CUPE 3906

We are now accepting nominations for the annual CUPE 3906 MIKE SKINNER ACTIVIST AWARD!

The Mike Skinner Activist Award is a member-mandated award offered by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3906 on an annual basis. Its title honours long-time labour activist and former CUPE 3906 Staff Member Mike Skinner.

The value of this year’s award is $500 to one person (or committee), an award certificate and an inscription on the Mike Skinner Activist Award plaque. This award is open to all current members of CUPE 3906 (this includes all Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants in lieu, Sessional Faculty, Hourly-Rated Sessional Music Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows), andanyone who has been a member of the local within the past 12 months.

The nomination period for this award is from March 1st, 2017 to March 31st, 2017.

If a suitable candidate has been active in your organization or department, or if you have seen a suitable candidate around campus or the in community, we invite you to nominate them for this award.

Specifically, the recipient of the Mike Skinner Activist Award may have been involved in the following possible issues over the course of their stay at McMaster University:

• Fighting for social justice issues (these issues are diverse and can include environmental justice, labour solidarity, gender equality, equity issues, and the advancement of peace);
• Promoting the welfare of humanity and the environment and the elimination of pain and suffering through acts of community organizing, education and/or solidarity.

This is not an exhaustive list, but includes a few common examples of the things that past award winners have been involved in and that the selection committee considers.

Please review the award criteria, and, when writing your letter of nomination and seeking supporting letters from others, include the nominee’s specific contributions. The main criteria are:

• Impact of their service to the community;
• Length and level of involvement or commitment of the nominee to their act of community service;
• The dedication and courage of the nominee’s activism.

The selection committee is comprised of members of the CUPE 3906 executive and members-at-large. Members of the selection committee cannot nominate a candidate. Members of the selection committee who have personal ties with the nominees must yield their place to another member of the Executive or a CUPE member-at-large nominated by the members of the selection committee.

To download the nomination form, and for nomination instructions, please click here.

This year’s Activist Awards will be presented at the Annual General Meeting on April 5^th, 2017. We look forward to receiving your nomination of an amazing CUPE 3906 member activist.

Have questions? Email president@cupe3906.org or staff@cupe3906.org

   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 on Monday, February 27th 5:00 P.M. in the Burke Science Building (BSB) 104

    Agenda items will include: motion to destroy Unit 1 and Unit 3 ratification vote ballots as per the Local’s by-laws; approval of a new policy on alcohol purchases; a motion to establish an honorarium for the Unit 2 Bargaining Support Chairperson(s) as well as the following elections:

• Bylaws Committee Members
• Health and Safety Representatives
• Delegates to the Annual Convention of CUPE Ontario (4)
• Delegates to the Canadian Labour Congress Convention (2)

So there’s a lot to get through! In addition, we will be canvassing the membership for volunteers to get involved with Bargaining Support in anticipation of negotiations toward a new Collective Agreement for Unit 2 members, which will begin in earnest this summer.

As usual, there will be free pizza and childcare costs to attend the meeting can be reimbursed.

Have questions? Email staff@cupe3906.org

Dear CUPE 3906 and Community Members,

In the light of the recent unfortunate news about Donald Trump’s executive order for imposing visa and immigration ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, CUPE 3906 International Committee and CUPE 3906 would like to state their strong opposition to this notorious executive order. CUPE 3906 at McMaster University is proud of the diversity of its members, staff, and executives regarding faith, religion, color, nationality, sexual orientation, and gender. We stand for diversity and we fight for equity and equality.

Therefore, we strongly condemn this executive order and stand with people in the United States who are protesting this visa and immigration ban. More importantly, we stand with immigrants and refugees who are fleeing conflict and oppression in their countries of origin. Canada truly values diversity and you are all welcome here.

CUPE 3906 at McMaster University

CUPE 3906 International Committee

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 on Monday, January 23rd at 12:00 (Noon) in  BSB B103.

Agenda items include: motion to destroy U1 ratification vote ballots as per the Local’s by-laws; approval to send delegates to the Ontario University Workers’ Coordinating Committee’s (OUWCC) conference and the Canadian Labour Congress Convention; Elections for the positions of:
President
Vice President
Chief Steward Unit 1
Chief Steward Unit 3
Unit 2 Bargaining Team (4 Positions)
Unit 2 Bargaining Team Recording Secretary

There will be free pizza and refreshments and childcare costs to attend the meeting can be reimbursed.

Dear Unit 1 Members,

Unit 1 (TA and RA in lieu) Members: take part in the renegotiation of your Collective Agreement by participating in our Unit 1 ratification meeting and contract vote.

The presentation of the Tentative Agreement for TAs and RAs in lieu will be made at a Special General Membership Meeting (SGMM) immediately following the regularly-scheduled General Membership Meeting on Wednesday, December 7th, at 5:00 P.M. in MDCL 1102.

Voting on the Tentative Agreement will take place for 90 minutes immediately following the SGMM in MDCL 1102, and will follow on Thursday, December 8th and Friday, December 9th from 10:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. in the Mills and Thode Library Lobbies.

Only members of Unit 1 (TAs and RAs in lieu) may vote in the Unit 1 ratification vote.  Both Classification A members (i.e., members holding an undergraduate degree) and Classification B members (i.e., members not holding an undergraduate degree) may vote.  Also, the following members of Unit 1 may vote in a ratification vote:

1. Members who are working as TAs or RAs (in lieu) this term;
2. Members who hold a TA/RA (in lieu) funding guarantee or a contract to work as a TA/RA (in lieu) in the 2016-2017 academic year (i.e., “contract in hand”).

Please note that all members require photo ID to vote.  Some members (especially those members in category 2) may require proof of membership to vote.  [Proof of membership may be a letter of offer indicating your guaranteed funding period (with reference to a TAship/RAship in lieu); a letter of offer for a TAship or RAship (in lieu) for the current academic year; and/or a signed hours of work form from the Fall 2016 term.]

For more Frequently Asked Questions, please see our Ratification Vote FAQ.

Dear Unit 1 (TA/RA in lieu) Members,

The Bargaining Team is pleased to announce that after two days of conciliation we have reached a tentative agreement with the Employer. The agreement substantively addresses many the key concerns you brought to us throughout the process, and along with our counterparts from the Employer’s bargaining team, we are recommending that it be ratified.

We will present details of the agreement at a Special General Membership Meeting, where a ratification vote will also begin. This SGMM will take place immediately following the General Membership Meeting called forDecember 7, 2016 in MDCL 1102 at 5:00pm. Following the meeting, ratification voting will take place the following two days, December 8-9, in Mills and Thode libraries with the voting booths opening at 10:00am and closing at5:00pm each day.

Thank you for your ongoing support and participation during this process. This deal would not have been possible to achieve without your engagement.

In solidarity,

Your CUPE 3906 Unit 1 Bargaining Team

HAMILTON, ON – 2500 Teaching Assistants (TAs) and Research Assistants (RAs) who do the bulk of the frontline instruction, grading, student consultation and research support at McMaster University, are working avoid a strike by negotiating with the university administration to addresses poverty wages, precarious work and outsourcing on campus.

The members of Local 3906 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 3906) have been without a contract since August 31. They are returning to the bargaining table on December 1 and 2 with the assistance of a provincially appointed conciliator in the hopes of reaching a deal.

“We are striving to reach a deal that addresses the financial hardships experienced by our members,” said President of CUPE 3906, Sarah Wahab. “Our members are precarious workers and many of them live under conditions of poverty. The goal for this round of bargaining is to not only address these issues, but to begin the long process of remedying them.”

A recent strike vote taken by the membership has given the local the approval to take strike action if the two sides cannot reach an agreement on these core issues.

“We are looking forward to getting back to the table with a focused package built around the most important remaining issues, as identified by our members,” Wahab said, “These are job security, working conditions, wages and outsourcing.” Students currently face unpredictable hiring practices that leave them unsure of their jobs every semester, workload issues based on the number of classes taught during a semester, reductions in the number of guaranteed hours and wage increases that get eaten away by inflation and the rising cost of tuition.

McMaster University was recently named a top employer in the Hamilton-Niagara Region but academic workers fail to see things that way. “What we are fighting for, job security, working conditions, living wages, these should not be issues at a top employer,” Wahab added. “Our hope is that through negotiations we can get the university to earn this reputation.”

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For more information please contact:

Sarah Wahab, CUPE 3906 President, 905-525-9140 x 24003

Matthew Stella, CUPE Communications, 905-739-3999

Dear Members,