Thirty-eight English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors at Brock University went on strike March 26 when the university refused to ratify the tentative collective agreement signed in February.
An agreement had been reached between the two sides Feb. 28. Brock’s board of trustees then voted to ratify the agreement subject to a change in the document, according to a Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4207 press release.
However, the university has recently found an “an error in the text” and now refuses to ratify the agreement, according to Maclean’s.
The issues in the language of the agreement had been presented three times to the union, according to the university. The university now says it won’t honour the collective agreement because the language hasn’t been changed.
“At no time was the university prepared to accept this language,” according to a statement from the university.
According to the same statement, the union’s position was that the language wasn’t an error.
“This is unheard of,” Dan Crow, president of CUPE 4207, said in the press release. “Employers cannot ratify an agreement, but insist that the document that was signed by both parties can be changed.”
The change, Crow told Niagrathisweek.com, was the board’s request to remove a line that indicated there “shall be no contracting out of any work done by members of the bargaining unit.”
Crow said those words provide job security for the members, according to Niagarathisweek.com.
Picketers from CUPE 4207, unit 3, are blocking entry into the campus, only letting two or three vehicles through at a time, according to Maclean’s.
Bus drivers have now stopped picking up and dropping off passengers near the university, according to Maclean’s and Niagara Regional Police have closed ramps from highway 406 near campus as precautions, but CUPE 4207 picketers say they’re not backing down
“How can anyone trust a system of bargaining if employers could demand changes to an agreement that the union has already ratified?” Crow said in a press release.
Members of the other two union units at Brock University aren’t striking, however, they’re not obligated to cross the picket lines. As an act of solidarity, several teachers at the university have cancelled their classes.
The union and the university met with a mediator March 25, but they couldn’t come to an agreement, according to the press release.
“We will be here as long as it takes. We have no choice,” Crow told Niagarathisweek.com. “Be prepared. This will continue until Brock University lives up to what it agreed to.”
