A hearty congratulations to our inaugural steward award winners. For the first time this year, we’ve established an award to recognize the amazing work that our stewards perform.

Unit 1- Jayoti Edington Unit 1 (TA/RA) Steward Award- Marika Brown and Melissa Montanari (Department of English and Cultural Studies)

Unit 2- David Gerry Memorial Unit 2 (Sessional) Steward Award- Lisa Dent (McMaster English Language Diploma)

Unit 3- Nancy MacBain and Jesse Payne Unit 3 (Postdoctoral Fellow) Steward Award- Mohammadreza Heydarian (Faculty of Engineering)

Our stewards play a vital role in our union and help to establish an important link between the executive committee and the membership. The awards are named after folks who have played an important role in our union.

Jayoti Edington is the Vice President of the Hamilton and District Labour Council and has provided great mentorship to young labour activists. The late David Gerry was an award winning flutist, a long-time sessional, and a former member of the Unit 2 bargaining team. He passed away suddenly in 2017. Nancy MacBain and Jesse Payne are former CUPE 3906 staff representatives who organized and bargained the first collective agreement for the first ever unionized postdocs in Canada.