CUPE 3906

The holidays are over, and the Local3906 office has re-opened.  Welcome back to the new semester!

McMaster has hosted a MOSAIC Q and A  in MUMC 1A6 on Nov 3, 2014 (5 to 6 pm). We have attended it. The presentation slides can be viewed here.

Agenda        

• Overview of changes in graduate student payments
  • Employment related payments (as covered by the collective agreement)
  • Scholarships
• Challenges and Solutions
• Looking forward to Campus Solutions

Title: Save Medicare Rally
Location: Ontario Legislature, Queen’s Park Toronto
Link out: Click here
Description: STOP private clinics

SAVE our local public hospitals

12 p.m. Friday November 21

Giant Rally @ Ontario Legislature, Queen’s Park Toronto

www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca

​ A message from Ontario Health Coalition Executive Director Natalie Mehra

Ontario’s government is forging ahead with the most aggressive plan ever to strip local community hospitals of services and cut or privatize them. If we do not take action now, it is no exaggeration to warn that community hospitals as we know them will be totally dismantled.

Ontario’s hospitals have already been cut for 20 years. We have suffered the deepest cuts in Canada. We actually have the fewest hospital beds left per person of virtually every country in the OECD.

Despite the deepest hospital cuts of all peer jurisdictions in Canada and internationally, our government continues to plan to eviscerate hospital services. The Ontario government is already systematically closing down outpatient services: physiotherapy, labs, pain clinics, fertility clinics and so on. Their written plan is to close all outpatient services. They will go to private clinics.

They now plan to cut as many surgeries and diagnostic tests from local public hospitals as possible, and contract them out to private clinics.

Draconian cuts to chronic care (complex continuing care) beds are planned — in some areas, the government is planning to cut 50% of the remaining beds.

Patients are faced with driving further for care as it is taken out of local hospitals and centralized into one factory-like private clinic per region.

Local community hospitals are told to shrink the scope of the services they provide and specialize in only a few things. Patients will have to drive from site to site to get care.

User fees and co-payments are required for virtually every service moved out of our public hospitals. Private clinics are charging user fees in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars for extra add-ons, in violation of the Canada Health Act and the principles of Public Medicare in Canada.

Even most politicians do not realize the full extent of the plan to dismantle our community hospitals. As we have seen for decades, it will not save money — at least not for patients — but it will fragment care, worsen access, lead to wholesale privatization and two-tier health care.

Our response must be commensurate to the threat and the threat is at an all-time high.

Regular Ontarians from every walk of life — local businesses, seniors, care workers, health professionals, students; all of us who care about equal access to health care based on need not wealth — we all have a vital interest in saving our community hospitals.

We are calling for our biggest demonstration ever. We are asking everyone to take one day to lend your voice to protect vital services that everyone in our communities need. Come out November 21 at noon at Queen’s Park Toronto. Buses will be organized from communities across Southern and Mid-Ontario. Please contact us if you want to get on the bus at 416-441-2502 or ohc@sympatico.ca.

Buses available from Hamilton: Ron Wells 905-547-1417 ext. 225

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1494042914196278/

Start Time: 12:00
Date: 2014-11-21

CUPE Local 3906 will be holding General Membership Meeting (GMM) on Thursday, Nov 27, at 5:00 pm in KTH B101. Free pizza and drinks will be served at 5:00, and the meeting will start at 5:30 pm. The GMM is the highest decision making body of the union, and is an important way to be involved in your union.  The agenda of the meeting can be found here.

Date: 27 Nov, 2014

Location: Kenneth Taylor Hall KTH B101

Kenneth Taylor Hall (KTH) – Basement Floor Map

Start Time: 5:00 PM

AGENDA : 

Call to Order

2. Introductions, Equity Statement, Norms and Go-Arounds

3. Approval of the Agenda

4. Approval of October 6, 2014 GMM Minutes

5. Executive Reports

6. Reports of Delegates, Committees, Conferences and Working Groups

• Hamilton and District Labour Council
• CUPE Council
• Political Action Committee (PAC)
• Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT)
• Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee (OUWCC)
• Steel City Solidarity

 Indigenous Solidarity Working Group

7. Elections

• Chief Steward Unit 3
• Undergraduate Officer
• Equity Officer
• International Officer
• OUWCC Campus Rep
• *swearing in of newly elected Exec members

8. Nominations

• Hamilton and District Labour Council (HDLC) (Number to be elected)
• Joint Health and Safety Committee Reps (Mitch to list)
• Benefits Committee (need to check and see how many vacancies)
• Elect up to 3 delegates to CUPE National Human Rights conference in February.
• Elect up to 3 representatives to OUWCC conference in February.

9. Unfinished Business

10. New Business

• Disaffiliate with CAUT (Unit 2 only)
• Motion to approve budget for Speakers Series

11. Other Business

12. Good of the Union

13. Draw

14. Motion to Adjourn

Dear CUPE 3906 Members:

You are invited to our FALL SOCIAL!

WHEN: Friday, October 17th, 8:00 P.M. – 12:00 A.M.

WHERE: Staircase Cafe Theatre, 27 Dundurn Street North

WHAT: Karaoke, Snacks, and Good Times!

*Free drink tickets for the first 75 people!*

We hope to see you there!

CUPE Fall Social Event Phtos

If you are a Graduate Student and Unit 1 Member (TA or RA in lieu of TA) and have questions about the new MOSAIC payroll system (including how it might affect the administration of your dental benefits), please visit http://cupe3906.org/dental2014 for more information!

UPDATE: JANUARY 19, 2015:

Check your Pay Advice on MOSAIC

Your union has received calls that there have been a few issues with the new MOSAIC payroll, predominantly that the amount of pay has not been correct.

Have you checked your e-paystub?  The new MOSAIC system promises to be a one-stop access point for members, but it’s important to recognize that it’s still in its early stages.  We are recommending that members take the time to check the pay stubs issued on paper from September and mid-October pay periods and compare them to the electronic pay stubs that replaced them.  Please let us know if you notice any significant changes in the disbursements after the MOSAIC system came into effect October 21st.  If so, please contact x 24003 or email staff@CUPE3906.org. We would encourage you to check your pay stub, referred to a “Pay Advice,” on a bi-weekly basis.

This can be done by logging into the new MOSAIC system: http://mosaic.mcmaster.ca

CUPE Local 3906 will be holding our first General Membership Meeting, or GMM, of the academic year on Monday, October 6th, at 5:00 in Life Sciences Building, room B130-E.  Free pizza and drinks will be served at 5:00, and the meeting will get under way at 5:30.  The GMM is the highest decision making body of the union, and is an important way to be involved in your union.  The main agenda item on Monday night will be the adoption of the a yearly budget.  It will allow you to see how the local is spending its money, and members will have the opportunity to  add, delete, amend, and ultimately vote on this budget.
The meeting agenda : GMM_2014_Oct-06 Agenda

Following this meeting, the local will be hosting an Employment Insurance (EI) information session for all members.  The session will help to wlak you through the ins and outs of applying for EI.

We hope to see you there!

One of our stewards recently attended the 2014 Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions (CGEU) conference.  The CGEU (link to facebook page) brings together graduate student unions across North America to discuss common issues of concern and share strategies and best-practice when dealing with university administrators.

The conference attendees amended and adopted a Constitution (CGEU Constitution 2014-08-02) for their member unions, such as ours, to ratify.  Our executive has recommended we bring this to membership to vote on at our upcoming executive meeting on October 6th.

We think that this is a great opportunity for CUPE Local 3906 to become a founding member of the CGEU.

This past Friday, a few of our executive members attended a Save Door to Door Mail Delivery rally in Toronto.  Here is a picture of our two Vice Presidents (Caroline and Evan) with CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn.  More information about why it is important to Save Canada Post can be found here.