A union that represents striking contract faculty and other staff at York University has filed an unfair labour practices complaint, in which it accuses the school of “deliberately mischaracterizing” its bargaining positions in an effort to “unfairly damage the union’s public reputation.”

CUPE 3903 announced that it was making the complaint in a post on its website Wednesday night.

The union said that it believes the university has violated three sections of the Labour Relations Act with their conduct during the work stoppage.

Firstly, the union says that York has falsely claimed that “clearly concessionary proposals” related to job security “constituted gains, or at worst status quo” for its members.

Secondly, the union said that the university has “maliciously and falsely characterized” several of its proposals as “improper or ‘illegal’ in an effort to unfairly damage the union’s public reputation.”

Finally, the union alleges that the university appropriated the domain “cupe3903.com” and fraudulently redirected traffic to the site to its own webpage “for the purposes of deceiving members of the public.”

“The basis of this complaint is that York is not acting in good faith by misrepresenting and impersonating the union in the current negotiations,” the message posted on CUPE 3903’s website reads. “Sixty per cent of educators at York University have been on strike since March 5, during which York’s willfully misleading communications have been utilized as an alternative to good faith bargaining.”

In response, the school denies all three allegations made by the union.

“The complaint is without merit and the University welcomes a quick Labour Board ruling,” the university said in a news release.

The university says “it is not seeking concessions,” and if the union feels that what is being sought is a concession, it should accept interest arbitration to settle the strike.

The school also accused the union of bargaining on behalf of “non-employees whom they do not represent.”

Lastly, the university said it never registered or bought the domain name “cupe3903.com.” A spokesperson said the school did find that the domain name was available for purchase and informed the union of that fact through the mediator.

Either a union or an employer can submitted an unfair labour practices complaint to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

At that point, a mediator is appointed to help both parties resolve the complaint.

However, if that process does not lead to a resolution the Ontario Labour Relations Board would have the power to adjudicate the complaint itself and impose penalties.

In its post, CUPE 3903 said that it is seeking a “cease and desist order to avert further public misrepresentations, a cease and desist order barring them (York) from further use of the cupe3903.com domain name, and an order for York to publicly retract their false and misleading statements, as well as related financial damages.”

York University has also said that it would only return to the bargaining table once the “union is prepared to work within a framework for an achievable settlement.”