Bargaining 2 Win

Bargaining Update #1
October 24, 2025

As you know, our current collective agreement expires on June 30, 2026. At our General Membership Meeting (GMM) on October 15, 2025, we held nominations for our 2026 Bargaining Committee. A total of 17 members were nominated and accepted their nominations to serve on our 2026 Bargaining Committee. An online election for ten positions from November 8 to 12. Please make sure you take the time to review the candidates who are running for election to our 2026 Bargaining Committee and be sure to vote in the upcoming election – it is your vote that will determine who will represent you as we negotiate the terms of your next collective agreement with the University.

This past April, we launched our Gearing Up for Bargaining campaign. We have held divisional outreach events across the University of Toronto’s Mississauga, Scarborough, St. George, and Downsview campuses where we handed out our 2023-2026 Draft Collective Agreement and our bargaining QR code business card. We have spoken with hundreds of members about the importance of membership engagement in the bargaining process and discussed how their engagement has a direct impact on the strength of the bargaining committee and the bargaining committee’s ability to negotiate a fair collective agreement with the University. If members are not engaged in the bargaining process, we cannot put the same pressure on the University to secure improvements to our collective agreement and fend off the concessionary proposals tabled by the University.

In August, we launched a Workload Study to examine the impact of workload on our members. During the last round of bargaining in 2023, workload concerns were the number one non-monetary priority identified by members. The Workload Study included a survey component, which closed on October 20, 2025, and small focus groups coordinated by the lead Reacher, Dr. Adam Zendel, will be the next step. Following this, we will hear directly from Dr. Adam Zendel about how workload is impacting our membership. This will equip us with quantifiable data that will help shape our bargaining proposals in the next round of bargaining in 2026.

Just this month, we launched a payroll preference survey to determine what payroll schedule members of our unit prefer. In 2023, some members who completed the bargaining survey requested a change from our current monthly pay structure (once per month) to a semi-monthly (twice per month) or a bi-weekly (every other week) pay structure. In the 2023 round of contract negotiations with the University, our bargaining committee did not have a broadly based mandate to bargain such a significant change. This survey closes Friday, October 24, 2025, and we are aiming for 100% participation as the results will directly affect how often you receive your pay. This survey is short and will take less than a minute to complete. Please ensure that you vote to have your preference noted.

On October 3, 2025, the new President of the University of Toronto, Melanie Woodin sent out a memo to administrative staff at the University. The Strengthening administrative staff presence across our campuses memo indicated that the University would be taking a new direction in 2026 by “moving forward with plans to ensure that we have a critical mass of administrative staff present on our campuses five days per week (Monday to Friday), while honouring our institutional commitment to considering alternative work arrangements.” While the Union has received some clarity from the University on their plan and how it will impact our members, we have not received certainty about what this plan might look like. What we do know is that we have Alternative Work Arrangement (AWA) language in our collective agreement, which your 2023 bargaining committee fought hard for. Now is the time for us to organize and fight back on the University’s return to office (RTO) plans, whatever form they take.

At the October GMM, members passed a motion brought forward as a recommendation from your Local Executive Committee to spend up to $100,000 on a campaign to support Local 1998 members’ access to alternative work arrangements (AWAs) and related workplace issues such as sustainability, employment equity, and access to affordable public transit.

Since then, the Local has struck a steering committee for the fightback campaign against Melanie Woodin’s change in direction on AWAs. We will also be holding a virtual AWA Member Town Hall on October 31, 2025, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

For those of you who are in positions at the University that are not conducive to an alternative work arrangement, you may be asking, why is the Local spending so much time and money on a fight-back campaign to support members’ access to AWAs and why should I care? The answer is simple – this is not only about AWAs, this is about bargaining unit power. We need to push back on any attempt by the employer (the University) to unilaterally change the terms and conditions of our employment as outlined in our Collective Agreement. 

Our plan is to launch our member consultation bargaining survey in January 2026 and hold virtual Member Consultation Town Halls in February 2026 to hear directly from you about your priorities for your next collective agreement. Following these, your elected bargaining committee will review the bargaining survey results and Member Consultation Town Hall feedback, then we will report back to the membership about the bargaining priorities for the 2026 round of bargaining.

So now, here are a number of action items for you:

• Sign up to be on our Communication Action Team: One reason we had so much success in the 2023 round of bargaining was because you – our members – were talking about bargaining. Your engagement with, and communication about, the 2023 round of bargaining ensured that your colleagues knew about Bargaining Updates from your bargaining committee, attended Member Town Halls, completed member consultation surveys, wore and displayed their union solidarity items, and understood the importance of getting involved in the bargaining process.
• Sign up for Picket Captain Training: The best way to avoid a strike is to be prepared for one. Picket Captain training will be held twice on Friday, November 7: 9am to 12pmand 2pm to 5pm (register for one timeslot). Picket Captain Training will be offered again in early 2026.
• Attend a ‘Gearing up for Bargaining’ divisional outreach meeting
• Attend the AWA Town Hall on October 31, 2025 at 12:00 pm
• Vote in the November 8 -12election to elect the members of your 2026 bargaining committee
• Keep up to date on all things bargaining by checking our bargaining website

Your involvement in the bargaining process can make a real impact right now and through the 2026 round of bargaining. Together we can build on the power and momentum we already have from 2023 and put pressure on the University to bargain a fair contract in 2026.

If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact info@usw1998.ca with the subject line 2026 Staff-Appointed Unit Bargaining.

We may have a fight on our hands for the 2026 round of bargaining but given what we accomplished together in the last round of bargaining, I know we are ready for that fight!