York University, faculty association reach tentative deal

York University has reached a tentative deal with the union representing about 1,700 faculty members, librarians and archivists, potentially avertinga strike that could have interrupted classes for a second time this year.

The York University Faculty Association says its collective agreement with the university has been extended through April 30, 2027, pending ratification, after a deal was reached late Monday night.

The university confirmed the tentative agreementin a statement Tuesday.

Union members entered a strike position earlier this month, after the university requested a "no-board report" that moved up the date when members could strike and the school could lock out workers to Aug. 2, when the previous collective agreement expired.

Both sides were in meetings with a mediator through the weekend and late into Monday.

During negotiations, YUFA said restructuring at the university had led to bigger class sizes, department reductions and fewer faculty positions. They also said wages weren't keeping pace with the rising cost of living.

The union said Monday that the new collective agreement, which members will vote to ratify in the coming days, would increase member wages by 3.1 per cent in the first year and by 2.85 per cent in each of the two subsequent years.

YUFA president Ellie Perkins said Tuesday she hoped the increases would help wages keep up with inflation.But more importantly, the new deal will address faculty worries over class sizes and department restructuring, she said.

"We were very concerned about the employer's proposals, which would have changed our collective agreement in crucial ways around workload and we were able to fend those off," Perkins said.

Students didn't want classes disruptedagain

Classes had already been impacted by a strike this spring, when 3,000 members of CUPE 3903 representing York's contract professors, teaching assistants and graduate assistants picketed for over seven weeks, demanding wage increases that reflected the rising cost of living in Toronto.

Assata Hann, president of the school's student federation, said Monday afternoon that many students had academic and work plans interrupted during that strikeand didn't want to see the same thing happen this fall.

She said students had become "really frustrated" with administration as negotiations had affected "the full quality of the education" they were promised. Some students had told her ahead of Monday's deal that they would transfer from York to finish their degree elsewhere if classes were disrupted again this year.

York has history of lengthy strikes:labour lawyer

Rahul Soni, a Toronto-based labour lawyer, says the cost of living in cities across Canada is making it harder for public universities to pay employees a fair wage and deliver on their educational mandates. But York has had a history of lengthy strikes that made another strike, or a lockout, extremely undesirable for the school, he said on Monday before the tentative deal was reached.

The most recent strike at Yorkbefore this yearwas in 2018. The school's CUPE 3903 members, the same ones who picketed this spring, walked off the job for 143 days, making it the longest ever strike at a Canadian university. The province ultimately legislated them back to work.

Another labour disruption may have made students think twice about York, Soni said.

"It causes uncertainty in terms of students and how they're going to graduate," he said.

"It makes a stigma that's attached to York University that shouldn't be there. And unfortunately, it's been building and it's getting worse," he said. "That they are unable to resolve matters amicably."

YUFA members last went on strike in 1997. That strike lasted just shy of three months. Since then, there have been five employee strikes on York campuses.