A Strike Vote for each bargaining unit recently took place online through the Simply Voting platform. Contract Instructors voted the last week of November and Teaching & Research Assistants voted the first week of December. Each unit saw record-breaking participation in this democratic process.
Contract Instructor participation increased by 143% from last bargaining round’s historic strike vote turnout and the majority of Contract Instructors who are currently on contract voted.
Teaching & Research Assistant participation increased by 94% from last bargaining round’s historic strike vote turnout and the majority of dues paying Teaching & Research Assistants voted.
Unit 2 Contract Instructors
86% YES
Unit 1 (Teaching and Internally-Funded Research Assistants)
83% YES
A strike vote, also known as a strike mandate vote, is a vote held by the Union in order to confirm that the membership is ready and willing to strike in order to have its bargaining demands met. A strike vote is “successful” when a majority of our members vote to support their bargaining teams, up to and including a strike. In other words, it gives the bargaining team a ‘mandate’ to take steps towards a strike if necessary.
A successful strike vote does not automatically trigger a strike, and nor does it mean that a strike is inevitable.
In fact, a strong strike vote in which an overwhelming majority of members vote “yes” can be a powerful show of force that helps encourage management to take members’ concerns more seriously. That is, a strong strike vote can be a powerful strike aversion tool. A strike vote is also one of the three key procedural hurdles that a Union must clear in order to be in a legal strike position (the other two are conciliation and a no-board report). It may be held before or after filing for conciliation, but must be held before a no-board report is filed.
Since we have two Units with distinct Members and Collective Agreements, we bargain separately and each Unit will have its own strike vote. A strong yes empowers your unit’s Bargaining Team at the table.
Make sure to check your junk and/or clutter folder, first. The email will be from CUPE 4600, but the address it comes from will be vote@simplyvoting.com.
We receive our Membership data via spreadsheet lists from Carleton’s Labour Management. If you didn’t receive a ballot but are currently TAing or teaching or believe you are a member in good standing, reach out to info@cupe4600.ca and let us know the relevant Term(s) you taught/TA’d, course code(s), and provide a pay stub from Carleton Central that shows dues deductions. We can then manually add you to the voting list.
If you are having trouble casting your vote, you can email info@cupe4600.ca or stop by the CUPE 4600 offices on the 8th floor of Dunton Tower (804, 806, 807), Monday-Friday between 10am-4pm, to chat with a Staff member and try to troubleshoot the issue.
As a last resort, we’ll have a physical ballot box set up.
The Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) does not recognize Helios, but does recognize Simply Voting as an official online voting platform. For votes like a Strike Mandate Vote and a Ratification Vote, results must be shared with CUPE National and the OLRB, so we must use a platform they recognize for legitimacy purposes.
We will continue to use Helios for other votes like elections.
