Editor’s note: This story has been updated with more current information. Follow @CharlatanLive on Twitter and Facebook for updates as the strike deadline nears.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2424, the union representing all administrative, technical, and library staff at Carleton, is heading toward potential strike action.
As of March 5, CUPE 2424 will be in a legal strike position if a new collective agreement has not been reached. The union and university were back at the bargaining table on March 4 in a last-minute effort to avoid a strike.
CUPE 2424 president Jerrett Clark previously said it’s difficult to say if a strike will occur, especially since CUPE 2424’s last strike was in 2007. In the case of a strike, Clark said services on campus that involve union members “might be limited,” but ultimately decisions on how different departments will operate is up to the university.
“We have no jurisdiction over that, but certainly with the withdrawal of our services, our members, it would be difficult for a lot of departments and services to operate,” Clark said.
In a statement emailed to students and staff on March 1, Carleton’s vice-president (students and enrolment) Suzanne Blanchard said classes would continue as scheduled regardless of any job action taken by the union.
Clark outlined the union’s demands in a previous statement provided to the Charlatan.
“We’ve asked for small improvements in typical bargaining items like benefits and leave, but our major issues are the University’s proposed concessions to our pension language and bargaining rights around internal equity and job evaluation,” he said. “The biggest thing is protecting what we already have.”
A statement on March 1 from Carleton’s interim president Alastair Summerlee also addressed the situation. While he emphasized the value of CUPE 2424 members to the Carleton community, Summerlee countered the union’s allegations that the university is planning to harm pensions.
“Contrary to what is being promoted by CUPE 2424 on its website, the university is NOT intending to take away pensions NOR change the pension to a defined contribution pension plan,” Summerlee stated.
Clark responded to Summerlee’s letter in an open letter published on March 3, in which he took issue with Summerlee’s statement.
“You have stated the University does not plan to change or remove our existing pension benefits. However, the University is demanding the deletion of key language that clearly protects our members from changes to pension provisions that may be decided without the agreement of the Union,” he wrote.
In the event of a strike, union members will begin picketing at the entrance to the university and negotiations would continue until a collective agreement is reached.
Clark said OC Transpo buses don’t typically cross picket lines in solidarity with the union. He said Para Transpo, emergency vehicles, and other accessibility or urgently needed workers would be allowed to cross picket lines.
According to a “frequently asked questions in the event of a strike” document shared on the union’s website, Feb. 12 marked CUPE 2424’s 18th day of bargaining with the university since July.
Clark said that the length of negotiations is “unprecedented” for CUPE 2424.
“We feel like we’ve made considerable movement in the employer’s direction to find some middle ground and that could’ve resolved this a long time ago, and so it certainly has been very stressful,” he said. “It has been an exhausting process, but we feel like we had an obligation to give it the attention that it deserved.”
In October, union members voted 93 per cent in favour of negotiations up to and including strike action, if required to achieve a new collective agreement.
In a public statement to Carleton students and staff dated Feb. 14, Rob Thomas, the university’s assistant vice-president (human resources), said that “significant progress” has been made during bargaining, including more than 20 improvements to the collective agreement.
Thomas countered Clark in the statement, writing that the university is “not demanding a pension concession from the union, but is ensuring consistent language as it would be unfair to treat one group of plan members differently from another.”
CUPE 2424 has distributed pamphlets to help students understand what a strike would mean, and Clark encouraged anyone with questions to contact CUPE 2424. He said the objective of a possible strike is to withdraw union member-provided services from the university, but not to target students.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
