CUPE 3906

We’re sure that you’ve all heard of MOSAIC, the university’s new multi-million dollar online interface. We’re also fairly sure that you’ve experienced at least one (but probably more) complaints with MOSAIC.  You may not have realized though that MOSAIC recently turned one year old.

We figured what better way to mark this monument failure than by throwing MOSAIC a birthday bash?

Please join us on Thursday, December ^4th over the lunch hour at our table in MUSC to help ‘celebrate’ MOSAIC’s 1^st birthday.  We’ll have free cake, free non-alcoholic champagne, and a few giant birthday cards that you can (anonymously) write all of your complaints about MOSAIC in.  We’ll deliver them to the appropriate people later on.

We hope to see you there!

Enthusiastic congratulations to former President Evan Johnston, who was recently awarded the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) Young Worker Award at the Cliff Pilkey Awards dinner in Toronto. Well done!!!

December 6th marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. It is both a day for remembering and honouring and a call for action against the ongoing and widespread violence experienced by women in Canadian society.

In the spirit of solidarity and with a call for men to act against all forms of gender based violence, a Memorial Walk for Men has been organized by the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) McMaster to take place on campus from 10 am until 11 am on Friday, December 4, 2015. They will meet outside the Indigenous Studies Program entrance of Hamilton Hall. Directly following, participants are invited to attend the McMaster Anti-Violence Network Commemorative Service taking place at 11 am in Gilmour Hall Room 111.

Unfortunately the CUPE 3906 International Committee event “Take your stress out” this Friday is postponed for Monday, December 7th @ 5:00 pm. We apologize for any inconvenience.

We would be happy to see you all on that Monday at 5 in JHE-328 (lounge room).

Why?

Beside eating delicious pizza, talking about issues that bother us as TA/RAs, and play some awesome board games, we will be discussing writing a letter that CUPE 3906 International Committee wants to send to the Parliament Members in Ottawa and possibly to the prime-minister. In the letter we want to give our thoughts about better immigration benefits that we should have when applying for permanent residency since we are pursuing a degree from Canadian Universities. In the current immigration programs we are pretty much in the same status with out-of-country applicants.

You can still register using the following link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GoS2i4ZMmm0295T-e1X7_l82TG0HOeDpRhvxCN598fE/edit?usp=sharing Thank you for understanding. Hope to see you all on Monday, December 7th @5 pm in JHE-328.

Come join us at our annual fall social, taking place at the Staircase Theatre (27 Dundurn St. North, at Main) on Thursday October 29th at 8 p.m. The first 90 members get free drink!  Come in your halloween costume (or not) and get to know some of your co-workers and CUPE executive members.  They’ll be karaoke and fun games for those of you interested.

​Join us for the screening of Pride! on Oct 22nd, 6-8pm

Pride is a comedy about LGBT activists who supported the struggle of British miners during their strike in 1983-4.
To watch the Trailer visit: click here

MDCL 3020

October 22, 2015

6-8pm

Free Admission

Snacks Provided

Dear Internationals,

Your CUPE 3906 International Committee (ICM) and iGSA (International Graduate Students Association) are pleased to invite you for the hiking event to COOTES PARADISE behind McMaster University. There are three trails and additional information can be found in the following link:

http://www.mcmaster.ca/nature/areas/cootes_south.html

WHEN: Friday, October 23rd
TIME: 4 pm
WHERE: In front of McMaster Gym and going form there.

This is very beautiful area and it will be good if we all get together, mingle, walk and enjoy weather before brutal winter :). Lets get together in front of McMaster gym and go from there. The decision about which trail should we follow will be made when we meet. Cookies and water will be provided. To attend the event please register using a link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WXUfgXgr4Xu7pkQKHJiaPrDq4J1a_i3ROHA6jD4AtxU/edit?usp=sharing

So, KEEP CALM MINGLE and HIKE.
Hope to see you all there.

We are pleased to announce that Equitable Life and McMaster have resolved the outstanding dental premiums owed by the university, and as a result Equitable Life has lifted the suspension of the payment of dental claims. This means that any claims submitted to Equitable going forward, or that were submitted over the past few days, should be paid in full in a normal time period.

After filing a grievance yesterday morning and meeting with both McMaster and Equitable Life in the afternoon, a solution was reached which saw McMaster advance a sizeable portion of the alleged dental premiums owing to Equitable Life, allowing Equitable to have the required funds to continue to pay claims. This also gave us the confidence to withdraw the grievances filed against McMaster.

The University is also reviewing its internal reporting and remittance protocols to ensure that a similar situation does not occur again, and we will continue to monitor this in conjunction with Equitable Life.

We are acutely aware of the stress that this caused many of you, but are pleased that it was resolved in less than 24 hours.

Please be advised that our benefits provider, Equitable Life of Canada, notified the Union that access to dental benefits will be suspended for an unspecific period of time.  There is currently a discrepancy surrounding the total premiums collected for the 2014-15 academic year.  The Union, Equitable Life, and McMaster are all working to resolve this issue.

During this period, you will still remain eligible for dental coverage and can visit a dentist, but unfortunately Equitable will not be paying out any dental claims until it is satisfied that an appropriate amount of premiums has been paid.

We know that this situation is likely to cause inconvenience to those who have recently submitted a claim or who have a dental appointment scheduled in the next few days.  We are committed to ensuring that the situation is rectified as soon as possible so you don’t go long without reimbursement.

Please check cupe3906.org regularly for all updates, and contact staff@cupe3906.org if you have any questions in the meantime.

edited: October 7, 2015 at 4:04 p.m.