Graduate teaching assistants and research assistants at the University of Waterloo officially became the newest members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) today.
The group of more than 2,000 workers were officially recognized by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) following a late-December vote that was more than 90 percent in favour of joining CUPE.
“This is amazing,” said Seth Winward, one of the leaders of the union organizing campaign, which began during the pandemic. “It’s been a long and challenging road, especially when everything was online because of COVID. But through thousands of conversations, we’ve come together to improve living, working and learning conditions at UWaterloo.”
The vote came almost exactly one year after sessional instructors voted to join CUPE in December 2022, with a similarly strong result. Read more from CUPE here.