CUPEU suspends planned strike for fall semester

Staff strike on hold after “global offer” from employer

NewsBrief Genevieve Sylvestre & Hannah Scott-Talib — Published September 3, 2024 2 minutes

The Concordia community was first made aware of the now-suspended strike in a university email sent to the student body on Aug. 27. 

CUPEU is composed of 600 Concordia University staff members, including academic advisors, financial analysts, nurses, IT workers and guidance counsellors. 

The strike was initially set to occur after 10 months of what union members referred to as “unfruitful negotiations ” with the university in an Aug. 23 press release. The strike was concerning the hybrid work plan in place for academic staff. 

CUPEU president Shoshana Kalfon had previously told The Link that CUPEU was contesting the lack of flexibility within the hybrid work plan. She added that throughout nearly one year of negotiations, the university has remained firm on its position regarding the hybrid work plan for academic workers. 

However, the strike was suspended following new negotiations that began on Aug. 30.

Instead, CUPEU has called a general assembly for Tuesday, Sept. 3, to vote on what the union referred to as a “global offer from the employer” in a Sept. 2 press release. The union specified that this offer is not a tentative agreement and that, depending on the outcome of the vote at the general assembly, they may still strike.

According to the Aug. 23 CUPEU press release, nearly 50,000 students would be impacted by a strike. Services such as academic advising, IT support and other student services would be affected during the strike period.

On Sept. 3, all CUPEU staff members will be working and all services and facilities will remain operating as usual.

This is a developing story. 

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 1, published September 3, 2024.