December Exam Update

Brad WalchukUncategorized

***DECEMBER EXAM UPDATE *** Many universities have moved in-person exams online due to ongoing Omnicron concerns. We’ve inquired about the current state at McMaster, here is the response:
“December 2021 exams were already scheduled to be online. Any exams that were scheduled to be in-person with an approved exception in undergraduate and graduate programs must move to online delivery. Campus remains open and many of our students depend upon the campus for stable access to the internet. Students can continue to take their online exams in the library or other approved classroom spaces.”

End of Term Work Announcement- Contractual Obligations End December 24th

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Congratulations!! You’ve reached the end of the semester and the end of your fall term TAship. While you will be getting one additional pay cheque (December 31st), your work obligations are over, regardless of whether you have any hours remaining from the Hours of Work form. This means that you are officially on vacation and cannot be compelled to perform TA work or other employment tasks for McMaster. Article 20.03 of the Collective Agreement states that: All hours of work assigned to the TA for the fall term, including those allocated for marking exams and associated duties, shall be completed as assigned but no later than the close of business on December 24. 

It goes on, however, to recognize one exception as follows: If a TA is requested to perform duties after December 24th, additional hours may be assigned and completed over the period up to and including December 31st. For each such hour worked, a stipend of half the regular hourly wage rate will be paid on the second regular pay date in January.  
 
This means that if you are asked to perform work stemming from the fall term – regardless of what is left on your Hours of Work form – and you agree to perform that work you are paid additionally over and above what was on your contract. If you have concerns about working past December 24th, please do not hesitate to contact staff@cupe3906.org

Successful Resolution to TA Training Grievance in the Faculty of Engineering

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Your Union raised concern that some of our members (specifically, returning TAs in the Faculty of Engineering) were only being paid for two of the five paid hours of the new, university-wide 5-hour TA training that came into effect in September 2021 and filed a grievance to ensure payment for all members. The Letter of Understanding that instituted the new training (i.e., the “Letter of Understanding re: Training” that can be found at the end of our Collective Agreement) clearly determines that all TAs would be paid 5 additional hours for undergoing this new training, no exceptions were made for any faculty, thus no TA should be left out of the deal.

 

We have recently reached a settlement with management that will allow everyone to be paid for the full 5 hours. If you have only been paid for 2 hours, you can complete an additional 3-hours of training that will allow you to receive a total of 5-hours of paid training.

 

We strongly encourage all members to complete the full 5 hours of training if you have not already, especially those returning TAs in Engineering. Please note, for the 3 hours you have yet to complete/be paid for, you can select from a variety of modules to best reflect your own interests and needs.
 
To check if you have only been paid 2 hours, you can log into Mosaic and on the top navigation bar, choose “Employee Self Service”, then click on “Pay” square. Look for a cheque value above average and click on it (make sure to disable any pop-up blockers). A PDF file with your paycheque will pop up and there should be a line in it named “TA Train”, and it should equal 5 hours and $224.75 in earnings if you are a grad TA, or $130.35 if you are an undergrad TA.

 

In order to receive payment for the training, you must successfully complete all 3-hours of training, including achieving a score of 100% on the quiz that is part of each training module, by no later than December 31, 2021. Information about how to register for the training can be found at: https://hr.mcmaster.ca/app/uploads/2021/08/TA-Training-Communication_How-to-Register.pdf

For those of you who are in this situation and complete the remaining 3-hours of training, you will be paid the 3-hours on the January 28, 2022 pay deposit.

Please note that if you do not successfully complete all 3-hours of training as noted above, you will not be paid for any partially completed training and you will not be able to complete the training, with pay, at a later date.”

Please contact Brad (brad@cupe3906.org) if you have any questions about the information provided. Please note this grievance and resulting settlement applied only to returning TAs in the Faculty of Engineering. All other TAs were paid the full 5 hours as per the Collective Agreement.

The official release by the parties that was sent to your inbox can be found here.

If you experience any issues registering for this training, please contact David Ryan at ryandv@mcmaster.ca

Exceutive Statement in Solidarity with HCCI

Brad WalchukUncategorized

The CUPE 3906 Executive stands in solidarity with the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI), who’ve recently received hate calls in response to collective efforts to protect Black youth from targeted arrest and state violence. We are pained to hear these hateful, unabated expressions of white supremacy and anti-black racism, and we condemn the on-going normalization of such violence and the deep harms of criminalizing Black community members who are working to protect our unhoused neighbours.

We unequivocally support grassroots organizing by those fighting to materially transform Hamilton into a livable city for all and those fighting to dismantle racial capitalism. We furthermore recognize and wholly appreciate how integral Hamilton’s Black community has been to these courageous and front-line struggles, and the subsequent risks they continue to endure. We join the HCCI and other organizations in calling for the charges against the six protesters and observers to be dropped.

Their courage and compassion values life over private property, and this stands in great contrast to the city’s repressive governance, its many unprincipled counselors and our callous Mayor Fred Eisenberger, and the brutality of Hamilton Police Services – all of whom are complicit in the emboldening of white supremacist actions in Hamilton. For these reasons and many more, we continue to call for accountability and transformation by defunding the police, by adequately funding housing and social services, and removing the police from union representation.

In Solidarity,
President Sharoni Mitra on behalf of the CUPE 3906 Executive

A PDF copy is available here: https://cupe3906.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/501/2021/12/Exceutive-Statement-in-Solidarity-with-HCCI.pdf

Solidarity with the Land Defenders of Wet’suwet’en

Brad WalchukUncategorized

On November 18, wielding assault rifles, helicopters and canine units, the RCMP raided the Gidimt’en Checkpoint and arrested unarmed Wet’suwet’en land defenders and supporters in an effort to break up the blockade of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The occupation started in September and halted the efforts to build a key portion of the over 400-mile pipeline within Wet’suwet’en lands that violates both Wet’suwet’en and settler laws.

The Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project is an encroachment on Wet’suwet’en lands and lacks the consent of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, putting it in violation of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

In December 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) called on Canada to “immediately halt the construction and suspend all permits and approvals for the construction of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline in the traditional and unceded lands and territories of the Wet’suwet’en People” and “guarantee that no force will be used  against Secwepemc and Wet’suwet’en Peoples and that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] and associated security and policing services will be withdrawn from their traditional lands.” The Canadian government failed to meet the November 2021 deadline for response to the UN CERD.

The RCMP played the soundtrack to Freddy the horror film over the radio as they approached, and then used axes and chainsaws to break into a cabin without a warrant. They pointed assault rifles at land defenders as they removed them from their land. After the raid, RCMP burned the cabins at Coyote Camp to the ground mirroring a long standing tactic colonial forces have used to violently remove indigenous people from their land on Wet’suwet’en territories and beyond. All in the name of a pipeline that will jeopardize their sacred headwaters, essential for the forest and its wildlife, and that has never had the free, prior, informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en people.

The colonial violence perpetrated by the RCMP flies in the face of Canada’s commitments to reconciliation, the UNDRIP and also climate action. One should not forget that British Columbia is suffering from extreme weather calamities linked to climate change, fueled by the burning of fossil fuels like those this pipeline would transport.

The RCMP must withdraw at once from all unceded Wet’suwet’en lands and land defenders and supporters must be cleared of all charges. Here in Hamilton, Six Nations community members have occupied Highway 6 bypass in a solidarity action, you can reach out to iswg@cupe3906.org  to find out how you can help with the camp-out and in providing supplies. To find more information on how you can do your part to stand with the Wet’suwet’en people, visit https://www.yintahaccess.com/take-action-1  . An academic letter of support has been published here too and you are invited to add your name.

Click here to read our Local’s previous statement in support of Wet’suwet’en land defenders.

Professional Development Fund applications are due December 8th

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Don’t forget! Professional Development Fund applications are due the last day of classes (December 8th). Please make sure you send your PDF application to Benefits@cupe3906.org prior to the deadline to ensure that your application can be adjudicated in a timely manner.

Unit 2 members (Sessional Faculty and Sessional Music Faculty) can apply to the Professional Development Fund (PDF) administered by the Union.

This fund is intended to assist with expenses related to professional development linked to your teaching that fall into the following  categories:

  • Conference Presentations/Participation;

  • Certification or Association Fees;

  • Books/Subscriptions

  • Research and Training;

  • Teaching Materials/Resources (excluding technological expenses)

You can find more information by visiting our website: https://cupe3906.org/sessionals-unit-2/professional-development-fund-unit-2/