Every year, around the world, unions mark the International Day of Mourning on April 28 to honour workers killed or injured on the job. It’s an important date for the labour movement: we remember those workers we’ve lost, and fight for better standards for today’s workers.

In 2014, six CUPE members lost their lives, and just four months into 2015 already five CUPE members have died on the job.

“It’s deeply troubling, the number of deaths we’ve seen recently,” said CUPE National President Paul Moist. “Our hearts go out to the families and the friends and colleagues of these workers.”

We will be holding our McMaster observance in MDCL 3024 from 12:00 to 1:00

Nora Loreto is a writer, musician and activist based in Québec City. She is the author of From Demonized to Organized: Building the New Union Movement and is the editor of the rabble.ca series Up! Canadian Labour Rising.

The Access & Equity Office at City Hall is presenting the “Road to Justice” exhibit, which will be displayed at City Hall from April 1 – 30.  This exhibit details the legislated racism experienced by the Chinese community in Canada.

On Friday, April 24, 2015, we will be hosting two educational workshop sessions from 10 – 11 a.m. and from 1 – 2 p.m. at Hamilton City Hall, Council Chambers, 2^nd Floor, which will discuss legislated racism in Canada and social activism within the Chinese community.

Here is your executive committee for CUPE Local 3906 for the 2015-16 year.  Some new faces are joining an experienced executive to continue to provide close to 3 500 members with excellent service, advocacy and representation. We’re also proud of the diversity on our executive committee.

President- Evan Johnston
Vice President- Rebecca Collins-Nelsen
Vice President External- Ryan Sparrow
Secretary Treasurer- Herman Poon
Recording Secretary- Naim Tajavpour
Chief Steward Unit 1- Kevin Barnhorst
Chief Steward Unit 2- Barb Bloemhof
Chief Steward Unit 3- (currently vacant)
Health and Safety Officer- Samira Farivar
Equity Officer- Chandra Kavanagh
Benefits and Advocacy Officer- Sathish Pichika
International Officer- Darko Ljubic
Undergraduate Officer- Jennifer Tang

Congratulations to Ismael Traore, a Unit 2 (sessional faculty member) in Sociology, and the winner of the 2014-15 Mike Skinner Activist Award.  The award is given annually to a CUPE 3906 member who displays progressive activism on social justice issues in the broader community, and is named after Mike Skinner, a former long-time staff representative with Local 3906.

Ismael has played a major role in Black, Brown and Red Lives Matter, a social movement that deals with race and police interaction in the Hamilton area.

Congratulations for all of your hard-work.

Congratulations to our 2014-15 Teaching Assistant/Research Assistant Award winners: Duha Al-Sajee (Health Sciences), Ali Mohammad Rabea (Engineering), Madeline Mant (Social Sciences), Sepideh Ebrahimi (DeGroote School of Business), and Natashya Wall (Science).  Thanks for all of the hard-work and dedication to your students.

These awards are determined based on nominations from both students and the professors that our TAs work for.  Further evidence the McMaster works because we do!

Pictured below are Madeline, Duha, and Sepideh.

CUPE 3906 Annual General Meeting

  March 30, 2015  (5:30 PM)

 B105 – DeGroote School of Business

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on Monday, March 30, 2015 at 5:30 PM (DeGroote School of Business (DSB) B105).

All executive positions will be up for election. The executive consists of the following positions:  (Description of each position)

– President
– Vice President
– Vice President External
– Secretary Treasurer
– Recording Secretary
– Chief Steward Unit 1
– Chief Steward Unit 2
– Chief Steward Unit 3
– Health and Safety Officer
– Equity Officer
– Benefits and Advocacy Officer
– International Officer
– Undergraduate Officer

All members in good standing may be nominated. A member in good standing is someone that is currently a CUPE member or someone who has been in the past eight (8) months. For unit-specific positions (the three Chief Stewards), only members of that unit may be nominated. For all other positions, members of all three units may be nominated.

As our By-Laws further specify: “The Undergraduate Officer shall be an undergraduate member. The Equity Officer shall be a member of an ‘equity seeking group’ (Appendix B). The International Officer shall be a member who is classified as a non-Canadian citizen.”

Nomination forms are available in the CUPE 3906 office, located in Kenneth Taylor Hall (KTH) B111. Nomination forms will be accepted until the day of the election. The nomination form can be downloaded here. Members may also choose to nominate (or self-nominate) from the floor during the meeting.

The nomination, campaigning, and election of Executive Committee members is governed by the bylaws of CUPE 3906. All terms are for 1 year.

For more information, please contact a staff member (cupe3906@mcmaster.ca) or Rebecca Collins-Nelsen (president@cupe3906.org).

Free food and refreshments will be provided at 5:00 PM.

If you require reimbursement for childcare costs, please email cupe3906@mcmaster.ca.

CUPE 3906 has celebrated an International Women’s Day with a Cake on March 6, 2015.

Dear members of CUPE 3906,

Over the past week, academic workers of CUPE 3902 (University of Toronto) and CUPE 3903 (York University) have gone out on strike to demand better funding packages for teaching assistants, long-term job security for contract faculty, and justice for international graduate students.

The issues they are fighting on their campuses are the same that we face here at McMaster due to a systematically underfunded post-secondary system in Ontario, and that is why the CUPE 3906 Executive Committee has made it a priority to support our sister locals in their struggles for a fair and just collective agreement.

For more information, you can read our letters of solidarity to CUPE 3902 and to CUPE 3903.

Ryan Sparrow (VP External) and Kevin Barnhorst (Chief Steward Unit 1) on the picket lines at the University of Toronto – Mississauga.

Evan Johnston (Vice President) and Rebecca Collins-Nelsen (President) at the University of Toronto (St. George campus).

In solidarity,
Evan Johnston, Vice President