CUPE 3906 members in each of our three units (TAs, Sessionals/HRSMF, Postdocs) have access to McMaster’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) at no cost under our collective agreements. This service is confidential and provides access to a wide variety of counselling services and is offered under the same basis as other employee groups on campus. Effective April 1, 2023, McMaster has contracted a new provider (Telus Health) who will be taking over from Homewood.

Information about the new EFAP provider, including contact information, can be found here and here. To contact Telus Health for EFAP, call 1-833-366-4544 or download the LifeWorks app (via your AppStore).

Any members who are currently accessing ongoing counselling through Homewood will retain access to their current provider, even beyond April 1st.

To learn more about the EFAP as well as mental health and well-being resources available to McMaster employees, please see:

• Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP)
• Mental Health Resources
• Employee Well-being

The Mike Skinner 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 recipient of the Mike Skinner Award may have been involved in the following possible issues over the course of their time with CUPE 3906:

• 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, mobilization, education and/or solidarity;
• Labour organizing and solidarity in support of workers in Hamilton, Canada, or abroad.

The value of the award is $500 to one person (or committee), an award certificate and an inscription on the Mike Skinner 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), and/or anyone who has been a member of the local between January 2022 and March 2023. This year’s award will be for the 2022-23 year.

The nomination period for this award is from February 7, 2022 to March 7, 2023.

Award Criteria:
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 criterions 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, and 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.

This year’s Award will be presented at the Annual General Meeting in late March or our GMM in early April, 2023.

We look forward to receiving your nomination of an amazing CUPE 3906 member.

For further information please contact president@cupe3906.org or staff@cupe3906.org

Unit 2 members (Sessional Faculty and Sessional Music Faculty) can apply to the Professional Development Fund (PDF) administered by the Union. The final Winter 2023 term deadline for the Unit 2 PDF is April 12th, 2023.

We are now accepting applications electronically for professional development funds until further notice. Please e-mail your application in one document to your benefits officer at benefits@cupe3906.org 

For information about eligibility, entitlement, and a copy of the PDF application form please visit:
https://cupe3906.org/sessionals-unit-2/professional-development-fund-unit-2/

If you have questions about how to submit your application, please contact: benefits@cupe3906.org and/or administrator@cupe3906.org

CUPE Local 3906 is organizing a zine in commemoration of the 2022 Unit 1 strike.

We invite unit 1 workers who walked the picket line with us to contribute to a zine in any form! Contributions to the CUPE3906 Unit 1 strike zine can include poems, photos, short stories, blog style reflections, how to’s, songs, QR codes that connect to virtual content and more! The idea is for the zine to be part memoir, part manifesto, part instruction manual. We will be distributing this zine to 3906 members and saving a box for Unit 1 3906 members set to go back to the bargaining table in 2027.

As of right now we are asking for folks to email us if they’re thinking they would like to contribute to the zine. Please submit your ideas for your contribution via email to comms@cupe3906.org by April 30th, 2023. We will be following up to meet with contributors in early May.

If you’d like to help produce and edit the zine, or have any questions, please contact comms@cupe3906.org

In 2022, your bargaining team secured an innovative and groundbreaking Reproductive Health Fund. The inclusion of this fund into our bargaining package was member-driven and reflects the various reproductive needs of our diverse membership. It was secured due to the support and solidarity of the union’s membership.

Under the Reproductive Health Fund, CUPE 3906 Unit 1 members (TAs and RAs in lieu) are able to claim up to $150 in reproductive  health related expenses per academic year. These expenses include but are not limited to, menstrual products, HPV vaccines, prenatal vitamins, OTC Plan B, IUD insertions, transportation to and from reproductive healthcare services etc. As with our Gender Affirmation Fund, we recognize that the financial costs associated with reproductive health may vary greatly from person-to-person.

You can find out more here, and if you have questions please reach out to benefits@cupe3906.org 

Join us for this year’s Annual General Meeting, taking place over Zoom on April 6 starting at 3pm. Each year at the AGM, a new Executive Committee is elected. The elections will take place in the following order:

President; Vice President; Vice President External; Secretary-Treasurer; Recording Secretary; Chief Steward, Unit 1; Chief Steward, Unit 2; Chief Steward, Unit 3; Health & Safety Officer; Benefits & Advocacy Officer; Equity Officer; International Officer; Undergraduate Officer

In order to serve on the Executive Committee, you must be a member-in-good-standing of the union. You can nominate yourself or someone else in person in the meeting, or you can nominate yourself in advance by emailing brad@cupe3906.org to express your interest in any of these positions. Unsuccessful candidates for one position may contest an election for subsequent positions, so please indicate all positions you are nominating yourself for if you are self-nominating in advance. More information about these positions can be found in our bylaws.

Please register in advance for the meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsdOmvqT0qHNPAaaTHDN_wfEsSNuKZmVSN

CUPE 3906 ANNOUNCES THE 17^th ANNUAL MIKE SKINNER AWARD

The Mike Skinner 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 recipient of the Mike Skinner Award may have been involved in the following possible issues over the course of their time with CUPE 3906:

• 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, mobilization, education and/or solidarity;
• Labour organizing and solidarity in support of workers in Hamilton, Canada, or abroad.

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.

The value of the award is $500 to one person (or committee), an award certificate and an inscription on the Mike Skinner 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), and/or anyone who has been a member of the local between January 2022 and March 2023. This year’s award will be for the 2022-23 year.

The nomination period for this award is from February 7, 2022 to March 7, 2023.

If a suitable candidate has been active in your organization or department between January 2022 and March 2023, or if you have seen a suitable candidate around campus or the in community, we invite you to nominate them for this award.

Award Criteria:

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 criterions 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, and 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.

This year’s Award will be presented at the Annual General Meeting in late March or our GMM in early April, 2023.

We look forward to receiving your nomination of an amazing CUPE 3906 member.

For further information please contact president@cupe3906.org or staff@cupe3906.org

About CUPE 3906:

CUPE 3906 represents roughly 3200 precarious academic workers employed as Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants (in lieu), Sessional Faculty, Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows at McMaster University each academic year.

For a PDF of this notice, please click here

Wages have increased under our most recent collective agreement, but that does not mean that your scholarship can be reduced. The university cannot offset TA wage increases by reducing your scholarship.

Specifically, Article 16.04  of our collective agreement states the following: The parties recognize and acknowledge the distinct and separate nature of academic financial support that the Employer provides to graduate students on the one hand, and the entitlement o employment income in accordance with the terms of this Collective Agreement on the other hand. As such, the Employer agrees that an employee’s entitlement to the wages set out in Schedule “A” of this Collective Agreement will not result in a reduction of, or offset against, the academic financial support promised by the University to a graduate student. 

In short, TA wages and student-based scholarships/bursaries/top ups are completely separate from one another, and an increase to your wages cannot mean a loss of scholarship money.

Similarly, if you apply for an additional TAship and receive it, your department cannot reduce your scholarship entitlement as a result of this additional, unexpected work. We have been made aware of this happening, and if you see any reduction in your scholarship and believe it is linked to you getting an additional TAship or to an increase in your hourly wage, please contact us immediately and we can help to sort things out for you.