Dear Members,

As you may have heard, McMaster University announced its return-to-campus measures in a January 5th letter from President David Farrar and Provost Susan Tighe. The return-to-work plan states the following:

Our plan to have all classes delivered virtually for the week of January 10th, with the exception of some clinical programs, remains in place.  We will incrementally offer more hands-on learning to our students in alignment with the latest government and public health measures.

Beginning January 17 – Undergraduate labs, studios, clinical and other high priority hands-on learning and experiential activities will be in person, with limited exceptions. 

Beginning January 31 – All level-one undergraduate courses will be in person giving students who have had limited opportunity to interact and spend time on campus the opportunity to adjust. All graduate courses offered at the Ron Joyce Centre will also begin on January 31.

Beginning February 7 – All in-person classes begin for all students (undergraduate and graduate).

This is in stark contrast to Mohawk College, which announced that all classes in the Winter 2022 semester will be delivered in a remote or virtual format. As Mohawk College noted, “the ongoing spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant has created uncertainty” for the community and a clear decision at the beginning of the semester “will allow students to plan ahead with certainty.” We would also add that a clear and early decision provides certainty for teaching staff, who cannot be expected to pivot from one format to another on a whim and require sufficient time to move to remote delivery.

While we believe that a focus on in-person delivery is pedagogically sound and in the best interest of staff and students alike, doing so at the risk of staff and students is dangerous. Ontario has had one of its deadliest pandemic months in January and the situation is only expected to worsen.  Universities have already been exempted from distancing and capacity limits in teaching and learning spaces, meaning that rooms have the potential to be just as over-crowded as they were pre-pandemic.

While dangerous and almost uncontrollable hazards such as Omicron exist, the Employer should limit hazards to workers and students by minimizing on-campus activities where safer alternatives exist.  When workers and students are required to be on campus, safety standards that go above and beyond minimum standards should be in effect. Workers who are not willing to face the risk should be offered virtual appointments.

To return to in-person work, we require a stronger health and safety plan which mitigates risk for both workers and students. This includes:

• Mandatory N95, KN95 or KF94 masks provided by McMaster. McMaster, which boasted a surplus of $232 million last year, should be providing these to all staff and students that it expects to be on campus and should not be downloading those costs on staff and students who have already faced financial hardship during the pandemic;
• The provision of freely available and accessible rapid tests for all staff and students to ensure maximum safety when coming to campus;
• Proper distancing and capacity limits that are stronger than the bare minimum that the provincial government has permitted;
• A reporting and tracing system of all confirmed COVID cases on campus, that includes actively reaching out to staff and students (via email, Mosaic, or Avenue) about known cases and their location, rather than posting an update online;
• Easy access for students and staff to the view following information for each room on campus:
  • The dimensions of the room (length/width/height in ft).
  • HVAC design flow rate (in cfm) and measured flow rate (cfm).
  • Proportion of outdoor air supply in %.
  • Total air turnovers per hour (ACH).
  • MERV rating of the filters installed.
  • Whether any supplemental portable air filters are installed.
  • Whether or not C02 monitors are installed in the room or available to staff to measure C02 levels in our classrooms.
  • Clear instructions on the operation of HEPA Filter Units and Air Purification Units (e.g., guidance on keeping units on, whom to call when units break down, etc.)
• The low-barrier option to continue work virtually or immediately return to virtual work if aspects of this stronger health and safety plan are not sufficiently met or the worker feels the risk is too high for the duration of the pandemic;
• Transparency in the factors, measurements, and scientific assessments used to determine re-opening measures;
• Fair compensation to instructors for the added work of delivering their courses in a hybrid format when large numbers of students are inevitably unable to participate in in-person learning, as well as any additional support the added work might warrant, including additional paid training, TA support, etc.; and
• Paid sick days for a full isolation period of an employee or a member of their household, even if this is more than what is contained within a collective agreement.

A return-to-school will have disproportionate impacts on members of the McMaster community. A petition being circulated by a group of students rightly notes, in part, that “Qualifications for accommodations must be eliminated.  It is unacceptable that disabled, Black, Indigenous, people of colour, elderly, and immunocompromised people be sacrificed in favour of return to the status quo.  We must carry forward the lessons learned throughout this pandemic to create a more inclusive university that puts commitment to innovation and excellence into concrete action.”

The petition maintains that “thoughtful and innovative integration of in-person and off-campus components is necessary and we urge ongoing development while making the provision of existing online tools such as Zoom for “live” classes throughout the Winter term the very basic minimum.” We agree, but this can only be achieved if adequate support is provided to instructional staff, especially those staff who are precariously employed.

Returning to in-person instruction in the midst of a pandemic is irresponsible and jeopardizes the safety of the McMaster community as a whole. While workers would like to return to in-person work, it cannot be done by ignoring the toll of this ongoing pandemic on front-line workers and by not doing all we can to decrease the spread. If the Employer continues to insist on a physical return to campus, it can only be done with the effective safety and inclusionary measures we have articulated above.

We ask you to please share this letter with friends and colleagues and to forward your concerns to David Farrar, McMaster’s President and Vice-Chancellor, at president@mcmaster.ca , or by phone: (905) 525-9140, ext. 24340.

In solidarity,

Your CUPE 3906 Executive Committee

A PDF version of this letter can be downloaded here: https://cupe3906.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/501/2022/02/CUPE-3906-Return-to-Work-open-letter.pdf

We have received a few questions about payment for the winter semester and feel that an update to all members would be useful. There is not a pay date on January 21, 2022 nor was there on January 14th. The final pay for the (Fall term) was December 31st, and the first payment for the Winter Term is January 28, 2022. There is a reason for this.

This year the winter semester started on January 10, the latest calendar date that the semester can begin. The first biweekly pay period (for most permanent employees) fell on January 14, the latest calendar day in which a first pay period of the year could run. This occurs infrequently, but is possible depending how the semester and calendar lineup.

Wages paid to you are one week in arrears. This means that the January 14 pay covered the last week in December and the first week in January – a time when Sessionals were not employed (and thus were eligible to collect Employment Insurance). For those of you working this winter, your contract started on the first day of the semester (January 10), instead of starting the contract on January 1. This more accurately reflects the period you work, and allows those of EI to collect for a longer period.

You should be/should have been able to collect EI from January 1st to January 9th if you have enough insurable hours. For information on EI, click here. If you did not apply for EI over the holidays but met the criteria, 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 would have been able to collect EI as of January 1st. If you have not served a withholding period, you could have served one week over the holidays and should be able to collect EI for a day or two. However, you will have served the one-week waiting period, which means you won’t need to do so again in the spring.

If you are not working this winter 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 were collecting EI over the holidays and are teaching this semester, you should be reporting to Service Canada that you are back working. If McMaster is your sole employer, you should report your first day worked/first day for which paid as January 10, 2022.

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

The final pay date for this semester is April 22, which covers the period from April 3rd to April 16th. April 16th 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 questions, please contact brad@cupe3906.org or Carolyn (chiefsteward_sessionals@cupe39306.org)

CUPE National is publishing a series of fact sheets on sexual violence and harassment in post-secondary institutions, and the steps your union can take to address it. The first of 5 fact sheets can be accessed here: https://cupe.ca/responding-sexual-violence-and-harassment-campus-and-duty-represent .

This fact sheet presents the multiple options for reporting or pursuing a complaint on experiences of sexual violence and harassment on campus.

In case you missed the news, McMaster is starting a voluntary testing program and will be distributing a limited number of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) to TAs and Sessional Faculty who are providing in-person teaching / instruction over the next few weeks. These members will receive the tests through their Faculty, however an exact date hasn’t been given to us yet. If you don’t hear or receive anything in the coming weeks, please contact your departmental administrator.

Individuals who can participate in this voluntary rapid testing program will be contacted directly by McMaster’s Rapid Test Distribution team. The announcement also says that “the effectiveness of this strategy will be closely monitored over the next two weeks with hopes to expand the distribution of test kits as access to inventory allows”.

Management has published its plans for improving ventilation on the Back to Mac website.  Among other measures, they confirmed that any room that has a reading of less than 6 equivalent air changes per hour (eACH) will not be used for classes.

We are asking our members to please verify the list of rooms available on the website. If you see any issues with a room that you will use, please get in touch with us and with your department chair. If your classroom or TA office is not listed, contact your administrator and/or the Union and we will push for a reading. As we hear more and more people concerned with the return to campus, it bears mentioning that the more we contact our departments and management to voice our concerns and dissatisfaction, the more they will need to pay attention to the problems we are facing.

We will hold a free online Mobilizing for Bargaining training on February 16, 10:00 – 13:00. This training is open to all our members and will prove to be very useful this year.

Our Unit 2 (Sessional Faculty) is currently bargaining a new Collective Agreement, however in August the Collective Agreements for Unit 1 (TAs and RAs in lieu) and Unit 3 (Postdocs) will expire and it’ll be their turn to bargain. We must be prepared when the time comes to ensure we will not lose our rights and be able to expand them and increase our pay.

If you’re interested in participating, please click here to register. The number of seats available is limited, so don’t wait till the last minute!

If you have any questions, you can reach out to organizingchair@cupe3906.org and vicepresident@cupe3906.org and we’ll be happy to answer them. We look forward to meeting you at the training!

As you probably have heard by now, McMaster University announced its return-to-campus measures in a January 5th letter from President David Farrar and Provost Susan Tighe. We believe these measures are nowhere near enough to address our members’ concerns and we are organizing our response. Some of us have already met to discuss our strategy and we will meet again this coming week. If you’d like to join us to voice your concerns and strengthen our demands, please send an email to vicepresident@cupe3906.org and we’ll loop you in.

We have received a few questions about payment for the winter semester and feel that an update to all members would be useful. There is not a pay date on January 21, 2022 nor was there on January 14th. The final pay for the (Fall term) was December 31st, and the first payment for the Winter Term is January 28, 2022. There is a reason for this.

This year the winter semester started on January 10, the latest calendar date that the semester can begin. The first biweekly pay period (for most permanent employees) fell on January 14, the latest calendar day in which a first pay period of the year could run. This occurs infrequently, but is possible depending how the semester and calendar lineup.

Wages paid to you are one week in arrears. This means that the January 14 pay covered the last week in December and the first week in January – a time when Sessionals were not employed (and thus were eligible to collect Employment Insurance). For those of you working this winter, your contract started on the first day of the semester (January 10), instead of starting the contract on January 1. This more accurately reflects the period you work, and allows those of EI to collect for a longer period.

You should be/should have been able to collect EI from January 1st to January 9th if you have enough insurable hours. For information on EI, click here. If you did not apply for EI over the holidays but met the criteria, 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 would have been able to collect EI as of January 1st. If you have not served a withholding period, you could have served one week over the holidays and should be able to collect EI for a day or two. However, you will have served the one-week waiting period, which means you won’t need to do so again in the spring.

If you are not working this winter 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 were collecting EI over the holidays and are teaching this semester, you should be reporting to Service Canada that you are back working. If McMaster is your sole employer, you should report your first day worked/first day for which paid as January 10, 2022.

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

The final pay date for this semester is April 22, which covers the period from April 3rd to April 16th. April 16th 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 questions, please contact brad@cupe3906.org or Carolyn (chiefsteward_sessionals@cupe39306.org)

Dear PSAC 901 members,

On behalf of the CUPE 3906 executive – which represents approximately 3,500 Teaching Assistants, Sessional Faculty, Hourly-Rated Sessional Music Faculty, and Post-Doctoral Fellows at McMaster University – we wish to express our support and solidarity with Queen’s Graduate Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, and Teaching Fellows in your current round of bargaining. Your demands, including an additional year of guaranteed employment, mental health supports and rebates, mandatory and paid anti-racist training and sexual violence prevention training, and a revised accommodations process, are essential for the wellness of your workers and for a proper job performance, even more so during the troubled times of a harsh global pandemic. As post-secondary workers ourselves, we are all too familiar with the approach employers are taking at the bargaining table and it is disappointing to see the Employer’s lack of interest in continuing to meet with your team, going so far as to claim your demands were “unreasonable”.  We stand in solidarity with you and urge you to stay strong as you continue to fight for better working and learning conditions at Queen’s University.

In solidarity and on behalf of the CUPE 3906 Executive,

Leah McGrath Reynolds

Vice President External, CUPE 3906

a PDF version of this letter can be found here