Healing With Feelings: Queer Poetry Night

Mary Ellen CampbellUncategorized

CUPE 3906’s Equity Action Committee is proud to announce that we will be hosting a Queer Poetry Night event as part of a larger initiative titled “Healing With Feelings.” These events are opportunities to meet new folx, engage with each other’s creative works, and heal collectively from intersecting oppressions. Please join us on Thursday, November 30th at The Staircase (25 Dundurn Street North, conveniently located near a transportation hub). The doors open at 7:00PM until 10:00PM. Unfortunately, the space is not wheelchair accessible, but moving forward we will ensure that all future events are held at accessible locations.

Even if you’re not reciting any poetry, this event is meant to show support and solidarity to your fellow peers. If you’re interested, we have 14 available slots to choose from. Please sign-up at the link below by including your name in the comments section: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0c4daaaa28a7f85-queer. We will also host an open mic for the last 30 minutes of the event.

Here is the link to the Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/143659373024560/

We look forward to seeing you there!

Unit 2 Bargaining- Conciliation- Nov 21 and 22

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Your elected Bargaining Team has secured two dates with a provincial conciliation officer (November 21st and 22nd) as we continue to bargain for a new Collective Agreement for Sessional Faculty. We are confident that, with the province’s help, we can reach a deal with the Employer’s negotiators that will represent a #BetterMac for our members and for the community as a whole. Our position heading into these talks is even stronger thanks to the strike mandate we received from you some weeks ago. As always, we will keep you posted as events unfold. In the meantime, you may be hearing from our mobilizer Amarjeet with an invitation to participate in various actions around campus.

Questions??? staff@cupe3906.org 

 

General Membership Meeting- Wednesday November 15

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Dear Members,
The Union’s most significant decisions are made by Union members at General Membership Meetings (GMMs).   

All CUPE 3906 members of all 3 units (TAs and RAs in lieu, Sessional Faculty, Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows) can attend regular GMMs and get involved in the Union’s decision making processes. 

Our next GMM will be held next week on Wednesday, November 15th at 5:00PM in the Burke Science Building (BSB), Room B136.
Agenda items will include: notice of upcoming changes to the Local’s Bylaws, discussion around the institution of a Unit 2 teaching award, and well as the following elections:
  • Vice President – External
  • Health and Safety Committee Seats
  • Delegates to the Hamilton and District Labour Council
As usual, there will be a free dinner and childcare costs to attend the meeting can be reimbursed.
Have questions? Email staff@cupe3906.org
In solidarity,
Graham Baker, President, CUPE 3906

Allegations of EI Overpayment

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Members (especially Sessionals), if you have received a notice from Service Canada alleging an overpayment of EI funds and a request to pay them back, please contact your union immediately as a reporting error may be to blame.

Campus Dentist Update- They’ve Unionized and Want a Fair Agreement

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Dear Members,
 
We’re writing with some news about the Campus Dentist, which we know many of you use for cleanings and other dental work.
 
About 8 months ago, the staff at the Campus Dentist voted to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Since then, they have been trying to negotiate a first contract with their employer (i.e. the dentists themselves, backed up by the Ontario Dentists Association) with little success. From what we’ve been told, the employer has been intransigent throughout the process, refusing to meet regularly and digging in on every issue. Talks have not been going well, to put it mildly.
 
The conditions these workers – hygienists, assistants, and receptionists – are facing in their jobs are unacceptable. Two particularly galling examples of employer mistreatment that we’ve been told about are the fact that hygienists in particular are paid only for contact time, which means that they are paid only for the time it takes to perform a cleaning and not for the prep or paperwork that accompanies it, a fairly egregious example of wage theft. In addition to this, the workers at this office don’t have decent benefits, including a viable dental plan. This is worth repeating: the dentist’s staff doesn’t have access to a good dental plan!
 
The union has let us know that there will be some leafleting taking place this week (the leaflet is attached to this email), potentially beginning today. So if you happen to be in student centre, stop by and show your support for these folks! And if you have an appointment this week, be sure to tell your hygienist, assistant, or the person who greets you at the desk, that you appreciate their hard work.
 
In solidarity,
Graham Baker, President, CUPE 3906

Strike Vote Results

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Dear Members,

We would like to thank you for coming out to our strike mandate vote meeting on Tuesday evening and for dropping by one of polling stations over the last few days to provide your union’s elected bargaining team with a clear strike vote mandate. Thanks as well to the volunteers who staffed polling stations and acted as scrutineers.

We feel both heartened and empowered by the support that a 78% ‘YES’ result represents. The support that the Union’s membership has shown to it’s elected bargaining team demonstrates a high level of engagement and a real commitment of your desire to secure strengthened job security, an improved workload, improved benefits, and fair wages that are in line with what Sessionals at other top universities in Ontario earn. Having heard the collective voice of our membership, we are even more confident in our ability to bargain a fair Collective Agreement for a #BetterMac.

Be reminded as well that a successful strike vote mandate does not mean that we are on strike, nor does it mean that a strike is imminent! Rather, you have empowered the bargaining team to call a strike should no further progress be made at the table. There are, in addition, a number of steps in the legal process around strikes/lockouts in the province of Ontario that would need to be followed before such a decision could be contemplated.

The next step is conciliation, a process that we have already initiated through the Ontario Ministry of Labour. As always, we will continue to keep you updated on the progress of negotiations.

In solidarity,

Graham Baker, President

Strike Vote- Dates, Times, and Locations

Brad WalchukUncategorized

The vote will be discussed at a Special General Membership Meeting on the evening of Tuesday, October 24th in the Arthur N. Bourns Building (ABB), Room 165. The information begins at 5 p.m. with a vote to follow. You will have a chance to hear from the Bargaining Team and ask any questions, or voice any concerns, that you might have about the bargaining process, conciliation, or the strike mandate vote.

The voting will open immediately following the meeting on the 24th.

Voting will then continue until Friday, October 27th from 8:00AM to 7:00PM according to the following schedule:

Wednesday, October 25th: The Lobbies of Mills and Thode Library + the Main Floor of the Degroote School of Business

Thursday, October 26th: The Lobbies of Mills and Thode Library + the Main Floor of the Degroote School of Business

Friday, October 27th: The main floor of the Engineering Technology Building (ETB)

Unit 2 Bargaining Bulletin #3- October 21, 2017

Brad WalchukUncategorized

As you know, Unit 2 (Sessionals) are holding a strike vote from October 24 to 27. Here is our 3rd bargaining bulletin, which provides members with important updates of the (lack of) progress made at the bargaining table this fall. It shows the current language, your union’s latest proposal, and the Employer’s latest proposal. The Employer’s latest proposal fails to address any of our priorities is a meaningful way, and that’s why your elected bargaining team is encouraging a “yes” vote in the upcoming strike mandate.