President looks forward to welcoming 50,000 students back to class on Monday

On Thursday Jan. 29, the Legislature of Ontario passed back-to-work legislation to end the 12-week strike by CUPE Local 3903 at York University.

York President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri said:

“I am delighted that our 50,000 students will be back in class on Monday. Now is the time to look to the future. Now is the time to return to our academic mission. We have a lot of work to do in repairing some of the relationships in the York community. We will begin now to rebuild bridges. We are committed to working with the community to resolve these problems. There are no winners in this situation.

“Our first priority is to welcome our students back to class and to make their return as smooth as possible,” Shoukri continued. “Everything we have done has been directed towards this outcome.

“The question has arisen as to whether the University should have returned to the bargaining table this week while the legislature was in session,” Shoukri said. “At that point, we were actually within 48 hours of ending the strike and of bringing our 50,000 students back to class – something we had been working towards for 11 weeks. Two independent mediators had concluded that the parties had reached deadlock and that a negotiated settlement was not in sight. 

“We were concerned that agreeing to more negotiations could have jeopardized the speedy passage of the bill – and hence delay the return of our students to class. Our summer term was in jeopardy and we had run out of time,” Shoukri said.

Classes will resume for all students on Monday, Feb. 2. Students should check the Registrar’s webpage for more information.