CUPE 3906

Article 12.06 of your Collective Agreement states that employees will not be required to grade deferred term work or deferred exams submitted after the end of the academic term in which an employee holds an assignment. It is understood that such work is the responsibility of the course instructor. However, if an employee agrees to grade deferred term work or deferred exams submitted after the end of the academic term in which an employee holds an assignment, the employee will be paid at the rate specified in Schedule “A,” based on the employee’s status at the time of grading. Furthermore, if an employee agrees, at the Employer’s request, to attend an academic integrity hearing or at an academic appeal hearing, the employee will be compensated for such attendance at the rate specified in Schedule “A,” based on the employee’s status at the time of such hearing.

No Work Required After December 24th

Article 20.03 of your 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, with 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.

Homewood Health Counselling

This past semester has been tough for all us for a variety of pandemic-related reasons. We wanted to remind you that you have free and confidential access to the Employee Family Assistance Program (through Homewood health). Homewood offers you free and confidential and professional counselling on depression, stress, bereavement, relationships and more, as well as counselling for careers, work-life balance, and health.

Log-in details and information guides on using the new homeweb.ca website are located on McMaster’s Employee and Family Assistance Program webpage here.

Dental Plan Information

For those of you enrolled in the Unit 1 dental plan, the $1000 in single coverage (or $2,000 for family coverage) per calendar year will re-set as of January 1, 2019. Unused money does not carry over, but all members enrolled in single coverage will now have $1000.00 for 2019 (and $2,000 for family coverage), in addition to any claims from eligible dental procedures done in 2018.

Office Closure

Lastly, please note that the “online office” is now closed and many 3906 email accounts will not be monitored and messages won’t be addressed until the New Year. If, however, you have any emergency emails, please direct them to staff@cupe3906.org and someone will respond accordingly.

CUPE 3906’s next General Membership Meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 16, from 12 PM to 2 PM. Any members wishing to present pre-written motions should provide theirs via email to president@cupe3906.org by Tuesday, December 15.

As with recent virtual GMMs, pre-registration will be required in order to attend this meeting. Please note that you must register with your McMaster email address no later than 10 AM the day of the GMM. This is the only way we can verify your membership prior to the meeting. Any registration requests made from non-McMaster email addresses will be denied.

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

Stay tuned for related communications in the lead up to next week’s GMM, and be sure to send any related questions to president@cupe3906.org. We hope to see you all there!

Congratulations on (almost) reaching the end of another term! We hope that you’re staying well in light of the current pandemic. Before the term comes to an end, we wanted to provide some updates that might be useful. This message contains important information about the following:

• Professional Development Fund (PDF) deadline extension + invitation to join the Benefits Committee 
• McMaster’s policy on work from home expense reimbursements during COVID-19
• Post-Contract Work
• Large Class Supplemental Fee

The deadline for Unit 2 Professional Development Fund applications has been extended to Monday, December 13. All Unit 2 PDF applications for the Fall 2020 term will be reviewed after this deadline.

The application form can be found here. Please note that electronic submissions are now preferred and should be sent to benefits@cupe3906.org in a single document. Any questions should also be sent to benefits@cupe3906.org.

We’d also like to take this chance to remind you that we are always looking for members to join the Benefits Committee. For Unit 2, this committee is especially important for ensuring an efficient and accurate adjudication of PDF applications. The time commitment is minimal and all meetings are now held virtually. If you are interested in joining the Benefits Committee, please email benefits@cupe3906.org and/or staff@cupe3906.org.

With the end of term fast-approaching, we would also like to remind members of the Employer’s policy for reimbursing work-related expenses during the pandemic. This policy assists employees who are working from home due to the pandemic closure, and contemplates a number of expenses such as long distance and internet overages, printer ink, and more.

Members should contact their employment supervisors and/or Department or Area Chairs for more information about how to submit expenses. Please note that the Union is not involved in administering this policy, nor can our benefits funds be used to cover the costs associated with working from home.

You can find more details about the policy here and here.

Any post-contract work (that is, work requested by your supervisor and done after your final grades have been submitted) is separate from your contract and payable at a rate of $66.70/hour. This would include reviewing grades that are being challenged, marking exam that have been deferred, and dealing with cases of plagiarism. This is not an exhaustive list, and more information, including the appropriate form you’ll need to fill out and submit to get paid, is available here. If you are asked to perform this work and are collecting EI, please let us know.

We have also heard that most sessionals have yet to been paid the Large Class Supplemental Fee. For those of you earning the base rate and teaching a class with more than 75 students, please note that your last pay stub should reflect an additional supplementary payment of $2.00 per student per unit for each student above 75. For a typical 3-unit course, this would amount to $6.00 per student for each student above 75. If you taught a class with more than 75 students and you have yet to see the supplemental fee added, please reach out to your department ASAP to confirm that this additional supplement will been paid on December 18. If the payment is not processed by the end of this week, it will not make the December 18 pay and will come on the December 31 pay date. This could adversely impact EI, so please follow up with your administrator this week and let us know if there are any issues.

On November 8, 2020, a young activist by the name of Amar Fayaz was abducted by what appear to be paramilitary security forces in Pakistan. Amar is affiliated with the Progressive Youth Alliance and is active in the struggle for free education and employment for all and the restoration of student unions in his country. To date, his whereabouts are still unknown, even to his wife and daughter, and local police cannot explain his arrest, nor have they registered charges against him.

The Executive Committee of CUPE 3906 joins a growing number of workers and unions in condemning the disappearing or activists and organizers like Amar, and in calling on the Pakistani Government to release Amar immediately. We are also encouraging our members to sign the Pakistan Trade Union Solidarity Campaign’s petition for Amar’s release, and to send letters to relevant officials in Pakistan and at the Pakistan Consulate in Toronto using the templates available on our website.

We have also made a $500 CAD contribution to Pakistan Trade Union Solidarity, and we encourage other unions in Canada to consider doing the same.

#ReleaseAmarFayaz

Petition: http://chng.it/hRq5Jf4pNY

In solidarity,

The CUPE 3906 Executive Committee

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

(Hosted by the Local 3906)

As academic employees and members of CUPE, we are all too familiar with discussions surrounding labour issues
and the process of collective bargaining to ensure just working conditions. However, when it comes to the vital
research that we engage in day to day, members rarely get a chance to come together on these topics and interact with each others’ work. The goals of this conference are to bring our research together and to provide unique opportunities for collaboration , open up discussion about key labour issues, and ultimately facilitate a creative avenue for building union solidarity.

For this first iteration of this conference the overarching theme will focus on academia, justice and the workplace. We
invite all workers employed in academia to submit an abstract and/or proposal. We highly encourage creative
submissions in addition to the standard talking format (whether that be visual art, multimedia, etc.). Group
submissions for panel presentations are also welcome.

Topic examples include but are not limited to:
● Working in academia
● Equity and discrimination in the workplace
● Anti-black racism
● Other forms of discrimination
● Indigenous rights
● Corporatization of the post-secondary sector
● The role of unions in academia at large

Further suggestions that align with this year’s theme are welcomed.

Due to the current state of travel, this conference will be held virtually over Zoom.

● Conference is to be held between the dates of April 18th to 24th 2021 pending review of abstracts.
● Please email all submissions to organizingchair@cupe3906.org
● The deadline for submissions is January 15th 2021.
● All submissions must include an abstract or project description (250-500 words).
● Submissions must include the author’s name, affiliation, and contact information.
● Submissions from other locals are welcome and encouraged.

We are writing to inform you that the results of the Unit 2 Tentative Agreement vote have been tallied.

Members have voted 89% in favour to ratify the Tentative Agreement.

The Employer must also conduct its own ratification vote in this process.  That vote is scheduled to take place at the December 17^th Board of Governor’s meeting.  Until  the Employer ratifies the Tentative Agreement, the Collective Agreement that expired on August 31, 2020, is still in effect.

Members who would like to view the new Tentative Agreement prior to its final ratification by the Employer are welcome to contact staff@cupe3906.org to obtain a privileged link to view the Tentative Agreement.

On Behalf of everyone involved in negotiating this agreement, we thank you very much for your participation. Please monitor your emails for further developments as we are always looking for ways to engage and consult with Unit 2 members about their working conditions at McMaster.

In solidarity,

Sharoni Mitra

President, CUPE 3906

Mollie McGuire

Vice President, CUPE 3906

This is a reminder that we will be holding an online Special General Membership Meeting (SGMM) tomorrow, November 25, at 1:00 PM EST. The purpose of this meeting is to present the details of the tentative agreement reached by your Unit 2 Bargaining Team and McMaster University.

In order to preserve the security and confidentiality of our SGMM, registration for this meeting will be required. Please note that you must register with your McMaster email address before 1 PM tomorrow. 

To register for this SGMM, click the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvdu6qqTwrGNX9wunlAbX4l8qcaiHSW-qV

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing a link to join the meeting tomorrow at 1:00 PM.

***PLEASE NOTE: While we would strongly encourage all Unit 2 members to attend tomorrow’s SGMM, this is NOT a requirement to cast your ballot for or against ratification. Voting on the tentative agreement will be open to ALL Unit 2 members in good standing – not just those who attend the SGMM – and occur online, via Helios Voting. 

By now, all eligible Unit 2 members should have received their ballot and other information required to vote from Helios (to their McMaster email address). This includes a link to the full text of the new agreement, with all changes highlighted so that each voter can cast their ballot based on informed choice. The ballot will remain closed until after tomorrow’s SGMM, around 2:00 PM EST. You will be notified via email once voting has begun. Voting will close at 5:00 PM EST on Thursday, November 26.

If you believe you are eligible to vote but still have yet to receive your ballot, please email us at staff@cupe3906.org ASAP. Please also get in touch if you have trouble registering for the SGMM via the link provided above.

Out of respect to Unit 2 members, no details about the Collective Agreement will be released until such time as the tentative agreement may be formally presented to Unit 2 members at the SGMM.

On behalf of the CUPE 3906 Executive and the entire Bargaining Team, we would like to thank members for their support during this difficult round of negotiations.  A deal would not have been possible without your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Your CUPE 3906 Unit 2 Bargaining Team

After several days of negotiation in conciliation, your Unit 2 Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement with the Employer.

Details of the tentative agreement will be presented at an online Special General Membership Meeting (SGMM), which will be held on Nov 25, 2020 1:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada).

Voting on the tentative agreement will be online and will occur immediately following the SGMM and will continue until  Nov 26, 2020 5:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada).

We will send more details in a separate e-mail to members about how to participate in the SGMM (held via Zoom) and the ratification vote (held via Helios Voting).  Please note that, due to the pandemic health and safety measures, no meeting or voting will be conducted in person.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please note that, out of respect to Unit 2 members, no details about the Collective Agreement will be released until such time as the tentative agreement may be formally presented to Unit 2 members at the SGMM.

On behalf of the CUPE 3906 executive and the entire Bargaining Team, we would like to thank members for their support during this difficult round of negotiations.  A deal would not have been possible without your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Your CUPE 3906 Unit 2 Bargaining Team

Our Unit 2 Bargaining Team is meeting with the Employer today for ongoing negotiations with the McMaster University Administration. These negotiations are part of a process called conciliation, which precedes a strike or lockout and is assisted by a government-appointed Conciliation Officer.

There are a few outstanding issues at the table.  First and foremost is the Employer’s position on proration—that is, the Employer’s ability to determine, arbitrarily and unilaterally, the amount of work involved in teaching a course (and, by implication, the amount of stipend a member should be paid for teaching).  The Union is absolutely opposed to this position.

The Bargaining Team will provide an update for members following our Conciliation Session today (November 16^th).  Please check your emails for updates, and follow us on social media (@cupe3906 and @cupe_3906).

To support your Bargaining Team and to join our strike committee, please contact Sylvia at mobilizer@cupe3906.org. You can also attend tomorrow’s strike committee meeting, happening via Zoom at 1pm EST. Click here to join the meeting. We hope to see you there!