After months of collective bargaining and a near-two week strike that left the end of the Carleton University winter term at risk, members of CUPE 4600 have ratified their tentative agreements.
Eighty per cent of TAs, research and service assistants voted in favour of ratifying unit one’s agreement. Ninety-four per cent of contract instructors voted in favour of ratifying unit two’s agreement, according to the union.
What’s in the agreements?
The Charlatan obtained the terms of the agreements, which show contract instructors are receiving wage increases of 14 per cent over three years, with 5.5 per cent retroactive pay since September and an additional 2.5 per cent since January.
Contract instructors have also enshrined intellectual property rights with “very narrow licensing to the university,” a key demand throughout negotiations.
The union was also able to secure an increase of $45,000 per year in benefits for contract instructors from the last agreement and accommodations language in line with the standards of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
The university has also agreed to explore a centralized job posting system.
TAs are receiving nine per cent in wage increases over three years. Undergraduate TAs will receive 4.5 per cent over three years in additional increases.
TAs will also receive an extension of priority appointments and end-of-term premium pay.
Unit one’s agreement also includes at least 15 sick hours per 130 hour TA assignments, 95 per cent pay for six week pregnancy leaves, 65 per cent for 11 week pregnancy leaves and four weeks of paid leave for gender-affirming care.
The union was not able to receive any commitment from the university on set TA-student ratios, another major demand.
However, the union secured anti-scab language, transparency in job postings and emergency funds of $20,000 per unit and $475,000 each year for an employee assistance fund, including mental health supports.
“This is precedent-setting for the local,” CUPE 4600 president Noreen Anne Cauley-Le Fevre said.
Tough task ahead for the university
With the ratification out of the way, the university must now look to fix its severed relationship with the union and faculty members.
Many were left shocked by the university’s militant approach during the strike, including hiring private security to monitor the strike and its refusal to pay members for the time they were on strike, despite the union’s insistence members would complete their assignments.
“That they would decide to withhold wages, especially in the way that they did, it really feels disrespectful, as though there’s a complete lack of understanding of how our work actually happens,” Cauley-Le Fevre said.
Cauley-Le Fevre added the union will now look to build on the momentum of this round of bargaining as it continues to fight for the return of members’ lost pay.
Despite facing criticism from students throughout the strike, the university managed to win back much of students’ support with the implementation of the SAT/UNSAT revised grading policy for the winter term.
But to do so, it relied on a questionable voting procedure amid concerns about the university’s Senate overstepping by inserting itself into a labour dispute.
Carleton president Benoit-Antoine Bacon took the blame for how the vote played out in an April 21 Senate meeting. Many Senate members had questioned why the vote was rushed and why it was held via Zoom chat, with only opposed and abstained votes requested.
He also expressed his intent for members of the Carleton community to heal and repair relationships before the following academic year but did not specify how university administration would earn back the community’s trust.
Regardless, this saga will likely have a major impact on the university’s future labour relations, especially with multiple collective agreements for unions on campus set to expire shortly.
CUPE 2424, which represents more than 1,000 support staff at Carleton, will be without an agreement in July. The agreement of CUASA, which represents faculty instructors and librarians at the university, is set to expire May 2024.
Both unions stood strongly in support of CUPE 4600 and its members during their bargaining progress.
Without a plan, the university could be looking at a cycle in which the events of this year are repeated over and over again.
CUPE 4600’s collective agreements expire August 31, 2025.
Featured image by Elissa Mendes.
