CUPE 233 Possible Strike Action April 17, 2023

On Tuesday, be advised that CUPE 233, representing custodians, groundskeepers and maintenance workers at TMU, is in legal strike position as of April 13th.   The CUPE 233 has begun a work-to-rule position today, following a failed mediation session at the Ministry of Labour yesterday.  The work-to-rule action will end Sunday evening at 10:30pm.   CUPE has advised the employer that if no agreement has been reached by Sunday evening, a full scale strike action will begin on Monday morning April 17.   The CUPE bargaining team has indicated that it is available to resume negotiations at any time if the employer is prepared to bring a new proposal.   CUPE 233 members are one of the lowest paid employee groups on the TMU campus and have been in negotiations with the university for months for decent pay and pension equity. [Read OPSEU FAQ Regarding Striking Unions]

XFA, OPSEU 596, CUPE 3904, and CUPE 233
Respond to Campus Return To Work Concerns

Several universities in the province (including Western, Windsor, Laurier, Ontario Tech, OCAD, Brock) have adopted more robust measures in their return to campus strategy and implementation protocols. For example, Western requires COVID-19 booster and masking in instructional spaces to preserve “the in-person learning experience.” They go on to further cite several compelling rationales, including the commentary by Dr. Saverio Stranges, Public Health Physician & Chair of Epidemiology and Biostatistics:

“Mitigating the risk of transmission of COVID-19 as well as of severe outcomes from the infection can be effectively achieved with a combination of masking and vaccination,” said Stranges. “This also reduces severity of symptoms and protects those immunocompromised individuals in our community. There is no doubt that this approach will help keep people out of hospitals and preserve on-campus teaching and learning.”

The presidents of the four TMU campus unions wrote collectively to the TMU senior Administration, expressing their dissatisfaction with the TMU announcement and requesting a meeting to discuss it. ( read more )