CUPE 3906

CUPE 3906 ANNOUNCES THE 17^th ANNUAL MIKE SKINNER AWARD

The Mike Skinner Award is a member-mandated award offered by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3906 on an annual basis. Its title honours long-time labour activist and former CUPE 3906 Staff Member Mike Skinner.

The recipient of the Mike Skinner Award may have been involved in the following possible issues over the course of their time with CUPE 3906:

• Fighting for social justice issues (these issues are diverse and can include environmental justice, labour solidarity, gender equality, equity issues, and the advancement of peace);
• Promoting the welfare of humanity and the environment, and the elimination of pain and suffering through acts of community organizing, mobilization, education and/or solidarity;
• Labour organizing and solidarity in support of workers in Hamilton, Canada, or abroad.

This is not an exhaustive list, but includes a few common examples of the things that past award winners have been involved in and that the selection committee considers.

The value of the award is $500 to one person (or committee), an award certificate and an inscription on the Mike Skinner Award plaque. This award is open to all current members of CUPE 3906 (this includes all Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants in lieu, Sessional Faculty, Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows), and/or anyone who has been a member of the local between January 2022 and March 2023. This year’s award will be for the 2022-23 year.

The nomination period for this award is from February 7, 2022 to March 7, 2023.

If a suitable candidate has been active in your organization or department between January 2022 and March 2023, or if you have seen a suitable candidate around campus or the in community, we invite you to nominate them for this award.

Award Criteria:

Please review the award criteria, and, when writing your letter of nomination and seeking supporting letters from others, include the nominee’s specific contributions. The main criterions are:

• Impact of their service to the community;
• Length and level of involvement or commitment of the nominee to their act of community service;
• The dedication and courage of the nominee’s activism.

The selection committee is comprised of members of the CUPE 3906 executive and members-at-large. Members of the selection committee cannot nominate a candidate, and members of the selection committee who have personal ties with the nominees must yield their place to another member of the Executive or a CUPE member-at-large nominated by the members of the selection committee.

This year’s Award will be presented at the Annual General Meeting in late March or our GMM in early April, 2023.

We look forward to receiving your nomination of an amazing CUPE 3906 member.

For further information please contact president@cupe3906.org or staff@cupe3906.org

About CUPE 3906:

CUPE 3906 represents roughly 3200 precarious academic workers employed as Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants (in lieu), Sessional Faculty, Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows at McMaster University each academic year.

For a PDF of this notice, please click here

Wages have increased under our most recent collective agreement, but that does not mean that your scholarship can be reduced. The university cannot offset TA wage increases by reducing your scholarship.

Specifically, Article 16.04  of our collective agreement states the following: The parties recognize and acknowledge the distinct and separate nature of academic financial support that the Employer provides to graduate students on the one hand, and the entitlement o employment income in accordance with the terms of this Collective Agreement on the other hand. As such, the Employer agrees that an employee’s entitlement to the wages set out in Schedule “A” of this Collective Agreement will not result in a reduction of, or offset against, the academic financial support promised by the University to a graduate student. 

In short, TA wages and student-based scholarships/bursaries/top ups are completely separate from one another, and an increase to your wages cannot mean a loss of scholarship money.

Similarly, if you apply for an additional TAship and receive it, your department cannot reduce your scholarship entitlement as a result of this additional, unexpected work. We have been made aware of this happening, and if you see any reduction in your scholarship and believe it is linked to you getting an additional TAship or to an increase in your hourly wage, please contact us immediately and we can help to sort things out for you.

Collective Bargaining works!!! Under the newly ratified Unit 1 collective agreement, we were able to bargain additional money for our Health Care Spending Account. The Health Care Spending Account (HCSA) enables members to claim a wide range of medical, dental and pharmaceutical expenses not covered (or inadequately covered) by OHIP, UHIP and student extended health plans administered by the GSA and MSU. Previously the maximum entitlement was $250 per twenty-four month period. We are pleased to announce that we have expanded the Health Care Spending Account to provide $350 per twenty-four month period. This expanded entitlement takes effect immediately and is retroactive back to September 1, 2022.

If you have yet to submit a claim, you will have the full $350 available. If you have submitted a claim for less than $250 since September 1, 2022, the expanded fund will cover the additional cost to a maximum of $350 in total claims. Please note that your access to this benefit will expire after August 31, 2023, unless you return as a Unit 1 member in the 2023-2024 academic year.  Reimbursements cannot be made for expenses incurred prior to September 1, 2022.

For those who have already made a claim since September 1, 2022, please email claims@prosure-group.com to receive the additional entitlement for eligible expenses. All other members should make claims as normal following the instructions on our website.

Please note, this fund costs you nothing and there are not deductibles or premiums associated with the HCSA. More details about the HCSA, including an application form, are available here: https://cupe3906.org/tas-unit-1/unit-1-benefits/

If you have questions about the fund please email Benefits@cupe3906.org

If you have questions about the whether an expense is covered under the HSCA please e-mail administrator@cupe3906.org.

The Executive Committee of CUPE 3906, representing 3,000 Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants (in lieu), Sessional Faculty, and Postdoctoral Fellows at McMaster University, stands in full support of striking faculty at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia and Memorial University in Newfoundland. After strikes in the fall by Teaching Assistants at Dalhousie University and here at McMaster, these strikes represent a growing movement of academic workers pushing back against the increasingly corporate, neoliberal governance of our institutions. 

We know that the decision to call a strike, especially during a cold Atlantic winter, is not one taken lightly. No one does it out of greed. We do it when we have no other choice. University governance is increasingly being ceded to lawyers and human resources professionals with little to no understanding of how public education and research work, or of the profound importance they have in society. 

Precious resources are being diverted away from supporting the workers who make universities function, and being allocated instead to supporting administrative bloat. Not only do the workers suffer, especially in the context of a once-in-a-generation cost of living crisis, but the students suffer as well. This especially true in Atlantic Canada, where the cost of tuition is rising rapidly, and yet workers are being left literally out in the cold.

We also wish to express our solidarity and support for CUPE 4600 Teaching Assistants and Contract Instructors, whose members will being undertaking a strike vote tomorrow, and the Saint Mary’s University Faculty Union, who have set a strike deadline of February 24th. As many of our colleagues at universities across Ontario and the country prepare for their own rounds of bargaining and possible strikes, we hope administrations are taking notice of how serious this situation is. It’s time to restore true collegial governance, return dignity and respect to collective bargaining, and give academic workers the tools we need to do the job that students and our communities deserve, including fair pay and working conditions.

In support of these ongoing struggles, we have authorized a $500 contribution to the strike funds of the Cape Breton University Faculty Association, the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association, and the Saint Mary’s University Faculty Union. United, we will win!

In solidarity,

The CUPE 3906 Executive Committee

At the November General Membership Meeting, the union voted to endorse Sarah Jama for MPP in the upcoming Hamilton-Centre byelection. Our union doesn’t often offer endorsements to political candidates, but many of us know from firsthand experience that Sarah is an incredible force for good in our community. We need fearless leadership and representation now more than ever, and Sarah’s candidacy is a breath of fresh air that cuts through the cynicism so many of us feel about party politics. Sarah will make an excellent MPP and we’re excited to do what we can to support her.

For more information about Sarah’s campaign and to find ways to get involved, visit https://www.sarahjama.ca/.

At the upcoming GMM we will be discussing new and existing working groups and committees that you can join to become more involved in the union. This includes:

NEW – Raise the Floor Working Group
The Raise the Floor Working Group aims to continue to push McMaster to elevate the existing funding floor for graduate students at McMaster. You can learn more about raise the floor campaign here.

Full-time graduate students at McMaster need your help. We need to come together as a community—whether you’re a student, a member of the faculty, or university staff—and call on McMaster’s Graduate Council to Raise the Floor! To get involved email: raisetheflooratmac@gmail.com 

Communications Committee
The Communications Committee designs and circulates information about CUPE3906 to the general membership and broader McMaster community. Currently, the committee is working on CUPE3906 FM , a podcast series about our union (found on Spotify).

This term the Communications Committee will meet on Thursdays, from 1:30pm to 2:30pm, and will take place on the following dates (roughly every other week):

• January 26
• February 9
• March 2
• March 16
• March 30
• April 13

If you would like to join the communications committee please contact: comms@cupe3906.org

Women’s Committee
The first Women’s Committee meeting of 2023 is scheduled for this Friday, January 20 @1pm on Zoom. In this meeting we will be reframing the objectives for this committee to be more inclusive and discussing the upcoming CUPE women’s conference.

If you would like to join this committee please contact: vicepresident@cupe3906.org

We will host our first GMM of the Winter semester on January 18th at 1pm. The meeting will take place online over Zoom.

We have some important business to take care of, including elections to fill the following positions: Recording Secretary, Chief Steward Unit 1 (TAs/RAs), CUPE Ontario Convention Delegate (8 positions), and CUPE Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee (OUWCC) Conference Delegate (5 positions).

For more information about these positions, head over to http://www.cupe3906.org/meetings

Register for the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrdOmsqTIuHtIj1LT-TYwVyIBqkfOiNciS

Post-GMM Social at the Snooty Fox (Westdale) @4:30pm

CUPE3906 will be hosting an in-person social at the Snooty Fox after Wednesday’s General Membership Meeting, at 4:30pm.

Everyone is welcome to swing by and have a chat with us after the GMM!