Following two years of COVID restrictions, CUPE Ontario is launching the Women in Leadership Development (WILD) program for Indigenous, Black, and racialized women.

WILD is a radical new leadership program set to start in the Summer of 2022. This new training will equip Indigenous, Black, and racialized women to further think and act strategically and critically, build capacity to communicate with confidence, take risks and build bridges.

Most importantly, it will inspire us to be the creative and courageous leaders the movement needs.

The program will consist of:

• An in-person 5-day session in August 2022
• A leadership project
• Working with a mentor
• A closing weekend session in Spring 2023

We are looking for members from affiliated locals who:

• Have lived experience as a woman who is Indigenous, Black, or racialized
• Bring leadership experience or are new activists
• Come from across the province and sectors

This application is now live and will close July 1 2022 (click here for application)

Contact AROAP@cupe.on.ca if you have any questions or need more information.

Cihan Erdal is a Canadian permanent resident, queer youth activist, doctoral student, and coordinator of the Centre for Urban Youth Research at Carleton University in Ottawa. He was unjustly detained in Turkey on unfounded charges in September 2020, after being swept up in a mass arrest of politicians, activists, and academics in Istanbul.

The Free Cihan Erdal campaign has widespread Canadian and international backing. Cihan has the support of his university and the broader academic community, his union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and many other groups and organizations around the world.

Thousands of people have taken up Cihan’s cause, and it’s made a difference.
Add your voice today: https://act.newmode.net/action/free-cihan-erdal

Our continuing support and solidarity will help free Cihan and bring him safely home to his partner, his studies, and his chosen home country of Canada.

You can stay up to date on Cihan’s situation at freecihanerdal.ca and on Twitter at @FreeCihanErdal

As a reminder, the deadline to submit all PDF applications for the Summer 2022 term will be August 5th. Please make sure that you send all applications to Benefits@3906.org prior to the deadline in order to ensure a timely review of your application.

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

For information about eligibility, entitlement, and a copy of the PDF application form please visit the following website:
https://cupe3906.org/sessionals-unit-2/professional-development-fund-unit-2/

The Bargaining Support/Strike Committee will also be meeting on Friday, May 27, 2022 at 1pm, also on the Zoom platform. We will discuss plans to mobilize Teaching Assistants and Postdoctoral Fellows for their upcoming rounds of bargaining, and we will also begin necessary strike preparations in case a strike or lockout of Sessional Faculty becomes unavoidable. If you are interested in attending, or to find out more information about the Committee, contact Unit 2 Mobilizer and Committee Co-Chair, Walter, at mobilizer@cupe3906.org.

The union will be holding our first General Membership Meeting of the summer on June 1, 2022 at 1pm on the Zoom platform. After the recent strike vote in Unit 2–in which Sessionals voted 85% in favour of authorizing a strike if necessary–and with Units 1 and 3 heading into bargaining soon, attendance at these meetings is more important than ever. In addition to discussing plans to support ongoing bargaining efforts, the union will also be looking to elect a new Undergraduate Officer, Chief Steward (Unit 3), and a Three Year Trustee (expiring in 2024). More information about these positions can be found in our by-laws.

Please register in advance for the General Membership Meeting by visiting the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kc-qrrDIrHtL-p2cWoRT5Q_qZW6GvBYMl

Hamilton, ON – 13 May 2022 – The front-line instructors responsible for a significant proportion of undergraduate teaching at McMaster University have concluded a strike vote after three days of online voting.  Sessional Faculty and Hourly-Rated Sessional Music Faculty at McMaster University, comprising CUPE Local 3906 (Unit 2), voted 85% in favour of providing their Bargaining Committee with a strong strike mandate should negotiations the table with the McMaster Administration fail. 

The Local witnessed a record number of members participating in the vote between May 10^th and 12^th, held online due to pandemic safety measures. “The bargaining team is grateful that a record number of members demonstrated such strong support for the Union’s proposals on the table,” says Chris Fairweather, the Local’s President. This strong mandate speaks to the sky-high inflation rates faced by members, the increasingly precarious nature of employment at postsecondary institutions, and the compensation restrictions imposed on public sector workers by the Ford government’s ‘Bill 124’ legislation. At the same time, the Employer refuses even to discuss options for retirement security and improved job security for members, many of whom have spent decades working at McMaster.

This 85% strike mandate highlights the Employer’s need to take members’ concerns to heart immediately or face job action.  The Employer must work with the Union to find ways to improve job security to support Sessionals in continuing to provide the high quality teaching excellence on which McMaster prides itself as one of Canada’s top-ranked employers.  “We have also seen the Employer issue significant pay increases to upper management and administration over the past few years,” says Fairweather. “Now that we are coming out of our mandatory wage-restriction period, our members – who often juggle multiple jobs – deserve wages gains that address the realities of inflation and keep pace with a rising cost of living in the spirt of respect, equity, and inclusion,” he adds.

The results of this vote do not mean that a strike is forthcoming, but empower the bargaining team to call a strike should further negotiations not provide meaningful gains to members. The employer walked away from our last meeting on April 27^th after one hour of bargaining, declared an impasse, and filed for conciliation. The next step in the bargaining process is conciliation, in which a Provincially-appointed conciliator will meet with the parties.

Local 3906 is eager to put the support of its members into action at the bargaining table and is committed to membership engagement throughout the process. Please watch for further updates and additional bargaining support initiatives.

CUPE Local 3906 (Unit 2) represents over 600 Sessional Faculty and Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario each academic year.

Contacts: 

Chris Fairweather, President – president@cupe3906.org

Brad Walchuk, Staff Representative- brad@cupe3906.org

A PDF version can be found here: https://bettermac.ca/files/2022/05/CUPE-3906-strike-vote-release-final-2022.pdf

It is the end of the semester, and many due to McMaster’s insistence on a precarious employment relationship, may sessionals will find themselves out of work. This means that you may find yourself without income – or with a major deduction in your income. We encourage you to apply for Employment Insurance, or EI.

You should be/should have been able to collect EI beginning on April 17th if you have enough insurable hours. For information on EI, click here. If you did not apply for EI immediately, it is not too late to apply. More information can be found at the link above.

If you have already served a withholding period in the past 52 weeks, you should have been able to collect EI as of April 17th. If you have not served a withholding period, you will need to serve one now (April 17 to April 23rd) and you should be able to collect as of April 24th.

If you are not working this spring semester, we would encourage you to apply to EI. Service Canada will determine your eligibility. In certain instances, it is possible to both work and collect EI (with some clawbacks) if the amount of work have in the winter has dropped substantially from the work you had during the fall term. More information is available here.

If you are teaching in the spring semester, you should be reporting to Service Canada that you are back working as of May 2, 2022. If McMaster is your sole employer, you should report your first day worked/first day for which paid as May 2, 2022. This means that you can collect EI from either April 17th to May 1, or April 24 to May 1.

The employer has already uploaded your ROE automatically to Service Canada for the past semester.

The final pay date for the winter semester was April 22, which covers the period from April 3^rd to April 16^th. April 16^th is the date that you can report to EI as your last day of work/last day for which paid if you are applying to EI over the spring. The full pay schedule can be found here: https://cupe3906.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/501/2021/09/Pay-Dates-for-CUPE-TA-and-Sessional-Faculty_2021_22.pdf

If you have any additional questions, please contact brad@cupe3906.org or Carolyn (chiefsteward_sessionals@cupe39306.org)

The Postdoctoral Support Fund is a fund secured by your Union in collective bargaining. The fund provides postdoctoral fellows with access to up to $500 to cover expenses for various circumstances. Previously the fund provided support for one-time, unanticipated emergencies. In the current COVID crisis, you and your family may find yourself in such a situation. We are happy to announce that under the terms of the new collective agreement, the fund can also provide support for childcare subsidy and extended UHIP for employee and/or dependents.

Unit 3 members are eligible to apply to the Postdoctoral Fellow Support Fund to address areas of financial need. The fund is currently limited to a maximum of $500 a person, and is administered through the School of Graduate Studies. In our most recent round of bargaining, CUPE 3906 secured a representative on the adjudication committee to advocate for our members who apply.

The fund has historically been a total sum of $20,000 per year; however, effective September 1, 2020, the fund increased to $40,000 per year. This was another change we secured through our collective bargaining efforts.

More specific details about the eligibility, process and requirements to apply for this fund is laid out in the documents found at the link below.

For more information about the fund application process and for a link to the application form, please visit: https://gs.mcmaster.ca/app/uploads/2020/01/postdoctoral_support_fund_2017.pdf