Change of dental coverage reminder: If you are working as a Sessional Faculty or Hourly-Rated Sessional Music Faculty in the Winter 2021 Term, and you did not work as a CUPE 3906 member in the Fall 2020 Term, there may be important updates about dental benefits (specifically, changes of coverage) and relevant deadlines (January 31, 2021) that apply to you. For more information, click here.

Records of Employment: We have heard that many sessionals were not provided with a Record of Employment (ROE) in late December, particularly those who taught in the fall and are teaching in the winter. A ROE must be provided by your Employer when there are seven consecutive days of no earnings, and you would have had no earnings from McMaster over the holidays. The final day of work/pay for the Fall 2020 Term was December 24 and the first day of work/pay for the Winter 2021 Term was January 6. This means that you could have collected Employment Insurance (EI) over the break between those dates. If you are eligible, we would encourage you to apply (it is not too late, but please hurry). You will, however, need a ROE. If you worked in the fall and are working now, you applied for EI over the holiday break (or would like to), and you did not see a ROE in your Service Canada profile, please contact bwalchuk@cupe3906.org and we will ensure that McMaster processes a ROE for you.

Wage increase: Effective at the start of the semester, the base wage for 3.0 units increased from $7555.00 to $7630.55. Your courses were likely posted for the previous $7555 amount and your signed contract was likely for that amount as well. In short, very few of you would have signed a contract for $7630.55. We have confirmed with HR that this wage increase will be automatically adjusted in the MOSAIC system, so you will not need to sign a new contract and your wage amount will be increased accordingly. The total stipend is made in 8 equal installments, so if your gross wages (ie. before taxes) are less than $953.81, please contact bwalchuk@cupe3906.org and we will investigate and ensure you are being paid at least the base rate.

Did you know? An important note about unplanned leaves:  In the event that you require an unplanned leave (for any period of time- a single class or a much longer duration), you need to advise your Supervisor and to make up for any missed class and lost time that was missed. However, when making up the class(es) is a practical impossibility, an alternate arrangement, approved by the Supervisor, will be made. Your unplanned leave is without loss of pay, subject to Articles 18.01 (b), (c), (d) and (e). Unplanned leaves may include, but are not limited to; sickness leave; bereavement leave; court leave; jury leave; family responsibility leave; domestic violence leave, and any exigent circumstances preventing access to classrooms.