Congratulations on reaching the end of another term! We know you’ve heard a lot from us recently, but please allow me to take a few moments of your time with a couple of important end-of-term items.

First, as you know, Unit 2 members recently ratified a new Collective Agreement. As part of this ratification, each sessional member employed during the Fall 2017 term, regardless of how many courses they taught, will receive a one-time signing bonus of $200 (minus statutory deductions) to be paid on January 5th. If you don’t see this additional payment on that date, please let us know.

We also wanted to provide some other relevant end-of-term information that might be useful. Any post-contract work (that is, work done after your final grades have been submitted) is separate from your contract and payable at a rate of $63.50/hour. This would include reviewing grades that are being challenged, marking exam that have been deferred, and dealing with cases of plagiarism. This is not an exhaustive list, and more information, including the appropriate form you’ll need to fill out to get paid, is available here. It will be updated in early January with the new rate.

The final pay for this term is December 22nd. This represents what Service Canada refers to as an ‘interruption earnings.’ The first pay in the Winter term, for those of who employed, will be paid on January 19th (the first pay week of the month is for Dec. 31st to Jan. 13th). We would encourage all Sessionals who may utilize Employment Insurance to apply over the holidays, even if you are employed during the Winter term, as the week from Dec. 24th to Dec. 31st will serve as your EU withholding period. This means that when your next interruption of earnings occurs, you’ll be eligible to collect EI immediately. For information on EI, click here. Remember it is possible to both workand collect EI (with some clawbacks) if the amount of work have in the Winter term has dropped substantially from the work you had during the fall. The employer will upload your ROE in early January as they are closed over the holidays, but you can (and should) apply immediately.

Over the past few weeks, we have heard from many Sessionals who have wrongly received a statement from Service Canada alleging an overpayment for a previous semester in a previous academic year in EI. This was the result of how the employer had been recording dates worked and paid. To our knowledge, no member has been required to pay back these funds, as the original Record of Employment contained incorrect information. If you receive such a statement, please advise us immediately.

Finally, thanks for your hard work, support, patience, and solidarity throughout a difficult bargaining process this past term. We will continue to work together for an even #BetterMac in 2018.

In solidarity,

Graham Baker, President, CUPE 3906