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Dear CUPE 3261 members,

You and a guest are invited to join our Annual Holiday Party! There will be two parties this year — our main St. George party at the Hilton Toronto and a smaller party at the Dragon Pearl buffet in North York for members who cannot attend the Hilton party.

All CUPE 3261 members — full-time, part-time, casual, contract, and temporary — across all 3 campuses and all units are invited! (And yes it’s free).

Members can each bring one guest and are welcome to attend whichever of the two parties they wish (but only one!). We especially encourage everyone to join our main party at the Hilton on December 10th, which features a buffet dinner, bar, live DJ, dancing, photo booth, and raffle prizes!

See below for details, and don’t forget to RSVP before the deadline for whichever party you choose. 

As with previous years, to prevent losses from non-attendance at the St. George Campus party, there is a $50 cheque deposit required (per person) that will be returned to you when you arrive at the party. The deadline to submit the deposit is December 5th.

St. George Holiday Party 
Hilton Hotel (145 Richmond St. West, Toronto)
Saturday, December 10th, 2022 @ 7:00 pm – 12:00 am
RSVP at 3261.cupe.ca/party by December 5th On the form, please read the instructions carefully on how to submit your deposit before December 5th. 

North York Holiday Party
Dragon Pearl (865 York Mills Rd, Unit 2, North York ON M3B 1Y6)
Friday, December 23, 2022 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
RSVP at 3261.cupe.ca/party by December 16th.

Hello Full-Time & Part-Time members!

We are pleased to announce that a majority of FT-PT members have voted in favour of ratifying the Tentative Agreement presented to you at ratification meetings held this week. The Tentative Agreement and a summary were sent to you by email if you would like to review. 

This round of negotiations was important because you organized to achieve important gains that we must continue to build on. The campaign against contracting out and for future bargaining power continues. Next round, the focus will be on winning fair wage increases after 3 years of being subject to Bill 124.

The struggle continues!

During the ratification meetings, we provided sign-up forms to become stewards and join the Good Jobs Action Committee. The committee will help implement some of the gains won in this round, and help build power for the next round.

If you did not submit the form and are interested in becoming a steward and/or joining the committee, sign up here.

In solidarity,  

Your Negotiating Committee

Allan James (Union President)
Anthony Jude Pereira (FT-PT rep)
Chris Tavares (UTSC)
Eirinaios “Renos” Manolis (UTSC)
Edwin Viteri (UTSG)
Nancy Tomas (UTSG)
Wilson Franco (UTM)
Preethy Sivakumar (CUPE National Rep & non-voting member)

• 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm at Lash Miller, Rm. 162 (80 St George St)
• 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm at Convocation Hall (31 King’s College Circle)

• 1:00 pm  – 3:00 pm at Highland Hall Event Centre (1265 Military Trail)
• 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm at Highland Hall Event Centre (1265 Military Trail)

• 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm at Spigel Hall (Davis Building)
• 10:00 pm – 12:00 am at Spigel Hall (Davis Building)

A summary of the FTPT Unit’s recent tentative agreement, along with the entire document, was emailed to all FTPT members on Saturday November 20th. If you did not receive this email, or would prefer to review the documents in person at the union office, please reach out to info@cupe3261.ca.

We encourage all members to review the summary and attend one of the ratification meetings which are taking place at all three campuses between Tuesday November 22nd and Thursday November 24th (see our calendar). At these meetings, your Negotiating Committee will present the details of the Tentative Agreement and be available to take questions. A vote on whether to approve (ratify) the tentative agreement will be held at the end of each meeting, and the results of these votes will be announced on Friday November 26th.

As a reminder: If you are working during one of these meeting times, the University has agreed to allow members to attend a ratification meeting with no loss of pay. If you are not scheduled for work during the meeting times on your campus you are free (and encouraged) to attend whichever meeting time you wish, and at any campus.

(TORONTO, ON) A strike has been averted and 700 full time and part time front-line service workers have made important gains in a tentative agreement, says CUPE 3261.

“I’m so proud of the members for the powerful example of workplace organizing,” said Allan James, President of CUPE 3261. “Thanks to their historic organizing, we sent a strong message that the services we deliver are critical to the university community and that our jobs need to be good jobs.”

The elements of the tentative agreement includes meaningful improvements on pathways to good jobs for our members and for the bargaining unit’s future. While the agreement does not guarantee limits to contracting out jobs to for-profit operators, one of the union’s key proposals, it includes significant steps in the right direction, according to the union.

“We built a lot of power through our members and with the support of our allies to expose the ways in which contracting out increases poverty-wages, worsens services, cuts important benefits, and is so clearly inconsistent with this university’s principles,” said James. “This is a strong base for us and I’m hopeful that we’ll make even greater gains in the next round of bargaining.”

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