Winter office closure – December 20th

Brad WalchukUncategorized

The CUPE 3906 Office in KTH B111 will be closed over the winter break, starting Wednesday, December 20th at 12:00 pm. The re-opening date will be communicated in the next mailer. The executive and staff will be out of office and responses to emails will be delayed. Please submit all Prosure (HCSA, GAF, Childcare etc.) benefits before Monday, December 18 at 4 pm. **We cannot guarantee that anything received after will be sent prior to the holiday closure.**

We hope you have a safe and restful holiday, thank you all for the solidarity in 2023, see you in the new year!

General Membership Meeting (GMM), in-person/virtual hybrid – December 13, 2 pm

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Join us for our last monthly General Membership Meeting of the 2023 Fall term on Wednesday, December 13 at 2 pm to ring in the end of the year! Join us in-person or virtually on Zoom this coming Wednesday, November 15th from 2 pm. If you have not already, we ask that you fill out the Member-in-Good-Standing form. As always, pre-registration will be required to attend this meeting. These meetings usually run 2+ hours; we ask that you attend if you can, or drop by in-part otherwise.

Please remember: You must register with your McMaster email address no later than 10 AM on the day of the GMM. Using your Mac address is needed for us to confirm your union membership prior to the meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.  Any members wishing to present pre-written motions should provide theirs via email to president@cupe3906.org by Monday, November 13.

Register in advance for our GMM here. You will receive a Zoom link after registration, and the room number if you indicate in-person attendance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtdO2tqDIvHNEKiTh3Ij3FXWpiRyNRl3CY 

Study for Solidarity – A CUPE 3906 Co-Marking & Co-Studying Session

Brad WalchukUncategorized

We are thrilled to invite you and your club to our upcoming event, “Study for Solidarity,” hosted by CUPE 3906. 

Date: WednesdayNovember 22

Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Location: please email undergrads@cupe3906.org 
We are excited to introduce this event, which provides a fantastic opportunity for undergraduate TAs to come together and make the most of their marking and homework assignments. Here’s what you can expect:

Collaborative Study: Bring your marking or homework and join your fellow undergraduate TAs in a productive and collaborative study environment. This is a fantastic chance to tackle those assignments and exams with the support of your peers.

Refreshments: We’ve got you covered with a selection of snacks and drinks to keep your energy levels up throughout the evening.

Exciting Draw: To make things even more exciting, show us your tracked TAing hours, and you’ll be entered into a draw for a chance to win a Food Basics/Fortino’s gift card. Don’t miss your opportunity to win!

We’d love for you to be part of this event and to help us create an inspiring atmosphere for everyone involved. Feel free to spread the word and encourage your members to join us for a night of productivity and camaraderie.

If you have any suggestions or ideas to make this event even more exciting, please don’t hesitate to share them with us. We are always open to making this event the best it can be.

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you at “Study for Solidarity.” Let’s come together and make this event a resounding success! If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to email me.

In Solidarity,

Adi Gelb

Undergraduate Officer
CUPE 3906

Unit 3 (Postdoc) Training Opportunities

Brad WalchukUncategorized

We have a full listing for the month of November. Please review and if you have questions, please contact postdoc@mcmaster.ca or reaching out directly to the host department/organization.
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Planning Your Postdoc – (in-person) November 14, 10:30am-11:30am
Whether you want to pursue a career in academia, research, or beyond, you will want to use your time on campus wisely to leverage your training opportunities and experience. This interactive 60-minute workshop will help you to consider your professional goals for your postdoc, and begin planning for your next steps.
This workshop will be delivered in person. Registration required. Please reach out to Catherine Maybrey, Coordinator Postdoctoral Affairs and Research Training, at postdoc@mcmaster.ca with any questions.
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Reimagining Mindsets for the Future – November 16, 4:30pm-6:30pm Registration required
In this interactive workshop, mindsets that are known to support future thinking in a world that is less known to us – such as multiple identities and paradoxical thinking – will be explored. With the use of visual arts along with group coaching techniques, you will gain a deeper appreciation and become more self-aware of your own mindset. We also focus on unpacking multiple identities and its impact on creative thinking and problem solving within an uncertain future. You will have the opportunity to learn tools to shift your mindset, thinking and mood to reimagine and apply next steps for your future within the context of work, academia and beyond. This workshop will include refreshments and a behind-the-scenes look at relevant artworks in the M(M)A collection. Please reach out to Catherine Maybrey, Coordinator Postdoctoral Affairs and Research Training, at postdoc@mcmaster.ca with any questions.
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Teaching & Learning Workshop – Exclusively for Postdoctoral Scholars November 21, 2:15pm-3:15pm
Join Kim Dej (Vice-Provost, Teaching & Learning) and Erin Allard (Lead Educational Developer, MacPherson Institute). Learn about the teaching and learning supports, resources and opportunities available to you at McMaster and explore how you can refine and experiment with your own teaching and leadership practice.  No experience required, and you do not need to be currently teaching to attend.
This event will be delivered in person and is available exclusively for postdoctoral researchers. Please reach out to Catherine Maybrey, Coordinator Postdoctoral Affairs and Research Training, at postdoc@mcmaster.ca with any questions.
Registration is required and space is limited.
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Industry Partnerships in Research – November 23, 2:30pm-3:30pm. Registration is required.
Join our guest speaker, Ross Huyskamp, from the McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO) in this presentation on graduate student involvement in industry-partnered research projects, including considerations for professionalism, IP, confidentiality, and publication. If you are working with an industry partner, or are considering it, this session will help you to identify your next steps and the resources you have available to assist you.
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ROADS (Research Office) Info Session for Postdoctoral Researchers – November 29, 2pm-3pm
Postdoctoral Researchers at McMaster are required to apply for funding, and they can also hold their own research accounts. Before you start your applications, you’ll want to attend this info session. Amanda Graveline, Senior Advisor, Development from McMaster’s Research Office for Administration, Development and Support (ROADS) will share insights, expertise, and best practices on applications, grant management, and things you should know as an early career researcher. This session will touch on all disciplines and the Tri-Agencies (SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR). You can submit your questions in advance of the info session. If you have any questions about this event, please email Catherine Maybrey at postdoc@mcmaster.caRegister on Zoom
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Teaching & Learning Certificates of Completion Program Winter 2024 Registration Opens Friday, December 1st at 8:30am
Register by emailing Emily Hynes (hynese@mcmaster.ca).
Please note: Registration is first come, first served. Space is limited and fills quickly. There is no waiting list. See attached email for details.
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Fundamentals of IP Online Course now available from MILO
Fundamental knowledge of both Intellectual Property (IP) and commercialization will enhance the impact and value of your ideas and innovations.
The McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO) is proud to announce our new online course: “Fundamentals of IP at McMaster,” which explores the core principles of IP and commercialization. The course is now available for free to students, staff, and faculty through Mosaic.
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Next Gen Pregnancy Initiative now accepting applications. – Dec 5, 2023 Deadline
We invite you to be a part of this initiative aimed at advancing research and innovation in the field of maternal and fetal health.
Grant Amount: $500,000 over four years
Eligibility: Researchers, scientists, and institutions dedicated to maternal and fetal health research
To learn more about the Next Gen Pregnancy Initiative and the application process, please visit Burroughs Wellcome.

Apply Now: Unit 2 Bargaining Mobilizer Book-Off

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The union is looking for one (1) dedicated member to book-off the role of Bargaining Mobilizer for member education, engagement, organizing, and campaign work to support upcoming rounds of Unit 2 bargaining. You must be a member in good standing of CUPE 3906 from any of our three bargaining units. These positions are for roughly 10 hours per week and are compensated at the ‘Class A’ TA rate contained in the Unit 1 Collective Agreement. Complete information about this book-off position, including job description and duties, can be found here: 2023 U2 Member Mobilizer

 

Interested members should apply by the end of day Monday, December 4th, 2023 by sending a CV, cover letter, and two references to CUPE 3906 President, Vic Wojciechowska, at president@cupe3906.org.

On Academic Freedom and Critical Scholarship

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On October 18th, 2023, CUPE 3906 membership voted to adopt the follow statement around academic freedom and critical scholarship during our General Membership Meeting (GMM) in response to the call from the Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism, Racism, Colonialism & Censorship in Canada (ARC):

“CUPE 3906 unequivocally supports the academic freedom of its members. This freedom includes the right to pursue research and open inquiry in an honest search for knowledge that is free from institutional censorship, including that of the government. CUPE 3906 acknowledges that the freedom from political and institutional censure is especially critical at times of war and conflict where scholarly voices are an important corrective to widespread disinformation campaigns.

CUPE 3906 supports the anti-racist and decolonial initiatives in Canadian educational institutions and opposes anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia along with all forms of racism and hatred. We will strive to ensure our members are free from experiencing bigotry and hate in our classrooms and campuses. The Local is committed to upholding the security and safety of all scholars who are targeted because of their scholarship and political work. We call upon institutions, like McMaster University, to implement measures to safeguard our members.

CUPE 3906 acknowledges that targeted attacks against scholars who support the Palestinian struggle have a chilling effect on the academic freedom of our members in the classroom, in their research, and in campus politics more broadly. These repressive tactics must be challenged, and scholars must be free from all forms of recrimination and harassment that may occur due to the nature of their research.“

November General Membership Meeting – Nov 15th at 2 pm (hybrid in-person/online)

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Join us for our third general membership meeting of the term, in-person or virtually on Zoom this coming Wednesday, November 15th from 2 pm. If you have not already, we ask that you fill out the Member-in-Good-Standing form. As always, pre-registration will be required to attend this meeting. These meetings usually run 2+ hours; we ask that you attend if you can, or drop by in-part otherwise.

Please remember: You must register with your McMaster email address no later than 10 AM on the day of the GMM. Using your Mac address is needed for us to confirm your union membership prior to the meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.  Any members wishing to present pre-written motions should provide theirs via email to president@cupe3906.org by Monday, November 13. Please reach out to the Local President if you have questions about how to do so, or what can be brought to the forum of a general membership meeting.

Register in advance for our GMM. You will receive a Zoom link after registration, and the room number if you indicate in-person attendance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYufuCqpjkrHNPoyU08jXlf5ECu9xQ-DvDR 

Statement on Backlash to Support for Palestine

presidentUncategorized

This statement was developed with profound care by the Executive Committee in response to backlash over a tweet posted on ‘X’ in solidarity with Palestinians early Saturday afternoon. As we mourn the attacks on the sanctity of human life and indiscriminate killing of civilians, we have taken the time as an Executive to have conversations unpacking our responsibilities as settler and Indigenous workers dedicated to living decolonized realities. We have the responsibility to continue these conversations with our membership and the broader labour movement. We likewise believe in open and principled communication. To this end, we encourage any member with concerns or questions to reach out to president@cupe3906.org.

As the Executive Committee of CUPE 3906, we refute the conflation between support for Palestine and an end to the occupation as condoning violence against civilians. We refuse the distortion of our message for any other contexts and the disingenuous fabrication of what the CUPE 3906 Executive stands “for” or “against.”

As a Local, we have consistently maintained a position that opposes the arms trade and Canadian state funding for imperial war while imagining a world beyond war. Decades of oppression, occupation, and apartheid have given rise to the struggle we are seeing now, escalating a cycle that results in even more death and suffering. We recognize that, as Jewish Voice for Peace voiced in their statement, “oppressed people everywhere will seek — and gain — their freedom.”  Just as we invoke in our Land Acknowledgement every meeting, “from 1492 Landback Lane to the fisheries at Sipekne’katik and far beyond, we stand in solidarity with Indigenous people who continue to assert their territorial sovereignty despite mounting risks of settler colonial violence.” 

On October 7, 2023 at 12:37 PM, the President of CUPE 3906 reposted a video on X (i.e. Twitter) shared by Nadi Abusaada, a Palestinian architect, historian, and Aga Khan Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. The video, originally posted by Al Jazeera producer Rania Zabaneh, shows a bulldozer destroying part of a militarized barbed wire fence built by the Israeli state, separating the Gaza Strip from the rest of occupied Palestine. Abusaada described this as the “breaking down of colonial barriers.” The re-post by CUPE 3906 added the following message, “Palestine is rising, long live the resistance” with a quote by Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani: “Everything in this world can be robbed and stolen, except one thing; this one thing is the love that emanates from a human being towards a solid commitment to a conviction or cause.” This was cross-posted to Instagram.

Later that day, these posts were removed following violent messages received by Executive members and staff over email. McMaster issued a statement expressing that the University “is shocked and disappointed at the comments made by CUPE Local 3906 regarding this violence,” following that while CUPE 3906 “is an independent group with the right to express its views, the university is in disagreement with any statement condoning violence.” We reject any characterization of our message, replying to images of apartheid infrastructure coming down, as celebrating civilian death.

Our years of support for Palestine is rooted in historical context that Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is “unlawful under international law,” as per the October 2022 report to the United Nations General Assembly. It likewise rooted in the context that unequivocal resistance to colonial subjugation is a right enshrined under UN resolution 37/43. The context CUPE 3906 draw upon stands with “well respected human rights organizations like Amnesty International and HRW,” echoing the National Council of Canadian Muslims. Amnesty International’s 280-page report released in February 2022 painstakingly details Israeli apartheid, particularly striking in the 75th year of what Palestinians call the “Nakba” (“catastrophe” in Arabic): the displacement from their homes which began alongside the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. Since 2007, Israel has imposed an air, land, and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, popularly characterized as the world’s largest “open air prison.”  The message we released early Saturday afternoon was enshrined in these contexts – not with intention to celebrate death of civilians or loss of life.

The voices of Palestinian students, faculty, politicians, and their allies are targeted everywhere by the highly organized Zionist lobby in Canada, its targets inclusive now of CUPE 3906 and the President of CUPE Ontario. The rhetoric being levvied at Local 3906 is not new: characterizing our messaging as support for “terrorism,” with the aim of silencing support. We also recognize that Palestinian community members face this backlash time and time again: being principled means being clear and conscionable in our response, and recognizing that decolonization is “about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies and schools” (Tuck & Yang).

With the siege now ordered by Israel on the Gaza Strip, an area covering 365 km² with over 2 million inhabitants, and as the death toll rises, we join voices from the ground and the international community in calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to arms exports and military funding from Canada to Israel. The Executive Committee is united against colonial occupation and state violence, and stands in solidarity with those in decolonial struggle everywhere.

Sessional Faculty Dental Plan Information (Enrollment, Opt Outs, Family Coverage)

Brad WalchukUncategorized

As you might be aware, CUPE 3906 has bargained a comprehensive dental plan for Sessional Faculty (and their dependents) that offers 100% reimbursement on many procedures and provides up to $1000 per calendar year in coverage (or $2000 for those who enroll in family coverage). Information about specific details, costs, exceptions, and processes can be found here: https://cupe3906.org/sessionals-unit-2/unit-2-dental-coverage/  and full details about the opt out and family enrollment procedures can be found here..
All sessionals are automatically enrolled in this plan.
You may opt-out of the Dental Plan by completing the ‘CUPE DENTAL PLAN OPT-OUT AUTHORIZATION’ and CUPE 3906 direct deposit payment forms and by providing the required proof of alternative coverage. You must submit the ‘OPT-OUT’ form and ‘proof of coverage’ to administrator@cupe3906.org by October 2nd, 2023For returning members, please note that opt-outs must be completed EACH YEAR to keep your opt-out status valid. You can find the opt out form here: https://cupe3906.org/files/2023/08/2023-2024-Dental-OPT-OUT-FORM-U2.pdf
Family coverage is available for both spouse (married, common-law, or same sex) and children. To activate  coverage, complete the ‘CUPE DENTAL PLAN FAMILY COVERAGE ENROLLMENT AUTHORIZATION.’ You must submit the forms to administrator@cupe3906.org by October 2nd, 2023No forms will be accepted after October 2nd, 2023. For returning members, please note that these forms must be completed EACH YEAR in order to keep your family coverage valid. You can find the family enrollment form here: https://cupe3906.org/files/2023/08/CUPE-3906-Unit-2-Family-dental-enrolment-September-2023.pdf
Please see the attached letter for the specific details of the plan, including costs, information about deadlines, and an overview of processes.
For any questions about the Dental Plan, please email administrator@cupe3906.org
Please direct any other questions to staff@cupe3906.org or leadsteward_sessionals@cupe3906.org

The CUPE 3906 Potluck Picnic

Brad WalchukUncategorized

We are all part of the union: we work together and share together, and in that spirit we are organizing a Park Potluck Picnic party!
The party will take place on Tuesday October 3rd, as part of the CUPE 3906 Week of Welcome (October 2-6). Location: Alexander Park, in the Ainslie Wood neighbourhood just south of campus.
Sign up now to take part in the potluck! Once you have signed up through the form, you can come pick up a $25 Food Basics grocery card at the union office on campus, to buy ingredients and cook a meal you would love to share. Besides the food we will all bring, the organizers will also be supplying hot drinks to stay warm 🙂
Union office location: basement of Kenneth Taylor Hall (KTH) B111