Contract talks resume between Carleton University and striking education workers
Carleton University and the union representing education workers returned to the bargaining table Saturday morning, as the clock continues to tick down on the winter semester.
About 3,000 graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants and contract instructors at the university began strike action on Monday, after CUPE Local 4600 and the university failed to come to an agreement.
Carleton University says the two sides have agreed to return to the bargaining table, and the parties have "mutually agreed to work with a neutral third-party mediator."
The university says further updates will be provided as the "situation evolves."
CUPE Local 4600 President Noreen Cauley-Le Fevre said on Twitter, "heading back to the table tomorrow, bright and early."
"Keep the pressure on pals, now is the time to turn up the heat. Let's get a fair deal."
CUPE Local 4600 said last weekend its members are looking for wages that will "help catch up the more than 10 per cent they have lost to inflation over the last decade", and want to bring salaries for contract instructors closer to what University of Ottawa contract instructors earn.
"Contract instructors at Carleton earn 15 per cent less than the contract instructors at the University of Ottawa, who are doing the same work, in the same city, with the same cost of living – so salary is a big thing," Cauley-Le Fevre told CTV News last Sunday.
"On campus, graduate students make up about seven per cent of the student population and we make up 80 per cent of the food bank usage. So teaching assistants, both units, have been hit by the rising cost of inflation.
"We're being hit really hard … so we need our wage increases."
Carleton University remains open and students are expected to attend classes if they are being held, but some classes, labs and tutorials may be cancelled due to the strike.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
NEW Iconic Canadian song turns 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Prince Harry, Meghan arrive in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games and meet with wounded soldiers
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans, among them Nigerian soldiers fighting a 14-year war against Islamic extremists.
Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.