Dear Contract Instructors,

Below you will find a brief overview of bargaining updates since our last communication in May 2025. You will receive future updates on the bargaining process via email throughout the upcoming term. Should one of your colleagues not be receiving updates, it’s likely that they have unsubscribed from Union communications in the recent past and you should encourage them to reach out to the Union directly at info@cupe4600.ca to rejoin our mailing list. All bargaining updates sent by email will also be posted on our website by bargaining unit here.

Your Bargaining Team

At last night’s Unit 2 caucus meeting, members elected Fares Said to the bargaining team. We now have a full Bargaining Team that consists of members from every faculty at the University. This means that bargaining work will be shared by many hands with specialized knowledge from each of our distinct faculties. Your full bargaining team includes:

• Ryan Conrad (FASS) [Lead Negotiator]

• Maria Vorobeva (FASS)

• Mark Blenkinsop (Science)

• Allison Norris (FPGA)

• Alton Wu (Sprott)

• Reem Awad (Engineering)

• Fares Said (Science/Engineering)

Your Bargaining Priorities

Based on survey results, member grievances over the past three years, and Executive Board experience, your Bargaining Research Committee has developed a full package of proposals for the Bargaining Team to review and bring to the Employer. In light of the financial crunch at Carleton, many of our proposals focus on improvements to working conditions and administrative processes at Carleton that do not cost additional dollars to implement. For a full overview of our bargaining priorities, please see the graphic below that has already been shared on social media.

Bargaining Dates

Your Bargaining Team has confirmed dates for negotiations with the Employer (listed below) for the fall. On these dates, your Bargaining Team will meet with the Employer’s team and exchange proposals and counter-proposals. You will not receive updates after each bargaining session, but you will receive an update should something substantive happen at the bargaining table. Bargaining is a slow and, at times, tedious process. We won’t waste your time with the minutiae of the process, but we will make sure you have relevant and up-to-date information on a regular basis.

• September 23, 2025 from 9:30am – 1:00pm

• October 14, 2025 from 1:00 – 4:30pm

• October 21, 1:00 – 4:30pm [Tentative, awaiting confirmation from Employer]

• November 5, 2025 from 1:00 – 4:30pm

• November 18, 2025 from 1:00 – 4:30pm

• November 25, 2025 from 1:00 - 4:30pm

What to expect next?

This Fall, your Unit 2 VPs Mark and Morgan will host a Unit 2 caucus meeting to provide substantive updates on the bargaining process and to answer any questions members might have about our bargaining priorities and strategies. We will begin phone banking in September/October to touch base with all of our members to reaffirm your priorities and talk through your willingness to go on strike/withdraw your labour should the Bargaining Team reach a critical impasse at the table with the Employer. Please answer our call, and if you’d like to volunteer to help phonebank, keep your eyes peeled for a volunteer request in the coming weeks.

If the bargaining process becomes difficult or unproductive, your Bargaining Team may file for conciliation. This means that the Bargaining Team believes that the bargaining process has stalled and would benefit from a third-party mediator to help both parties reach a tentative agreement. This is a normal part of the bargaining process. Conciliation was a useful tool in the bargaining process last round of bargaining and helped move proposals along.

A “Strike Vote” could also take place at some point this fall. A strike vote is a test of the membership’s willingness to go on strike and is not in itself a decision to go on strike at that very moment. A strong strike vote indicates to the Employer how serious the membership is about withdrawing our labour should it become necessary through a strike. In fact, a strong strike vote is often considered one of the best ways to avert an actual strike because of the signal it sends the Employer. It strengthens the Bargaining Team’s position and incentivises the Employer to make a better offer at the table. The Bargaining Team will keep negotiating even with a strike mandate in hand in order get a better deal and avert an actual strike. A strike is a last resort and something we’d all prefer to avoid.

Don’t forget our colleagues in Unit 1 (TAs and RAs) are bargaining at the same time as Unit 2. While we coordinate on shared priorities and share some bargaining team members, Unit 1 and Unit 2 bargain independently of one another. We have two different Collective Agreements and two different bargaining tables with the Employer. We do not bargain at the same table and one team will always finish bargaining before the other. We coordinate and collaborate where we can because we believe in solidarity between units, but we are not on parallel tracks.

Where to find bargaining information?

You can always locate the most up-to-date bargaining information on 4600’s bargain page on our website: cupe4600.ca/bargaining. The central graphic at the top of the page will be updated every time Unit 1 and Unit 2 move between steps in the bargaining process and is your quickest reference for where each unit is in the bargaining process.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ryan Conrad

Lead Negotiator, Unit 2

President, CUPE 4600