An agreement was reached to increase wages across-the-board.
On November 1, 2023, the Victoria University Board of Regents (BoR) and employees in the United Steelworkers Union (USW) Local 1998 voted to ratify the tentative agreement reached by their negotiating teams on October 19. On the same day, the BoR and USW also voted to ratify the tentative agreement to Consent to the Conversion of the Victoria University General Pension Plan to the University Pension Plan (UPP).
A central highlight of the agreement between Victoria University and the USW is the across-the-board wage increases. Over the course of the three-year term of the agreement—July 1, 2023 to June 31, 2026—wages will increase by 12.8 percent: nine percent in the first year, two percent in the second year, and 1.8 percent in the third year. In fact, the first year’s wage increases will be applied retroactively to July 1, 2023. The USW also achieved protection against the avoidance of overtime pay and several health care benefit improvements, increasing coverage for paramedical services, vision care, mental health care, dental care, hearing aids, and prescription drugs.
According to Joanne Evans, Director of Human Resources at Victoria University, “The wage increase reflects the fact that Ontario’s Bill 124, which capped wage increases to one percent, was struck down by the provincial court. Like many public sector employees, including UofT, the salary increases are more than usual, reflecting the past few years of restraint. Given that in the last few years, salary increases did not keep pace with inflation because of Bill 124, we believe this newly ratified agreement to be fair and reflective of the value that our employees bring to campus every day.”
During the bargaining discussions, the USW actively pushed back against what they suggested was “the University’s overuse of temp agency and contracted out/in workers” to do the work of the bargaining unit. In response, they received assurance that “it is not the University’s intent to utilise persons employed by the University who are not members of the bargaining unit or hire temporary agency staff, contracted-out or contracted-in positions.” Responding to other concerns about the University’s circumvention of the posting of part-time and full-time bargaining unit jobs, Victoria University noted that “it is not the University’s intention or expectation to use casuals to circumvent…the filling of part-time and full-time bargaining unit positions,” and that “it is not the University’s intention or expectation to post part-time positions to reduce full-time opportunities…or to circumvent the posting of full-time bargaining unit positions.”
The USW Local 1998 represents the interests of salaried workers in administrative offices as well as full-time, part-time, and casual hourly paid employees, including those working in Food Services, Residence Services, Housekeeping, Grounds, and Maintenance at Victoria University. Currently, undergraduate and graduate student workers are not unionised.
Shane Joy is the president of VUSAC and sits on the Victoria University Board of Regents.
