Our first social event of the year is open to all CUPE 3906 members and their partners and will be held this Thursday (13 Sept), 8pm-midnight at the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre.
Cash bar with alcoholic beverages, and free non-alcoholic drinks and snacks will be provided. Also music and hopefully lots of dancing! Transportation to MacNab bus terminal will be provided at the end of the night.
Questions? Please contact your Chief Steward of Unit 1, Ian Myhra.
Hope to see you all there!
Click here to download this issue of The Ally
This Issue Features:
Unit 1 Benefits Improvement
The Problem of Problems at Work
Political Action Committee Facts
CUPE 3906 Statement on the Oak Creek, WI Shooting
Dear international members,
Grazyna Drzazga, a PhD student in linguistics, has kindly offered to hold an extended version of her “Teaching in a Different Language” workshop. The description of this workshop is as follows:
Teaching in a Different Language
Communication breakdown due to limited vocabulary is one of the biggest fears of international graduate students and teaching assistants. This workshop discusses how to compensate for linguistic imperfections. An array of strategies to overcome communication barriers will be presented and discussed.
The workshop will be held on Thursday Sept 13, from 12 noon until 3pm, at MUSC Room 213 (The MacLachlin Room). If you are interested, please email me at international@cupe3906.com to register before Wednesday Sept 12, since there is a limited number of spots. We will also be providing food to the attendees.
Graduate Students at McMaster University are covered by ONE of two dental plans:
1) The CUPE 3906 plan
2) The Graduate Student Association (GSA) plan
This handy FAQ outlining (jointly prepared by the GSA and CUPE) will help Grad Students figure out which plan they qualify for, how to opt-out of the plan and/or enroll their family members.
Dental Coverage for Graduate Students at McMaster University
All Unit 1 members can find more detailed information on the CUPE 3906 plan can here:
http://cupe3906.org/benefits-forms/unit-1-benefits/dental
Questions? contact benefits@cupe3906.org
Our General Memberhsip Meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 29th. Food will be served at 5pm and there will be a draw for prizes. The meeting will begin at 5:30pm.
Location: Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning, room 2232.
Agenda items include:
Please Note: Childcare is reimbursed upon request.
This invitation is from Senior Management for All Faculty and Staff. Please see the poster:
CUPE 3906 would like to respond to the Oak Creek, Wisconsin
shooting at a Sikh gurdwara where on August 5, 2012 a white supremacist with
known ties to the neo-Nazi movement shot and killed six
people and injured several others. While the immediate target of this act was
the Sikh community, it is clear that this act targeted and/or has impacted
people of colour in general and especially South Asian, Muslim and Arab
communities.
Violence can show itself in many different forms from gun
violence in our communities to the ongoing wars around the world. What concerns
us here is racism: the racism of this specific attacker and the wide-spread
racism that is a fact of society on both sides of the border. With this statement
we wish to show our support to the Sikh community of Oak Creek and to all
communities who have been impacted by this event. We especially wish to show
our support to our colleagues and fellow union members as well as other members
of the McMaster and GTA/Hamilton communities who are impacted by this attack
and/or by everyday racism. We wish to publically re-affirm the old union
principle that an injury to one is an injury to all at a time when many of us
may be feeling fear, isolation and anger.
Oak Creek, Wisconsin is not an isolated or distant case. On
August 6, the day after Oak Creek, a mosque was burnt to the ground in Joplin,
Illinois, the last in a series of arsons. Close to home, in July a Brampton
Sikh religious elementary school was the target of racist graffiti, one of many
such incidents in our region. With this statement we remind ourselves that
racism is an everyday experience, that it comes in many different forms, and
that we as a union have made a commitment to support each other. We call on the
membership to more consciously work against racism in our union, campus and
beyond.
We invite other members of the campus community, union movement, individuals, and others to
sign on to this statement. If you wish to do so, please contact us at equity@cupe3906.org.
Signed,
The Equity Action Committee
We are pleased to announce two important improvements to Unit 1 Benefits, which will take effect on September 1, 2012. These improvements were made possible by $30,000 in new benefits funding negotiated during collective bargaining in the fall of 2012.
A Health Spending Account will replace the Vision Care Benefit. The entitlement will remain $250/two years. The Health Spending Account will enable members to claim a wide range of medical, dental and pharmaceutical expenses — as well as any vision-related expenses such as glasses, contacts and eye exams. A list of eligible expenses will be provided on our website in September.
Unit 1 members who pay for UHIP will also see their yearly UHIP Rebate increased to $150 from $100.
Unit 1 Members will still have access to the Child Care Benefit($100/year) and the Hardship Fund (up to $500/year except in exceptional circumstances).
Unit 1 Members with contracts totaling 130 hours or more in a given academic year will continue to have access to the CUPE 3906 dental plan.
Who is eligible for Unit 1 Benefits?
The Health Spending Account, UHIP Rebate Fund, Child Care Benefit and Hardship Fund are open to ALL Unit 1 members. You are a Unit 1 member if you are currently working as a TA or RA in lieu at McMaster OR you have worked as a TA or RA in lieu at McMaster in one of the last two terms. The dental plan is open to TAs or RAs in lieu with contracts totaling 130 hours or more in a given academic year (except undergrad TAs).
What sorts of expenses does the Health Spending Account Cover?
The Health Spending Account is meant to help members with the cost of medical, dental and pharmaceutical costs that are not adequately covered by OHIP, UHIP or the GSA plan. Eligible expenses included, but are not limited to: prescription drugs, glasses, contact lenses, eye exams, dental procedures such as crowns or bridges, casts, crutches, etc. Not sure if an expense will qualify? Email: benefits@cupe3906.org.
Will I be able to use the Health Spending Account for the vision-related expenses I used to be able to claim with Vision Care?
Yes. Glasses, contact lenses, eye exams and any other vision-related expense formerly covered by the Vision Care Benefit can now be claimed using the Health Spending Account.
How were these changes made?
The changes to Unit 1 Members (TAs and RAs in lieu) are the result of a motion made at the July 25 GMM. Members were presented with a three packages of recommended changes put together by the Benefits Committee. The recommended changes were based on feedback provided at benefits consultations and in the benefits survey. After a discussion of each package, a motion to adopt the first package of changes was made and carried.
Why did we decide to spend the new $30,000 on benefits?
Under the terms of the Unit 1 collective agreement, the new funds must be used for Unit 1 benefits. We would be in violation of the collective agreement if we used the money for any other purpose.
Why are we making improvements to our benefits at a time when budgets are being reduced across the public sector? Shouldn’t we be tightening our belts instead?
Under the terms of the Unit 1 collective agreement, the new funds must be used for Unit 1 benefits. The Employer does not save any money if we refuse to use these funds for benefits. Moreover, these new funds represent the first increase to Unit 1 benefits in three years. Unit 1 members are also in the midst of a two year wage freeze.
I have no use for extra health coverage, child care or the UHIP rebate. Can I opt out of these benefits?
Since the above named benefits are provided at no cost to members (claims are paid out with money from the Unit 1 Benefits Fund, which is in turn 100% funded by the Employer), there is no way to opt out of these benefits. To put it another way, you cannot opt out of a benefit that you do not pay into. Members with alternate coverage may opt out of the dental plan, which is a traditional premium-based plan that members do contribute to.
The final versions of our new collective agreements for both TA’s and Postdoctoral Fellows have been posted to this website. These new documents contain important changes and updates to many of the entitlements won in Collective Bargaining. Please take few minutes to familiarize yourself with the appropriate document. As usual, the the digital form of our Collective Agreements will remain available on-line, while hard copies can be obtained from the Local office. If you have any questions about these new agreements, please feel free to contact our office.
(To access these new documents, scroll over the “About” tab and click on “Collective Agreements”)
May 14 – May 18
Mobilizing Mondays – Week Seven
One section of the Ontario budget bill will wipe out public services as we know them. We must mobilize immediately to get Schedule 28 removed!
This section, called the Government Services and Service Providers Act, 2012, opens the door for government to privatize any public service. This would be done behind closed doors, without public accountability and could spell the end of truly public schools and hospitals.
One-minute action –The Act has been overlooked in debate. We must make sure MPPs know why it must be removed from the budget bill.
Visit budget.messageyourmpp.ca to automatically send an email to your MPP. (And forward the link to your friends!)
There is an important new message this week!
Five-minute action – Media need to be told about this dangerous privatization act. Send a letter to the editors of newspapers in your area. The more people who send letters, the more likely editors and reporters are to take notice. Email csaunders@cupe.ca to let us know where you’ve sent letters.
Twenty-minute action – Call a radio or television phone-in show. Tell them you’re concerned that the Government Services and Service Providers Act, 2012, will turn public services into a crate of Ornges! Ask them to make it the theme of a phone-in show (and email csaunders@cupe.ca when you do, so that we can get more information to the station).
Need more information about the budget? Visit cupe.on.ca/budget