The University and TSSU met on April 3rd, to commence collective bargaining. During a productive meeting, the parties gave their respective opening positions and outlined their priorities. The University emphasized that, at its core, our mandate is focused on providing financial support to our students through employment opportunities and offering meaningful teaching experience to future academics. In addition a number of improvements for the ELC/ITP instructors has also been identified as a priority.

While there are a number of substantive issues to be resolved, it appears there is a lot of common ground. The University’s committee feels that the first meeting was very positive and put us on a solid track for a productive round of bargaining. It was agreed that we will schedule regular meetings, aiming to keep momentum into the summer. The next meeting is scheduled for April 11th.