Happy New Year!  2016 is an important year for local 3906 as we have two collective agreements that are set to expire and will need to be re-negotiated. Both the Unit 1 (TAs/RAs in lieu) and Unit 3 (Post Doctoral Fellows) collective agreements expire on August 31, 2016.

The collective agreement is a democratically decided employment contract that covers all TAs and RAs (in lieu), and includes a variety of rights and benefits, including wages, hours of work, benefits, sick days, and working conditions.  Collective bargaining is the process by which we are able to make improvements to the existing collective agreement.

We have already begun working toward securing new and improved collective agreements.  Both Unit 1 and Unit 3 have elected their bargaining committees, which will be responsible for helping to re-negotiate a collective agreement and the committees have participated in some bargaining preparation workshops.

We have also hired two member mobilizers to help the bargaining committee with membership outreach.  These folks will be conducting a series of one-on-one and small group meetings with members to inform them of the bargaining process and, most importantly, to hear their issues and gather their feedback.

We will also be launching a bargaining survey for both Unit 1 and Unit 3 to ensure that the priorities of our members are reflected in the bargaining proposals package, which will be voted on by the membership in March.

It will be a busy year, and we hope to see you at our General Membership Meetings.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact staff@cupe3906.org