‘Irregularities’ nix union vote at York

Although contract faculty had approved university’s offer, CUPE is demanding a re-vote

Striking contract faculty at York University who voted to accept the school’s latest offer have been told to re-vote following “irregularities” in the Wednesday night tally, adding another layer of chaos to the months of labour disruption.

“The YES side won, but there were significant discrepancies in their vote count that may or may not have reversed the result,” Julian Arend, vicepresident of CUPE Local 3903, Unit 2, said Thursday.

The discrepancies called into question one in seven ballots, he said.

As a result, parent union CUPE National made the unusual decision to nul- lify the vote and start over again, he said. The re-vote was to begin Thursday evening and continue on Friday afternoon.

That means about 3,000 contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate assistants are still off the job in a dispute that has caused anxiety and confusion for many of York’s 50,000 students.

If ratified, the roughly 1,100 contract faculty represented by Unit 2 of the local would be back at work on Monday. However, the other two striking units, representing about 1,900 teaching assistants and 130 graduate assistants, have no plans to vote on the latest offer and would remain on picket lines.

Arend said in an email he has never seen a situation like the re-vote called for by Local 3903’s parent union.

“Of course, when the discrepancies account for one in seven ballots, there’s obviously a problem.”

Astatement posted on the CUPE 3903 website Thursday said the number of ballots cast at the ratification vote did not match the number of signatures of eligible voters. “The number of irregularities is such that it is impossible to account for the results of the vote with absolute certainty,” it said.

The news comes on the heels of a Star report on Wednesday that premier-designate Doug Ford plans to recall the legislature next month for several reasons, including ending the York strike.

The local said it asked York administration to extend the deadline for the offer from Friday until Monday so that members have adequate notice and to account for the Muslim celebration of Eid on Friday, but the request was refused.

“Given what is at stake for York’s 50,000 students, we are concerned by the inconclusive results,” the university said in a statement on its website Thursday. “There is a pressing need for our students to have a clear result, including remediation plans to complete the win- ter term, the potential for additional summer courses, and firming up course offerings for the fall 2018 term.”

The labour disruption has dragged on since March 5, causing anxiety and confusion for many students expecting to graduate this spring or facing deadlines for post-graduate studies, jobs or summer internships.

Among key issues for striking workers are job security, including the ability of contract faculty to move into tenured positions, and protecting funding for teaching assistants.

The decision to hold the ratification vote on Wednesday, made by two representatives on the bargaining team, was roundly condemned as “backroom dealing” by the CUPE local’s executive committee, which urged members to reject it and send the team back to the table to negotiate a deal for all three units.