

Paul Johnston and Sandie Benitah, CP24.com





Some 6,000 University of Toronto teaching assistants are now on strike after rejecting a tentative offer reached early Friday morning, a representative with CUPE 3902 has confirmed.

In a vote held Friday evening, 1,000 union members voted 90 per cent to reject the contract, according to a release issued by the union shortly before 7 p.m.

“This means that our unit is past our strike deadline and without an agreement,” the release reads.

“We are therefore on strike as of now. Members should cease all bargaining-unit work immediately.”

Picketing is expected to begin at the university Monday, CUPE 3902 spokesperson Kevin Wilson said. No weekend classes will be impacted, he said.

Friday’s vote followed a tentative deal reached at around 3:30 a.m. this morning. Teaching assistants were in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m.

Speaking with CP24 Friday night, Philip Baiden, of the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union, described the situation as “unfortunate.”

“Grading, teaching and lab work will be affected,” he said. “However, we hope that this will be resolved quickly. We are strongly behind CUPE in this effort, and we hope that they can reach an agreement soon so that students can return to the classroom.”

York University continues to negotiate with its teaching assistants. A three-day long bargaining session is scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In a statement release Thursday morning, York said they hoped to reach a settlement.

"The interests of our students and their success are paramount to us," the statement said.

"York's overarching objective in these collective agreement negotiations is to reach a settlement without a disruption to the academic year. The university is committed to the collective bargaining process and remains confident that a settlement will be reached without a disruption."