CUPE 3338 members mark three years without a contract with cake – including slices delivered to the SFU administration

BURNABY - Hopes for long overdue progress at the bargaining table at SFU were dashed yesterday when the university offered its CUPE workers wage increases 75% less than their counterparts at other BC universities have already received. The support workers have been without a contract for more than three years.

BURNABY – SFU has finally agreed to return to the bargaining table with CUPE Local 3338. The two sides are scheduled to meet Monday, May 13, for the first time in close to six months. 

SFU carries the dubious distinction of being the only public post-secondary institution in the province that has not signed a new collective agreement with its CUPE workers. 

 BURNABY –CUPE 3338 at Simon Fraser University marked 1,132 days without a contract today by serving cake to its members on the main Burnaby Mountain campus. The cakes read “1132 days without a contract” and “ SFU = bad faith.” One cake was delivered to SFU human resources.      

Contract talks have been stalled by the university’s insistence on tying negotiations to problems it is having with its pension plan.

BURNABY - The BC Labour Relations Board has rejected an SFU bid to overturn a ruling that it is bargaining in bad faith with its 1,000 CUPE Local 3338 employees. The decision was announced on Monday.

The original unfair labour practices judgment was handed down by the LRB back in January. The decision was based on SFU’s insistence on tying changes to the multi-party SFU pension plan to collective bargaining with CUPE.

VICTORIA – CUPE has called on the BC government to restore appropriate funding to public post secondary institutions and end budget cuts made on the backs of CUPE workers.

The union resolution came on the heels of a new round of cuts by the University of Victoria. While the Canadian Union of Public Employees BC Division was holding its annual convention downtown, UVic was making service cuts and layoffs to CUPE members on campus.

VANCOUVER – The BC Labour Relations Board has ruled that Simon Fraser University is guilty of bad faith bargaining against its 1,000 CUPE support workers.  The decision that SFU breached the BC Labour Code was handed down yesterday afternoon.

The members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3338 have been without a contract for close to three years. SFU is the only university in the province that has not negotiated in good faith to a new collective agreement with its CUPE support workers.

VICTORIA—CUPE sessional instructors at the University of Victoria have ratified a new two-year collective agreement. The employer is expected to ratify the deal by the end of the month. 

The contract runs from May 1, 2012 - April 30, 2014 and includes wage increases of 2 percent in the first year and 1.38 percent in the second.

CUPE Local 4163 (component 3) represents more than 400 sessionals and music performance instructors at UVic and is the final local to ratify a new collective agreement in the current UVic round of bargaining.

BURNABY—Support workers at Simon Fraser University have delivered a ‘final offer to settle’ to SFU president Andrew Petter. The 1,000 CUPE support workers have been without a contract for 2 ½ years and SFU is the only university in the province that has not negotiated in good faith to a new collective agreement.

CUPE 3338 members pack the plaza at SFU today (see photos) to push for meaningful negotiations.

BURNABY—The 24-hour strike at Simon Fraser University has pushed the employer to mediation with CUPE 3338 support workers. The two sides met yesterday and discussions are ongoing.

Morale was high on the picket lines as CUPE 3338 members were joined by CUPE National President Paul Moist, striking TSSU teaching assistants, Faculty Association members and BCGEU support pickets from the SFU daycare.