the management and cost of TA pay in the event of a strike, the assignment of picket lines according to faculty and the locations of them, benefits and duties of a picket line, alternate duties that could provide pay and how to handle scabs who are students that engage in any strike-breaking activity, which in this case would be continuing to work for the University during the strike.

If a strike occurs, the union’s main picket lines, divided according to faculties, will be at the Sterling Gates, an information picket on Main Street, and the gates of Cootes Drive. They have clarified that they will not be shutting down the hospital entrance and will instead be holding information pickets outside of the hospital, that do not restrict traffic at all.

Regarding the management of the general public, the attendants of the presentation were advised to inform anyone attempting to cross the picket line of the strike and not to obstruct the general public using the sidewalks or roadways in front of the picket line. Regarding delaying traffic, the attendants were informed that vehicles can be delayed at the picker line in order for the picketers to provide information of the issues involved, and the length of time will be negotiation between the Local, the police and the management.

They are also asked to deal with scabs by quietly discussing their reasons for crossing the picket line, and to take pictures of scabs and their vehicles and to keep a record of each time they cross the picket line. Members of the union are allowed to cross the picket line for academic and non-employment purposes.

In the event of a strike, the picket line would also keep unions from entering campus such as the popular commuting options Go Transit and the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR).

Tags: CUPE, negotiations, Picket strike