Queen’s University remains committed to its ongoing negotiations with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and to achieving negotiated renewal collective agreements with Local 229 (Tradespeople / Maintenance Workers and Caretakers / Custodians), Local 1302 (Library Technicians), and Local 254 (Lab Technicians).

On Jan. 10, 2025, the three CUPE Locals requested the Ontario’s Ministry of Labour to issue No Board Reports. 

A No Board Report, from the time it is issued, starts a 17-day countdown to a legal strike date. This does not mean a strike will occur, as the parties can continue to meet and negotiate during this period, but on or after that date a union is legally allowed to call a strike.

Each CUPE Local applied for the assistance of a provincial conciliator in November, and each met with the University and a conciliator in the period since, but the Parties have not yet arrived at agreements.

Conciliation is a process by which a conciliation officer is appointed by the Minister of Labour to meet with the union and the employer to attempt to conclude a collective agreement. It is a normal feature of the collective bargaining process and has helped the parties reach collective agreements in previous rounds. It is a necessary step before any party can request a No Board Report.

CUPE and the three Locals, each began their own rounds of bargaining with the University in the late fall of 2024.

Queen’s University has robust contingency plans in place to mitigate the impact of any potential job actions by these CUPE-represented support staff and will share that information with students, faculty and staff as appropriate. 

The university values the contributions of its employees and respects the collective bargaining process. Queen’s University remains committed to continuing to work with the union in the interest of reaching these agreements. To that end the parties have a number of bargaining dates established for January, and the university is committed to partnering with each CUPE local on additional dates – all in the interest of securing collective agreements that can be ratified by both parties. Once tentative agreements are reached, the details will remain confidential until they are ratified by both parties.

This information as well as additional updates can be found on the university’s Labour News website. Labour News provides the Queen’s community with timely updates on the status of ongoing collective bargaining and related information.