The University of Toronto and the union representing more than 6,100 of its administrative and technical staff reached a tentative collective agreement on Tuesday, hours before a strike deadline that would have landed on the first day of fall classes.
United Steelworkers Local 1998 announced the settlement in a bargaining update posted Tuesday morning. “After three months of negotiations, including intensive bargaining over the Labour Day long weekend, we are pleased to announce that your elected negotiating committee has reached a tentative agreement with the University of Toronto,” the local wrote, according to The Varsity, the university’s student newspaper, which first reported the update.
The bargaining unit covers information technology staff, undergraduate and graduate program coordinators, academic advisors and laboratory assistants across the university’s campuses, The Varsity reported. CP24 described the group as program coordinators, academic advisors and lab assistants numbering more than 6,100.
The deal follows a strike mandate that members backed by 96 per cent. Accounts of the timing differ slightly. The Varsity reported the result on Sept. 6, while CP24, citing The Canadian Press, said the vote came Monday. Global News reported that the deadline for a contract fell just after midnight Tuesday, after which the local could have called a walkout.
CP24 reported that the strike deadline remains in place but will be extended long enough for members to hold a ratification vote. If members ratify, the agreement would serve as the collective agreement for the university’s staff-appointed unit until June 30, 2029, CP24 said. A Local 1998 spokesperson told Global News that dates for the ratification vote had not yet been set.
The two outlets gave overlapping but not identical lists of what held up the talks. CP24 reported that negotiations stalled over wages, health-care benefits, remote work and protections related to artificial intelligence. Global News listed job security, wages, remote work and AI protections. The presence of AI language in a Canadian university support-staff round is notable, because such clauses have until recently been concentrated in the entertainment, media and public-sector bargaining tables rather than in campus administrative units.
Job security was the union’s stated priority going into the deadline. “U of T says it will find $20 million in savings next year by not replacing employees who leave the university,” John Ankenman, president of Local 1998, said after the strike vote in comments reported by Global News. “That will worsen the heavy workload burden that many of our members already face. The university has not responded in a significant way to the union’s contract proposals that would lead to increased job security, which is our members’ number one non-monetary priority.”
The university confirmed the tentative deal without detailing its terms. “I would like to thank both bargaining teams for their professionalism and hard work throughout negotiations,” Kenneth Corts, the university’s vice-president of people, finance and digital services, said in a statement provided to Global News.
Neither side has released the wage figures or the language on artificial intelligence and remote work that members will be asked to vote on. Those terms normally become public only when a local circulates the ratification package to its membership, which means the substance of what was traded away to avoid the walkout is not yet on the record.
A strike would have disrupted registration, advising and laboratory support in the opening week of term, when course changes, timetable problems and financial aid questions run through exactly the offices the unit staffs. That timing gave the mandate its leverage, and it is the reason the deadline and the first day of classes fell on the same date.
Sources: The Varsity, Global News, CP24.
