Attention Unit 2 members: The university is now paying a 3.0 unit course over 8 pay periods, instead of 7. This is allowed under the terms of the collective agreement, and has no impact on those teaching 6.0 unit courses (who are paid over 16 pay periods, 8 per term).

What this means for Unit 2 members teaching 3.0 unit courses:

· An additional pay date for a 3 unit course does not affect the total monies paid, but results in a lower bi-weekly pay amount;
· Aligns the bi-weekly pay amount received by Sessional Faculty who are appointed to either a 3- or 6-unit course; and,
· Aligns the Unit 2 payment dates with the Unit 1 payment dates

If you have any questions, please contact staff@cupe3906.org

New sessionals (this includes anyone who has been employed for 3 years or less as a sessional) are invited to a New Faculty Welcome on August 27th at the Faculty Club. The event begins at 8:30 and ends after a complementary lunch.

CUPE Local 3906 and the McMaster Institute for Innovation & Excellence in Teaching & Learning (MIIETL) are also hosting a workshop for new sessionals on October 9th.

These events are not one-on-one orientations with your Department Chair, which we believe are a vital part of the orientation process at McMaster.

All events are free and can be registered for at:

New Faculty Welcome: https://2015nfo.eventbrite.ca

Fall Workshop Series: https://2015nfoworkshops.eventbrite.ca

Our monthly General Membership Meeting will take place on July 28^th at 12 noon in DSB (DeGroote School of Business) B-107 (located in the basement).

We have many important items on the agenda, including a discussion on the upcoming Federal Election.

We’ll also be electing two executive positions (Chief Steward, Unit 1 and Chief Steward, Unit 3).  All members are entitled to run for an executive position.  If you don’t run for the executive, but do want to become involved, we are looking for members to join our benefits committee and our communications committee.

We will have pizza and drinks, and child care costs will be reimbursed.  There will also be draws for free Fortino’s Gift Cards.

For more information, please contact staff@cupe3906.org

CUPE 3906 members were proud to walk a picket line with striking OPSEU nurses at Care Partners, a for-profit sub-contractor of CCAC. These workers organized two year ago and have been on strike for 14 weeks seeking a first-contract. The main issue is a desire to be paid by the hour, as opposed to being paid on a per-patient basis.

News coverage of the event (via the Hamilton Spectator) can be found here.

Your union has a Professional Development Fund that it has secured through collective bargaining.

This fund is intended to assist with expenses related to professional development that fall into the following four categories:

• Conference Presentations/Participation
• Research
• Training
• Teaching Materials/Resources

The deadline for applications for the spring/summer 2015 adjudication period is August 7, 2015. We should be able to issue reimbursement by the end of the month.

*Please Note* We regret to inform members that, as of September 1st, 2015, computers (e.g., PCs, laptops) and tablets will no longer be considered eligible expenses under the Professional Development Fund due to a lack of funding. As such, the spring/summer 2015 is the last period in which computers will be allowed as an acceptable item.

Two positions have recently become vacant on the CUPE 3906 Executive Committee, — the positions of Chief Steward Unit 1 and Chief Steward Unit 3 —for which elections will be held at our next General Membership Meeting (GMM) on July 28. For a brief description of responsibilities for these positions, please see the following document.

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. Given that these two positions are unit-specific (Units 1 & 3), only members of that unit may be nominated.

For more information, please contact Evan Johnston (president@cupe3906.org).

We have learned that McMaster’s new Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Harassment Policy is now on-line, and will become effective on July 1st, 2015. CUPE provided input throughout the consultation process.

The full policy can be found here.

We met with the Employer (again) yesterday about gender neutral washrooms on campus. There are three confirmed locations: one in Univ. Hall and two in CNH. It took close to two weeks to receive confirmation on this. We feel that more are needed on campus to be inclusive of our transgendered community. CUPE is developing a policy that we hope that university will implement, and we’re working with Human Rights and Equity Services on this key issue. As a starting point, we think that current locked, single stall, gender specific washrooms can easily and quickly be converted into accessible gender neutral washrooms for a minimal cost (new signs). We’ll keep you informed.

Dear Members,

It is our understanding that there has been a recent interest from several Teaching Assistants to receive official feedback in the form of teaching evaluations. We understand that some of you would appreciate having this information for professional development purposes and for the purposes of creating teaching dossiers. CUPE has, and does, support the practice of TAs administering their own evaluations.

That said, we feel that it is important that we highlight three important points so that the practice of these evaluations is consistent with our Collective Agreement and protects your rights, while at the same time providing you with important feedback.

1. These evaluations need to be completely voluntary and initiated by you as the Teaching Assistant. The union would be happy to provide resources, such as sample evaluation forms, should you request them. Requests can be made at (cupe3906@mcmaster.ca).
2. The release of this information is entirely at your discretion. The evaluations should only be seen by you and the people, if any, with whom you wish to share this information.
3. These evaluations cannot be used for disciplinary purposes under any circumstance They are solely used for your professional development as well as to help build your teaching dossier if you choose to use them for this purpose.

Please let us know if you have any questions about this process.

In Solidarity,

Evan Johnston

President, CUPE 3906

**A signed PDF copy of the letter can be found here**