Media Releases

U of T Disappointed as CUPE Launches Strike

March 1, 2015

Agreement raises wage to $45.73 per hour – one of the highest in Canada – and offers improved benefits, more financial assistance for childcare and educational expenses

TORONTO: March 1, 2015: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to is dis­ap­point­ed that CUPE has cho­sen to take its mem­bers out on a strike that threat­ens to dis­rupt the stud­ies of thou­sands of stu­dents.

The Uni­ver­si­ty and the CUPE bar­gain­ing team reached a ten­ta­tive agree­ment for Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to teach­ing assis­tants that increas­es pay and improves ben­e­fits.

Ten­ta­tive Agree­ment High­lights:

  • New wage will be $43.97 per hour plus vaca­tion pay, for a total of $45.73 per hour at the end of the col­lec­tive agree­ment
  • Improved health care – and one of the most com­pre­hen­sive health plans for teach­ing assis­tants in Cana­da
  • More finan­cial assis­tance – increased to $2.3 mil­lion annu­al­ly to assist with child­care and edu­ca­tion-relat­ed expens­es

“We nego­ti­at­ed a gen­er­ous agree­ment that lifts teach­ing assis­tants’ com­pen­sa­tion and ben­e­fits to some of the high­est lev­els in Cana­da,” said Pro­fes­sor Cheryl Regehr, the Uni­ver­si­ty’s vice-pres­i­dent and provost. “We are mak­ing this invest­ment because of the impor­tance we place on sup­port­ing teach­ing assis­tants.”

“Despite the strike action, we are stay­ing open and will be focused on our com­mit­ment to stu­dents and their aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess,” said Pro­fes­sor Regehr.

Facts:

  • Teach­ing assis­tants are full-time stu­dents and part-time employ­ees
  • Ten­ta­tive agree­ment was unan­i­mous­ly endorsed by the CUPE bar­gain­ing team
  • Ten­ta­tive agree­ment has not yet been vot­ed on by all Unit #1 bar­gain­ing unit mem­bers

Oper­a­tions:

  • The Uni­ver­si­ty will remain open
  • Stu­dents are being pro­vid­ed with updat­ed infor­ma­tion about their cours­es

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For media infor­ma­tion:
Althea Black­burn-Evans
Direc­tor, News & Media Rela­tions
a.blackburn.evans@utoronto.ca
416–978-2105

More infor­ma­tion avail­able at: http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/office/2015strikeupdates.htm