Unit 5 Bargaining Update
Collective bargaining is underway – what’s at stake?
Negotiating a renewal collective agreement is a critical opportunity to advance working conditions for Unit 5 postdoctoral fellows across the University of Toronto’s three campuses. In the last round of bargaining in 2023-2024, postdocs coordinated with other groups of workers on campus and won significant improvements to health benefits and to the minimum postdoc salary, among other gains. Despite those wins, the growing cost-of-living crisis means that postdocs at U of T are still struggling to make ends meet. You and your coworkers conduct cutting-edge research at the University of Toronto, and your working conditions should reflect the immense value you bring to this world-class institution. This is why the fight continues!
Your Unit 5 Bargaining Committee (BC), which was elected in December 2025, is deliberate about our negotiations to advance the bargaining priorities of Unit 5 members. But we know that persuasive arguments and well-written proposals aren’t enough to win the improved working conditions postdocs deserve. It’s up to all Unit 5 postdocs to harness our collective power, and to show the employer that we are organized and willing to take action!
Updates from the bargaining table
Since being elected, the Unit 5 BC has been hard at work to develop bargaining priorities and proposals that address the concerns that you and your coworkers have raised in bargaining surveys, membership meetings, coffee hours, and one-on-one conversations with stewards.
At our first meeting with the Employer on April 10, 2026, the Unit 5 BC met briefly to introduce the team and share a high-level overview of priority areas. We made clear that we would only start tabling proposals after presenting our Bargaining Platform to the Unit 5 membership for approval. Endorsed by Unit 5 members at our GMM on April 21, 2026, the platform priority areas are: (1) a thriving wage, (2) a respectful and dignified workplace, and (3) stable jobs and continuous growth.
At our second meeting with the Employer on April 27, 2026, the Unit 5 BC tabled non-monetary proposals on improvements to language on discrimination and discipline. We proposed new prohibited grounds for discrimination (e.g., class, caste, immigration status), an expedited grievance process for workplace harassment, and clarified that non-renewal of contracts cannot be used as a substitute for progressive discipline.
On May 12, 2026, the Unit 5 BC met with the Employer for the third time. This was the first time in this bargaining cycle that the Employer tabled any proposals. They also provided counterproposals to what we had tabled in our previous meeting. The Employer pushed back on several of our proposals, including our proposal to add May Day as a holiday, to include “class” as a prohibited ground of discrimination, and to align our collective agreement expiry with Units 1, 2 and 4.
On May 25, 2026, the Unit 5 BC met with the Employer and tabled proposals to improve transparency in job postings, reduce the burden on job applicants to include unnecessary application materials, make it easier for postdocs to submit overtime hours, and create consistent standards for onboarding new postdocs at the departmental level. The Employer presented counters on some of our proposals: they demonstrated minor willingness to improve transparency in job postings (Article 19), but they consistently opposed all our proposed improvements to on-campus workspace and resource access (Article 23).
Over the course of the negotiation process, your bargaining committee will be regularly updating the Unit 5 Proposal Tracker so that you can read the language we’ve tabled and see how the employer has responded. You can also expect more frequent bargaining campaign updates going forward.
What’s next?
While the Employer has indicated that they have no interest in “dragging out” the bargaining process with Unit 5, we will not be pressured into rushing negotiations so that the employer can move onto bargaining with other worker groups. We will continue to be deliberate and thoughtful in developing and tabling proposals that best reflect the priorities identified by Unit 5 members.
Get involved!
Your Bargaining Committee’s strength at the negotiating table depends on your collective power as workers. There are many ways to stay in the loop and get more involved in your bargaining campaign.
The Unit 5 Bargaining Committee currently has a vacancy, and we are welcoming volunteers. If you are interested in representing postdocs throughout the negotiation process and gaining hands-on experience of collective bargaining, please contact your local president, Marianna Reis, at president@cupe3902.org.
You can also engage with the bargaining process by reading these updates, talking to your coworkers and Unit 5 stewards, attending info sessions, and joining union membership meetings.
If you want to get more involved in building worker power across U of T, reach out to your Unit 5 lead steward, Carrie Pratt, at u5leadsteward@cupe3902.org.