Update on the UofT Research Associates’ Unionization Drive

On September 2, 2025, you and your coworkers filed an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board to form a union with CUPE 3902, and between September 9 and 10 you cast votes to unionize.  

On the evening of October 8, we learned that the Labour Board has dismissed your application to form a union, and therefore your ballots will not be counted.  

The decision to dismiss is based on the Labour Board’s assessment that less than 40 percent of the potential bargaining unit signed union membership cards. The Local believes that the evidence submitted with our application represented more than 40 percent of the potential bargaining unit, and that the Board has not provided sufficient evidence to support their decision.  

To be clear, we do not know the outcome of the vote that was held.  

This is not the end of your fight, and we are currently in the process of exploring what legal recourse we have to challenge this decision.  

More updates will be shared as they come.  

In solidarity, 

Marianna Reis 
President, CUPE 3902