Unit 2 Professional Development Fund and Tech Items- Reconsideration
McMaster Teaching and Research Assistants vote “yes” to ensure high-quality academic jobs on campus
Teaching assistants (TAs) and research assistants in lieu (RAs) at McMaster University stand united in their fight to ensure high-quality academic jobs for over twenty-five hundred student academic workers.
In a historic strike vote held earlier this week, 90% of TAs and RAs voted “yes” to send a strong message to the university’s administration. TAs and RAs are demanding that McMaster table a fair and reasonable offer to protect students from tuition increases, address their concerns about the rising cost of living in Hamilton and a lack of work opportunities for graduate students, and to end inequitable wages between undergraduate and graduate TAs.
“Academic workers at McMaster are demanding better,” said Chris Fairweather, president of CUPE Local 3906. “The status quo of limited job security and inadequate wages is no longer sustainable for our members, especially when any wage increases can be clawed back by tuition hikes.” TAs and RAs at McMaster – nearly all of whom are students and pay tuition to McMaster – are facing once-in-a-generation inflation and raising house costs in Hamilton, yet wages and funding packages remain stagnant, inequitable, and unable to support student workers for the duration of their studies.
Your elected bargaining team is calling on the administration at McMaster to table a proposal that offers protection against future tuition increases, recognizes the job insecurity faced by graduate student-workers, and ends a significant wage discrepancy between undergraduate and graduate teaching.
“Not only are the proposals we have tabled around protections against tuition increases and extended work guarantees for graduate students reasonable and well within McMaster’s means, they also exist at many other comparable universities in Ontario” added Fairweather.
CUPE 3906 is seeking protections against future tuition increases in the form of a reimbursement, like those at the University of Ottawa and Carleton, and extended work guarantees for graduate students, similar to those that exist at the University of Toronto, York, and Carleton.
“With this strike vote, our members are overwhelmingly clear: we will not accept a contract that is more of the same and which fails to recognize the growing challenges and realities we face in simply getting by. We demand better of McMaster,” Fairweather explained.
A positive strike vote does not mean that TAs and RAs are on strike, nor does it set a date for a strike. It authorizes the bargaining team to call a strike in the event that talks break down at the bargaining table and after a provincial “no board” report has been issued. Further updates will be sent to your McMaster email accounts.
Quick Facts:
- Since 2016, McMaster University’s yearly consolidated surpluses have totalled over $730 million
- Despite representing roughly 1/3rd of McMaster’s total workforce, TA wages make-up just 3.7% of McMaster’s total payroll
- While the average yearly rent in Hamilton has gone up $4,572 since 2019, the maximum yearly gross pay for graduate student TAs/RAs in lieu at McMaster has increased by only $575.87
- Doug Ford’s Bill 124 capped wage increases for TAs/RAs to 1% per year for 3 years starting in 2019. Had these wages kept pace with inflation during that time, TAs/RAs in lieu would be earning $5/hour more than they are today
- The wage gap between undergraduate and graduate TAs is nearly $19 per hour, despite both groups performing equivalent work
- CUPE 3906, Unit 1 represents over 2500 TAs and RAs (in lieu) per year – nearly all of whom are students
For more information, please contact:
Chris Fairweather, President, CUPE 3906 – president@cupe3906.org
Mary Ellen Campbell, Chief Negotiator, CUPE 3906 – mary@cupe3906.org
Solidarity with Striking Academic Workers at Dalhousie!
This morning, Teaching Assistants, Markers, Demonstrators, and Part-Time Academics at Dalhousie University in Halifax began strike action in pursuit of a fair collective agreement. While workers at Dalhousie have been facing staggering increases in the cost of living, their university’s wage proposals promise only to put them further behind.
All across the country, public universities and colleges have fallen increasingly under the control of lawyers and corporate executives whose only goal is to generate profits and create student debt for the big banks at the expense of students, workers, and the communities post-secondary education is meant to serve. In some cases, universities are generating hundreds of millions of dollars in profits each year while putting very little back into their communities. In others, reckless governance of this kind is putting universities at risk, as we recently saw with the catastrophic mismanagement and subsequent insolvency of Laurentian University in Sudbury.
As part of their relentless pursuit of profit, universities are increasingly exploiting the labour of precariously-employed academic workers. Rather than creating more full-time, tenure-track positions and other secure, fair-paying academic jobs, our universities are becoming job insecurity machines. This undermines not just our quality of living, but with it, the quality of the research and teaching our universities can produce. Academic workers, our students, and the communities that depend on us deserve better.
As Teaching Assistants at McMaster take their own strike vote over so many of the same issues, the CUPE 3906 Executive Committee stands in solidarity with CUPE 3912 and everyone else fighting for better post-secondary education across the country. We encourage members of CUPE 3906 to share their support for CUPE 3912. We call on academic unions and workers across the country to do the same. We join the growing chorus of groups demanding that Dalhousie return to the table and offer these vital workers a fair contract. In support of their struggle, we have also authorized a $500 contribution to the CUPE 3912 Strike Fund.
Your fight is our fight, and together, we will win!
In solidarity,
The CUPE 3906 Executive Committee
CUPE 3906 Unit 1 Strike Vote Information
Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants (in lieu) will take a strike vote in our ongoing negotiations with the university.
Have Questions about the Strike Vote?
Executive Statement on the Racist Attack Against Ward 14 Candidate Kojo Damptey
The CUPE 3906 Executive Committee condemns the racist attack against Hamilton’s Ward 14 City Council candidate Kojo Damptey that took place on or around October 10th, 2022. Kojo’s campaign poster located at Upper Paradise and Mohawk Road was vandalized with white supremacist graffiti.
We share the view that this action was not a legitimate or spontaneous engagement in debate, but rather a pre-meditated and hateful attempt to silence and intimidate this candidate and BIPOC members of our community in general. The action exemplifies that white supremacy is a pressing problem in our communities, and should be treated as an organized and dangerous component by all people of conscience. The CUPE 3906 Executive Committee re-affirms our commitment against racism and white supremacy. We will be vigilant in our attempts to root out white supremacy and create safe spaces for BIPOC community members to seek voice and representation in whatever institutions they see fit.
In solidarity,
The Executive Committee of CUPE Local 3906
Executive Statement in Support of Sex Workers’ Legal Challenge
On Monday, the Ontario Superior Court began hearing a challenge to the Protections of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA). The current challenge, undertaken by 25 sex workers and sex worker organization in Ontario, argues that PCEPA violates section 7 of the Charter. The CUPE 3906 Executive Committee stands in solidarity with sex workers in their fight for safer working conditions.
The current legal framework impacts sex worker’s access to safe working practices. While the sale of sexual services is legal under PCEPA, buying sexual services and advertising or communication for the purpose of selling sexual services are illegal. By criminalizing these aspects of sex work, workers have few options for vetting customers and negotiating terms. Further, the PCEPA has been criticized for conflating sex work with human trafficking and limiting sex worker autonomy and agency. Many sex workers also associate the current legal framework with police harassment, despite the sale of sexual services being legal under the current framework. This harassment, as well as the stigma surrounding this type of work, makes it difficult to take action when assault or a breach of terms occurs.
Sex workers rights are human rights!
In solidarity,
The Executive Committee of CUPE Local 3906
Expansion of Unit 2 Professional Development Fund
Dental Change of Coverage (Opt-Out and Family Enrolment) for the 2022-2023 Academic year and “Blackout” Period Reminder
We are now accepting family dental enrolments for Unit 2 members working in the Fall 2022 term. The form to enroll in family dental coverage is now available on our website: https://cupe3906.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/501/2022/08/CUPE-3906-Unit-2-Family-dental-enrolment-2022_2023.pdf
We are also accepting dental opt-outs for the 2022-2023 Academic year for Unit 2 members working in the Fall 2022 Term.
Members can elect to opt-out of the coverage if they have comparable coverage (e.g., with a spouse or a parent). (Please note that GSA coverage does not count as eligible alternate coverage for the purpose of opting-out.) Members must submit Proof of alternate coverage (with your name on it) with a completed opt-out form for their opt-out to proceed. To view what constitutes proof of alternate coverage, please click here: https://cupe3906.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/501/2020/09/PROOF-OF-ALTERNATE-COVERAGE-FOR-OPTING-OUT-OF-CUPE-3906-DENTAL-PLAN.pdf
For a copy of the Unit 2 Dental Opt-Out Form, please visit: https://cupe3906.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/501/2022/08/2022-2023-Dental-OPT-OUT-FORM-U2.pdf
The deadline for all Fall 2022 change of coverage forms and supporting documentation for Unit 2 members working in the Fall 2022 term will be October 1st, 2022. Please submit your change of coverage forms to: administrator@cupe3906.org.
Please note that you must enroll in family dental coverage or opt-out of dental coverage every academic year in which you are working as a Unit 2 member if you do not wish to default (and be charged for) single dental coverage.
Please note: All eligible members may experience a delay in their receipt of dental reimbursements for eligible claims made in September and October. This is due to a coverage blackout/re-enrolment period over which we have no control. If you will be an eligible member heading to the dentist in September or October, please obtain a copy of a completed standard claim form (with tooth surface and procedural codes) from your dentist for reimbursement once the blackout/enrollment period is over. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience.
For more general information about CUPE 3906 Unit 2 dental coverage, please visit: https://cupe3906.org/sessionals-unit-2/unit-2-dental-coverage/
Expansion of Healthcare Benefits for Sessional Faculty
On September 21st the Benefits Committee met to review suggested changes to expand the Unit 2 health care spending account benefits provided to us. These benefits are secured through collective bargaining. Thanks to the hard work of the Unit 2 Bargaining Team and the support you showed to them through the bargaining process, we are pleased to announce that these suggested changes were approved and that benefits entitlements have been expanded for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Previously, the Unit 2 Health Care Spending Account provided a reimbursement of 80% up to $500 in claims, meaning that each member was entitled to up to a maximum reimbursement of $400 per academic year.
The Unit 2 Health Care Spending account maximum has been increased to $500 without any ‘co-pay.’ This means that members can now claim 100% of the costs for eligible expenses up to a max of $500 per academic year. Please note that this is subject to change at anytime due to unforeseen circumstances. Members who have already submitted claims for this academic year (September 1st onward) may submit an additional claim to be reimbursed for any outstanding balance up to the maximum allowed. If you have questions please contact
administrator@cupe3906.org or benefits@Cupe3906.org
You can find more information about the fund here: https://cupe3906.org/sessionals-unit-2/unit-2-benefits/