Upcoming General Membership Meeting

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

Our next General Membership Meeting will take place on Wednesday November 28th at 12:30 p.m. in BSB 108.

 

The agenda will include striking our bargaining support team, the election of a 3-year trustee, various committee elections and appointments (benefits, grievance), and a discussion of the Union’s response to the pending Bill 47 (which purports to reduce the minimum wage increase, end paid sick days, end equal pay for part-time employees, and a host of other changes that will be harmful to workers).

CUPE 3906 Bargaining Teams Elected

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

Congratulations to our recently elected Unit 1 (TAs/RAs) bargaining team: James Watson (Sociology), Mollie McGuire (Sociology), Avijit Mallick (Biology), Nathan Todd (Philosophy), Mehrshad Kafi (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Leah McGrath-Reynolds (Labour Studies), and Chris Fairweather (Labour Studies).

Congratulations also to our recently elected Unit 3 (Postdoctoral Fellows) bargaining team: Zobia Jawed (School of Engineering Practice and Theory), Toby Brown (Physics and Astronomy), Naveed Yasin (Chemical Engineering), and our alternate Abhinav Garg (Chemical Engineering).

Membership surveys for both Unit 1 and Unit 3 members should be out in early December.

Medical Marijuana Covered by Health Care Plan

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

Medical Marijuana and the medical devices you need to use medical marijuana are eligible expenses under our health care spending accounts.

It is required to provide a prescription for medical marijuana and a doctor’s note for for equipment to use/consume medical marijuana to have claims paid out.

CUPE Unit 2 Dental Update

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

We’re sending another quick heads up about the new Unit 2 Dental Plan, which recently went into effect for the first time ever this Fall. If you had not opted out of the plan, you would have noticed a $170 dental premium payment on your October 26th pay stub. This is a one-time deduction, which covers the period from Sept 1, 2018 to Aug 31, 2019. The dental plan provides $1000 of coverage per calendar year, meaning $1000 for the remainder of 2018, before re-setting to provide $1000 for 2019.
We had sent out numerous e-mails throughout September, so hopefully this is not the first that you are hearing from us on the dental plan.
Full details of the plan can be found here: https://cupe3906.org/sessionals-unit-2/unit-2-dental-coverage/
The dental plan is something that sessionals have long identified as a key priority in bargaining. A limited dental fund was secured in 2013, and the comprehensive plan described above was won in 2017 and rolled out for the start of the 2018-19 academic year. It is the first true benefits plan that sessional have secured through bargaining.
For those of you who have taught here previously, you may also have noticed a wage increase of 3% that came into effect as of September 1, 2017. Courses for 3.0 units are now paid a minimum base-rate of $7,407. Effective September 1, 2019, a further 2% increase will come into effective, bringing the base-rate for 3.0 units to $7,555.

General Membership Meeting- October 31st

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

We want to remind you about our upcoming General Membership Meeting, to be held on Wednesday, October 31st at 12:30 in MUSC 311/13.
At this meeting, we’ll be electing 6 members (plus 1 alternate) to our Unit 1 Bargaining Team to represent TAs and RAs in lieu in our upcoming contract negotiations with the Employer. These positions come with a monthly honorarium and provide an important opportunity to ensure that diverse voices are represented in the bargaining process.
We’ll also be electing an Undergraduate Officer to our executive committee, a 2-year trustee to participate in our annual audit, 2 members to the grievance committee, 4 members to the by-laws committee, and 3 delegates to attend the CUPE National Sectors conference in Ottawa.
As always, we’ll have free pizza and can reimburse child care costs if those are required to facilitate your attendance at the meeting.

Ontario Health Coalition Rally- Oct 23

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

There’s an upcoming rally at Queen’s Park (Tuesday, Oct 23rd at noon) held by Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (a CUPE affiliate) and the Ontario Health Coalition in support of strong, accessible, public health care in the face of likely funding cuts from the Ford government.

A bus from Niagara will be making a stop in Hamilton picking up at The Centre on Barton in between Carter’s Oshkosh and La Vie En Rose at 1275 Barton St E, Hamilton ON, L8H 2V4 leaving at 10am sharp.

Please contact Brittany (secretary@cupe2977.com) if you would like to be on this bus for what is expected to be a great rally! You can also sign up at the link below: https://cupe.on.ca/event/rebuild-and-improve-public-health-care-rally/?instance_id=995

 

Rebuild and Improve Public Health Care Rally

 

Unit 3 Postdoctoral Fellows meetings

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

We have an upcoming Special General Membership Meeting for our postdoctoral fellows on Wednesday, October 24th at noon. The agenda will feature two important items:

  1. election of Unit 3 Chief Steward (to represent postdocs on our executive committee)
  2. election of Unit 3 bargaining team (up to 3 members)

The meeting will be held in MUSC 203 and will feature lunch and some free swag. We hope you’ll be able to join us and be interested in representing postdocs and building a #BetterMac!

Fall 2018 General Membership Meetings

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

Fall 2018 General Membership Meetings are as follows:

Weds, Oct 31st at 12:30 in MUSC 311/13 (election of Unit 1 Bargaining Team)

Weds, Nov 28th at 12:30 in BSB 108

 

We’ll also be having a Special GMM for Unit 3 members only toward the end of October, with an exact date and time TBA

Fight for 5 Years and Fairness

Brad Walchuk Uncategorized

If you were at our amazing social earlier this week (or if you follow us on social media), you would have seen our delicious 5 Years and Fairness cake and the launch of our 5 Years and Fairness bargaining campaign.

As you likely know, both Unit 1 (TAs and RAs in lieu) and Unit 3 (postdocs) are heading into bargaining next spring, and we wanted to kick off our bargaining campaign with a clear message: doctoral students need 5 years of guaranteed funding. Based on information we’ve previously gathered, the average length to complete a doctoral degree at Mac is 5.5 years. The current guarantee provides doctoral students with only 4 years, and quite simply that isn’t sufficient or reflective of how long it takes to complete a degree, as virtually any PhD student can tell you.

As the year goes on, you’ll be hearing much more about this campaign and what else it contains, but the message is simple: doctoral students deserve 5 years of guaranteed funding. It’s only fair!