https://thevarsity.ca/2020/09/07/service-workers-union-petitions-to-stop-u-of-t-from-outsourcing-caretaking-services/

Ron Saporta, Chief Operating Officer Property Services and Sustainability claims workers are being contracted out “‘to allow for flexibility as the COVID-19 situation evolves, and to ensure cost-effectiveness.’” “Flexibility” as we already know is just another term to describe employers having more control over workers. “Flexibility” means not worrying about workers reporting issues to a strong union, or having to deal with providing benefits, sick days, or other rights union workers have. And being cost-effective, well, it means exactly that. It means saving money by hiring private companies that pay workers poverty wages with low cleaning standards. 

He goes on to say: “‘We will continue to deliver high quality service, adhering to consistent cleaning protocols across campus and using cleaning products approved for use against COVID-19,’expressed Saporta, also noting that the staff of the external companies is unionized.” 

There are unions that actively represent workers and have historically fought for strong collective agreement rights. That’s what CUPE is. Then there are unions that sign away 10-year agreements, agreeing to provisions favourable to the employer while leaving workers in the dirt. The cleaners on St. George campus deserve strong union protection, and meeting the minimum requirement of having a union, in name only, does not mean workers are being advocated for or adequately represented. We urge the University to show us their collective agreement, and we can see for ourselves what kind of provisions they have. 

U of T made a choice to hire contracted out workers. But they also had a choice to hire CUPE 3261 caretakers. COVID-19 was announced as a pandemic in early March 2020, and the University had ample time to hire more caretakers in anticipation of the September reopening. Instead, they cancelled the contracts of temporary CUPE workers and moved permanent caretakers out of 18 buildings. When faced with operational changes, U of T has the option of hiring “term” CUPE 3261 employees, who can work up to two years and receive many of the same protections as their permanent counterparts. They can also hire “temporary” employees for up to 120 days, whom although are excluded from many benefits of the collective agreement, still have decent wages, strong union representation, and a preference for applying to permanent positions. But if their employment exceeds 120 days, these employees will receive all benefits covered by the collective agreement. 

These options were not considered, and U of T’s irresponsible and shameful decision to privatize cleaning services is a slap in the face for workers already struggling in this difficult COVID-19 economy, and to all community members who want the best health and safety standards on campus. 

We must end contracting out.  Sign and share the petition. 

Our locations for in-person voting have been confirmed. If you did not register for online voting, you can attend in person. Voting is tomorrow, Friday September 11th. 

The booths will be open: 12PM-2PM, 5PM-7PM, 10PM-12AM

Make sure to wear a mask, maintain physical distancing, and bring a piece of ID to confirm your identity.

As a friendly reminder, the vote tomorrow is for Full Time and Part Time members of the main bargaining committee. If you work at 89 chestnut, press/retail, faculty club, or are casual, you are not eligible to vote!  

St. George

• Outside of Sidney Smith Hall – St. George Street side at the patio up the stairs(100 St. George Street)

UTM

• Student Centre overhang between The Blind Duck and the convenience store

UTSC

• Humanities-Wing Patio

If you haven’t yet, please review the agreement. 

To see the bulletin, click here.

The full agreement is available here for your review.

Hello CUPE 3261 members,

A brief bulletin with the summary of the Tentative Agreement (signed as a memorandum of settlement) is now available. The agreement is between the University and the Full-Time and Part-Time Bargaining Unit.

To see the bulletin, click here.

The full agreement is available here for your review.

Ratification Meeting Registration

This is also a final call for all members to register for our September 11th Ratification Meeting.

There will be three meetings held online, and members can attend one. The meetings will be held: 12PM-2PM, 5PM-7PM, and 10PM-12AM. Everyone attending a meeting will then be provided a link to vote for the tentative agreement online.

If you have not yet registered, please register here. We will be closing the registration on September 9th.

If you are unable to attend an online meeting, then you will have the option to vote in-person. Each campus will have a voting booth open for voting during the same times as the ratification meetings. Locations are still being confirmed and you will be updated as soon as possible.

The employer has been officially notified of the ratification meetings, and employees will be allowed to attend during working hours, but make sure your supervisor/manager is aware by double checking with them. See more here. 

A townhall featuring scientists and leaders across U of T was held on August 24th, 2020 discussing U of T’s inadequate fall reopening plan. The video is now available. President Allan James starts his part at 46:08. 

A tentative agreement has been reached for the “main” bargaining unit – full-time and part-time members at St. George, UTM and UTSC. In order for the tentative agreement to be accepted by the members, they have to ratify it through a vote.

Ratification meetings for a new tentative agreement will be held on Friday, September 11th. This process will be held entirely online, including the meeting and the voting process.

Members must register and attend a ratification meeting in order to be eligible to vote. Registration closes September 8th at 12:00pm.

Once you register, you will receive a link to the zoom meeting shortly before the meeting.

We will have three separate ratification meetings on September 11th: You must attend one to vote.

• 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
• 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
• 10:00 pm – 12:00 am

Register Here

If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us at president@cupe3261.ca

Contracting Out

We must continue working together to organize all our members to put pressure on U of T to stop contracting out. Our demand is simple:

Bring cleaning in-house so that our members can ensure that the necessary health and safety standards are being met AND show the employer that we will continue to fight back anytime they move to contract out instead of hiring CUPE members

Our campaign will need high participation from members and the community abroad. While we continue to prepare more material such as posters, brochures, and videos, we ask members to continue sharing the petition and to visit and share the contracting out website https://www.endcontractingout.com/ 

We also encourage members and the U of T community abroad to send a message directly to U of T President Meric Gertler VP of Operations and Real Estate Partnerships Scott Mabury, and VP of Human Resources and Equity Kelly Hannah-Moffat to demand they end contracting out. 

• Ask them why they are contracting out cleaning services while members are laid off and especially during COVID-19. It has been proven time after time that private, contracted out cleaning reduces service quality and puts our health and safety at risk, while in-house work provides higher quality cleaning. 
• Ask them why they believe it is okay for the University to pay poverty level wages, and to increase the share of workers without paid sick days during a pandemic. 
• Ask them why they are okay with undermining unionized work, and why they are okay with normalizing precarious work on campus. 

Talk to your colleagues, let them know what is happening, and get them to sign the petition. 

Health and Safety 

U of T has failed to provide adequate consultations with labour and student groups on campus. We have been working with other groups as part of a coalition by coordinating, sharing information, and providing updates. On August 24th, labour groups including CUPE 3261 held a townhall discussing the science behind COVID-19. It has become clear to us that U of T continues to use out-dated scientific research on COVID-19 in their reopening plan, such as by not taking into serious consideration presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmission, as well as airborne transmission. 

Our hope is to ensure the University take into account the risks involved with allowing for any in-person classes at U of T. The risk of another outbreak is too high, and would put many of our members in serious risk. 

We continue to encourage members follow health and safety procedures at work place, including ensuring you have adequate personal protective equipment, and to follow physical distancing when possible.  COVID has been around for a while now, and we know many people are facing “pandemic fatigue.” Meanwhile, the reopening of most businesses has made it feel that we are almost back to normal. This is understandable, but the virus is still in full swing, so please do your best to keep everyone around you safe by following health and safety guidelines. And as always, if you do feel unsafe, you may carry a work refusal, and report any issues to your supervisor, manager, and union. 

Dear Members,

We have recently received emails and phone calls regarding CUPE member concerns of the ongoing contracting out of caretakers by the employer. Some members have inquired why the union did not attend the several meetings with caretakers and supervisors. The union was not invited to these meetings, and these meetings were held without official knowledge of the union. 

However, this does not change much of the situation. Under the Collective Agreement, the employer has the right to contract out work as long as existing CUPE 3261 members do not lose their jobs. 

We have raised our opposition to the employer about this move, and made it clear that they have the option to hire temporary CUPE 3261 employees, as well as hire from existing members who have been laid off due to COVID-19. This idea has been ignored. Instead, the employer would prefer to save money by hiring caretakers from a private company – justifying and normalizing low-wage labour under the guise of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. 

While the union will do what it can to protest this move, it is paramount that members take action as well to help us protest. The union leadership will be developing campaign material in the coming weeks, including posters, leaflets, videos, town halls,  online notices, and organizing potential action through pickets and protest. 

If members want to see U of T stop contracting out, then we must work together to raise awareness. Sign the petition if you haven’t yet, share it with your colleagues, and when the time comes, we will need your increased participation so that U of T hears us, and knows that contracting out will not be taken lightly by workers and the public alike.

In solidarity,

CUPE 3261 Executive

Click to here to sign the Petition to End Contracting Out of Caretaking Services

Dear Members,

The University of Toronto recently informed us that they will begin contracting out caretaking services in 16 buildings across the St. George Campus, including Robarts, Rotman, OISE, Innis, and others. Many caretakers have already been updated of the situation by their supervisors. The union has been aware for a few days now, and is updating you now after waiting for more details to roll in. 

In order to facilitate this process, U of T will be transferring many of our caretakers to new buildings to be replaced by contract workers as of Monday, August 17th. 

As some of you may already know, this move is permitted under our collective agreement. The language has existed for years, and the employer has insisted on maintaining this right despite the union’s attempt to prohibit it during every round of negotiations. 

However, this does not mean any of our members will lose their jobs. Our job security is guaranteed by the collective agreement, and the employer cannot replace you and your colleagues with contracted out workers. 

This practice is not without precedent. Despite our ongoing opposition, U of T constantly contracts out work that is normally done by our members (i.e. within caretaking, security, and even food services). A few years ago, U of T embarked on a policy of attrition, where they would wait for our caretakers to retire until a building was empty enough to be replaced by contract workers. During this time, we mounted a campaign to end this practice, and fortunately we have not seen this practice for two years now. 

However, because of COVID-19, U of T is looking to ramp up its caretaking operations across campus. Instead of hiring CUPE 3261 members, U of T is looking at cutting costs by hiring low-paid workers who will have no benefits and inadequate union representation. 

We have already protested this move by asking U of T to hire CUPE 3261 workers. For example, we already have many food service workers who are laid off waiting to come back to work, as well as a large pool of casual workers who have little to no hours as it is. We also informed U of T that even if they require workers for a short period of time, they can hire additional temporary CUPE workers, who would at least have access to decent wages and benefits. Although U of T told the union that it will “consider” these options, they immediately moved forward with their plan and informed supervisors the very next day. 

At a time when so many of us are facing income insecurity, U of T’s plan to hire low-paid workers serves to only worsen our collective situation. Instead, U of T has an opportunity to offer high-quality employment to both our members and the broader community. If U of T truly cared about maintaining good working conditions,  health and safety, and creating a high quality work environment, they would not contract out our work to private companies. 

We have we created a petition demanding U of T to stop contracting out. 

Please take 30 seconds to sign it!

We will continue our negotiations with U of T, but more importantly, we will begin organizing a campaign to demand U of T end its unjustifiable practice of contracting out. We simply cannot allow U of T to normalize low-wage work. By hiring CUPE 3261 members, workers will have access to good benefits, decent wages, and have a strong union that advocates for them.

But this all means we will need your support. All of us need to be ready to support one another, whether it’s something as simple as signing the petition, or when the time comes, coming out to rallies or pickets. U of T will not budge unless we act, and our president or executive cannot do it alone. We need to do this together. 

If you have any further questions, you can contact us by email or phone.

In solidarity, 
CUPE 3261 Executive

Dear members,

CUPE 3261 and other unions and labour groups on campus are demanding U of T meaningfully involve us in developing safe reopening policy. We are coordinating with labour and student organizations to ensure safety for all even though U of T has taken the position that they will only meet with us separately. 

Unlike other universities, U of T has not yet decided to take Fall 2020 classes online, despite evidence showing that classroom instruction poses a huge health and safety risk for students and various groups of workers on campus. As many of you know, COVID-19 can be spread through airborne transmission, which can be facilitated by large numbers, poor ventilation, and louder talking. Furthermore, the administration has not taken into account the significance of presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmission. This means sometimes it is virtually impossible to tell if someone has COVID-19. 

The best solution is to assume that everyone could have it. U of T’s current September plan is not safe enough. This means our members could be exposed to a much higher level of risk than they currently are on campus. 

As a result, CUPE 3261 and other labour groups have created a petition demanding that U of T put a pause and take Fall 2020 online. This is about the health and safety of everyone. This is about ensuring people do not get needlessly sick. This is also about equity – workers and students, including those who are racialized, experiencing economic insecurity, and more likely to live in cramped housing will face the highest risk of getting COVID-19. That is unacceptable .

COVID-19 has created an unprecedented situation for all of us. This also means taking unprecedented action. Having less students on campus may be difficult for some of our workers, especially those who are hoping operations return to normal so that work schedules are adequately restored. CUPE 3261 is taking the position that we want safe work for our members. Our members’ well-being is our top priority. 

Please sign the petition below to have your voice heard and support us in asking the University to take fall 2020 online. Join us in telling U of T that it needs to listen and work with labour and student groups while developing a reopening strategy. 

Please sign and share our petition to bring Fall 2020 online

Download (PDF, 88KB)