End of Semester Update – Unit 1

Brad WalchukUncategorized

End of Term means end of work
Once the term ends, you no longer need to perform any TA/RA work. Your collective agreement states the following:
Employees will not be required to grade deferred term work or deferred exams submitted after
the end of the academic term in which an employee holds an assignment. It is understood that
such work is the responsibility of the course instructor. However, if an employee agrees to
grade deferred term work or deferred exams submitted after the end of the academic term in
which an employee holds an assignment, the employee will be paid at the rate specified in
Schedule “A,” based on the employee’s status at the time of grading. 
Dental Coverage Through August 31st
If you have dental coverage through CUPE, it will continue through until August 31st, even if you TA position has come to an end. More information about the dental plan is available here: https://cupe3906.org/tas-unit-1/dental-plan/
Final Pay Date
The final pay date of the semester is this Friday, April 21st. By this point, you should be paid in full. The YTD (or year-to-date) column on your pay-stub should equal the number of hours you were assigned this term. If you have not received payment equaling the number of hours you were assigned, please let us know.
Changes to Hours of Work Forms
Your employment supervisor cannot unilaterally change your hours of work form. If a change is required, the collective agreement outlines a process in Article 12.04. A meeting is required and you must be provided with an amended hours of work form. Your supervisor cannot just hand you additional work at the end of the semester that isn’t included on your hours of work form.

Solidarity with CUPE 233

Brad WalchukUncategorized

Solidarity with CUPE 233: TMU works because CUPE 233 does!
Local 3906 is looking for local members interested in joining rank-and-file members and members our Executive in support CUPE 233 (custodians, groundskeepers, and maintenance workers at Toronto Metropolitan University), on strike since April 17, 2023.
We will be booking a bus and/or heading down Friday, April 21, 2023 at 10 am to join Local 233 picket lines. Local 3906 is looking for folks interested in joining us; if we can solidify 20 interested persons, we’ll arrange a bus covered by the sector. Email benefits@cupe3906.org if you can join us!
We echo CUPE 233’s call for financial support, used to maintain pressure on TMU to reach a fair agreement as bargaining continues. Our Executive approved a $500 Strike Donation Pledge on March 27th; we urge other locals to match or exceed this support, where possible.
Why is CUPE 233 on strike?
CUPE 233 is fighting for better pay for members and for pension fairness! TMU has low-balled pay increases that are far below inflation and far below standards in the sector. TMU has also insisted that  CUPE 233 and OPSEU 596 (Academic & Administrative Supports, Research Assistants) pay a larger  share of their wages for pensions than faculty and other TMU workers.
If you’re unable to join us in Toronto, please take 15 seconds to sign and share a letter to TMU administration: E-Action here: https://cupe.on.ca/cupe233/
 

Additional Postdoc Ratification Information and Unit 3 Chief Steward Election

Brad WalchukUncategorized

We wanted to send a reminder that the postdoc bargaining team secured a tentative agreement with McMaster University and we are recommending the members ratify it. The specific details of the new tentative agreement will be shared with you at an upcoming ratification meeting held via Zoom on Tuesday, April 18th at noon. The registration link for this meeting has been sent to your McMaster email address.

At this meeting, we will also be electing a Chief Steward for Unit 3. All members in good standing can run.

After this meeting, postdocs will have an opportunity to vote to ratify the new agreement through an online vote. The ratification vote will be held online with a secret ballot via Election Runner. A separate email will arrive in your mailbox on April 18th after 1 p.m. (please check your junk/spam/other). The ballot will be sent from Election Runner, not CUPE 3906, but please follow up with us if you have any questions or do not receive a ballot. All postdocs employed on April 18th will be entitled to vote in the ratification election. The election will run from April 18th at 1 p.m. to April 20th at 1 p.m., and results will be shared thereafter.
 
This agreement could not have been secured without your support, solidarity, and encouragement. 
 
In solidarity,

Your CUPE 3906 postdoc bargaining team (Nabeel, Aly, Javier, Afshin)

Postdoc (Unit 3) Tentative Agreement Reached

Brad WalchukUncategorized

After eight long months of bargaining, your Unit 3 postdoctoral fellow bargaining team is pleased to report that we secured a tentative agreement with McMaster University at a bargaining session yesterday and we are recommending the members ratify it. The specific details of the new tentative agreement will be shared with members at an upcoming ratification meeting held via Zoom on Tuesday, April 18th at noon.

After this meeting, postdocs will have an opportunity to vote to ratify the new agreement through an online vote. This agreement could not have been secured without your support, solidarity, and encouragement. Voting details, including a link to the ballot, will be sent separately. 

In solidarity,

Your CUPE 3906 postdoc bargaining team (Nabeel, Aly, Javier, Afshin)

Solidarity Statement with CUPE 4600 at Carleton

Brad WalchukUncategorized

As the CUPE 4600 strike at Carleton University enters its second week, unions of contract academic workers across the province stand in solidarity. Contract Instructors and Teaching Assistants at Carleton are standing up to the university, not just for fair pay in the face of a cost of living crisis, but to protect their intellectual property and ensure there are reasonable limits in place on the number of students a TA can be responsible for.

This is just the latest disruption in a growing strike wave in which academic workers across the country are standing up to the increasingly anti-worker and anti-student governance of our institutions. Workers at Dalhousie and McMaster were on strike for three weeks each over the fall to fight for better pay in the face of record inflation. Faculty Associations across the country have been striking for job security and against administrative greed.

In every case, these actions have won the support of students who are tired of seeing their tuition dollars diverted to administrative bloat and away from the academic workers they rely on, many of whom are now struggling to make ends meet. Carleton is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves and paying their senior administrators a fortune while their TAs and CIs struggle to keep up with the rising cost of rent. They are paid substantially less than their University of Ottawa counterparts who do the exact same work in the exact same city.

We will stand in support of striking academic workers at Carleton for as long as it takes for them to win a fair contract. We join them and the growing chorus of concerned voices in demanding that Carleton return to the bargaining table with a fair offer–one that recognizes the importance of their work and gives them the tools and protections they need to provide their students with the education they deserve.

In solidarity,

 

Chris Fairweather- President, CUPE 3906 (McMaster University)

Eriks Bredovskis- President, CUPE 3902 (University of Toronto)

Nathan Cecckin- President, CUPE 4207 (Brock University)

Scott Duchesne- President, CUPE 3913 (University of Guelph)

Catherine Larocque- President, CUPE 2626 (University of Ottawa)

Stephanie Latella- Chairperson, CUPE 3903 (York University)

New EFAP Provider – Important

Brad WalchukUncategorized

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:

Mike Skinner Award 2023 Nominations OPEN

Brad WalchukUncategorized

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

Deadline for Unit 2 Professional Development Fund

Brad WalchukUncategorized

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

Call for Contributions – Unit 1 Strike Zine

Brad WalchukUncategorized

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