And so it begins …. STRIKE

The CUPE 3093 strike began on November 6th at York, and picket lines are up (see my entry on the rules of picketing).   All classes are cancelled, including mine.  We’ll have to watch carefully what happens in the coming days.  It sounds like the parties are still quite far apart.   The employer has offered to go to interest arbitration, which would end the strike, but the Union has so far shown no interest in that option to date.  But that might change as the strike lingers on.  
Remember that the striking workers are not being paid any wages during the strike (although they will receive some amount of strike pay from the union, usually on condition that they show up for picketing duty), and many of them depend on that income to pay their rent, travel home over the holidays, and feed themselves and their families.  So pressure may build on them to resolve this dispute quickly.  The University too will be under pressure from students to save the term some how.  So both parties are now feeling pressure to settle the dispute.  And that is how a strike is supposed to work.