We wanted to let you know that the TA training that was agreed to in the last round of Unit 1 bargaining is in the development phase, with the Union having met with the MacPherson Institute and Employee-Labour Relations last week. This training will provide all TAs with 5 hours of paid training on various topics such as anti-oppression and best practices and strategies for TAs.  The Union has representatives on various sub-committees related to the training, as well as the central steering committee. The training will be in place by September 2021, so be sure to stay tuned for more updates until then!

As many of you are aware, our recent General Membership Meeting included two Executive Committee elections. We are pleased to announce that Sarah Elshahat was elected to the position of International Officer, and Kyle Morrison was elected to the position of Benefits and Advocacy Officer. Additionally, Wouter van den Berg was recently named the new co-Chair of our Organizing Committee. Please join us in congratulating Sarah, Kyle, and Wouter, and in thanking all members who put their names in the running!

Change of dental coverage reminder: If you hold an undergraduate degree, are working as a TA or RA in lieu during the Winter 2021 Term, and did not work as a CUPE 3906 member in the Fall 2020 Term, there may be important updates about dental benefits (specifically, changes of coverage) and relevant deadlines (January 27, 2021) that apply to you.  For more information, click here.

The Hamilton District Labour Council is campaigning for the city of Hamilton to pay its student workers a Living Wage. As university students, you can help in two ways:

(1) Emailing a quote on why YOU as a student need to be paid a living wage to hdlcsummeryouth@gmail.com and
(2) Signing up to talk to Hamilton City Council about why you support a living wage for student workers on February 8. If interested, please email hdlcsummeryouth@gmail.com and someone will help you sign up!

Did you know? Meeting with your supervisor is paid work! In our last round of Unit 1 bargaining (for TAs and RAs in lieu), we clarified that any time spent meeting with your employment (TA or RA in lieu) supervisor to discuss your work is paid time!  This means that your Hours of Work form should reflect the time it takes to meet with your employment supervisor to fill out the Hours of Work form itself. If your Hours of Work form does not reflect the time it took you to meet with your employment supervisor to discuss your TA/RA in lieu duties and fill out your Hours of Work form, you have the right to meet with your employment supervisor and revise the Hours of Work form – and your workload – to make sure that you get paid for your time. To view this protection in your Unit 1 Collective Agreement, see articles 13.03(b) and 13.04 (page 18) here.

Finally, we also wanted to remind you about our online hours tracker, developed with help from CUPE Ontario. You will need to make an account, and from there you can easily join the CUPE 3906 group. From there, you will see a number of pre-loaded drop-down options of common TA tasks from which to choose. Given that a number of our Unit 1 Members (TAs and RAs in-lieu) have expressed concerns about going over their hours allotted by their employment contracts, we are encouraging you all to use this hours tracker. The more you track your hours, the better chance we have at ensuring you aren’t overworked or underpaid! Please also feel free to forward any feedback or technical issues to president@cupe3906.org.

Change of dental coverage reminder: If you are working as a Sessional Faculty or Hourly-Rated Sessional Music Faculty in the Winter 2021 Term, and you did not work as a CUPE 3906 member in the Fall 2020 Term, there may be important updates about dental benefits (specifically, changes of coverage) and relevant deadlines (January 31, 2021) that apply to you. For more information, click here.

Records of Employment: We have heard that many sessionals were not provided with a Record of Employment (ROE) in late December, particularly those who taught in the fall and are teaching in the winter. A ROE must be provided by your Employer when there are seven consecutive days of no earnings, and you would have had no earnings from McMaster over the holidays. The final day of work/pay for the Fall 2020 Term was December 24 and the first day of work/pay for the Winter 2021 Term was January 6. This means that you could have collected Employment Insurance (EI) over the break between those dates. If you are eligible, we would encourage you to apply (it is not too late, but please hurry). You will, however, need a ROE. If you worked in the fall and are working now, you applied for EI over the holiday break (or would like to), and you did not see a ROE in your Service Canada profile, please contact bwalchuk@cupe3906.org and we will ensure that McMaster processes a ROE for you.

Wage increase: Effective at the start of the semester, the base wage for 3.0 units increased from $7555.00 to $7630.55. Your courses were likely posted for the previous $7555 amount and your signed contract was likely for that amount as well. In short, very few of you would have signed a contract for $7630.55. We have confirmed with HR that this wage increase will be automatically adjusted in the MOSAIC system, so you will not need to sign a new contract and your wage amount will be increased accordingly. The total stipend is made in 8 equal installments, so if your gross wages (ie. before taxes) are less than $953.81, please contact bwalchuk@cupe3906.org and we will investigate and ensure you are being paid at least the base rate.

Did you know? An important note about unplanned leaves:  In the event that you require an unplanned leave (for any period of time- a single class or a much longer duration), you need to advise your Supervisor and to make up for any missed class and lost time that was missed. However, when making up the class(es) is a practical impossibility, an alternate arrangement, approved by the Supervisor, will be made. Your unplanned leave is without loss of pay, subject to Articles 18.01 (b), (c), (d) and (e). Unplanned leaves may include, but are not limited to; sickness leave; bereavement leave; court leave; jury leave; family responsibility leave; domestic violence leave, and any exigent circumstances preventing access to classrooms.

This is just a friendly reminder to register in advance for our upcoming General Membership Meeting, happening Wednesday, January 27, at 12 PM. If you plan to present a member motion, we ask that you email us at president@cupe3906.org in advance of the GMM. And remember: You must register using your McMaster email address no later than 10 AM on the day of the GMM.

For more information about the GMM, including the executive and other committee elections on the agenda, click here.

Register in advance for our January GMM here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUlce-oqTguEtMWnlIH3H2oRtACMd-ckPLN

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. * Please allow for some delay as each registration has to be approved manually. *

The CUPE 3906 Executive has written letter of solidarity to show our support of Boğaziçi workers who are fighting for their right to democratically elect their university president! Boğaziçi is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. They are facing police violence and arrests but their resistance is growing, and we are proud to stand with them! #BogaziciDireniyor

We wanted to remind you about the CUPE online hours tracker (<– Click Here), developed with help from CUPE Ontario. You will need to make an account, and from there you can easily join the CUPE 3906 group. From there, you will see a number of pre-loaded drop-down options of common TA tasks from which to choose. Given that a number of our Unit 1 Members (TAs and RAs in-lieu) have expressed concerns about going over their hours allotted by their employment contracts, we are encouraging you all to use this hours tracker. The more you track your hours, the better chance we have at ensuring you aren’t overworked or underpaid! Please also feel free to forward any feedback or technical issues to president@cupe3906.org.

Beginning January 27, 2021, and running until July 27, 2021, international students holding an expired or expiring post-graduation work permit (PGWP) can apply for another open work permit offered by the federal government. The new work permits will be valid for 18 months and offer flexibility to former international students whose post-graduation plans were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This change was made as a pandemic recovery measure to assist in mitigating the decline of international students remaining in Canada. The new work permit program will also facilitate graduates in gaining the needed work experience to later apply for permanent residency.

To be eligible for the new work permit, an applicant must:

• Have a PGWP that expired on or after 30 January 2020, or a PGWP that expires in 4 months or less from the date they apply;
• Still be in Canada; and,
• Have a valid temporary resident status or be applying to restore their status.

Application forms and details on how to apply will be added on January 27, 2021 to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s webpage concerning COVID-19 and international students.