IMPORTANT! The CUPE 3906 Unit 2 Collective Agreement Expired on August 31, 2024. We are currently negotiating a renewal agreement with the Employer. For more information, or to get involved to improve the pay, working conditions, and benefits of Sessional Faculty at McMaster, please contact mobilizer@cupe3906.org.
When people think of a collective agreement, they often think about the benefits that it provides them, such as decent wages, dental insurance, the health care spending account, and access to the professional development fund.
The collective agreement also provides unionized sessionals and hourly-rated sessional music faculty with a variety of rights, including job security language (in the form of First Consideration and Enhanced First Consideration Appointments), regulations on hours worked, fair working conditions, a variety of leaves, and a grievance procedure. Please CLICK HERE to access the Unit 2 ‘Know Your Rights’ document, which provides simplified version of many of the rights contained in your collective agreement.
One major question we get is about job security. Sessionals have job security in the form of First Consideration Appointments. These function in the same way as a right of first refusal. First Consideration Appointments are a form of job security that occurs when you are appointed to a course without having to apply to it through a competitive application process.
You become eligible for a Standard First Consideration Appointment when you have taught the course for two
consecutive appointments after applying to teach it in two open competitions. With First Consideration, you are entitled to be appointed to that course, without it being posted or you needing to apply for it, the next three times that it is offered to Sessional Faculty.
Members who have completed a Standard First Consideration Appointment are then eligible for an Enhanced First
Consideration Appointment. When the course is posted again and you are hired in an open competition, you are then entitled to be appointed to that course, without needing to apply for it, the next four times that the course is offered to Sessionals.
Once you have secured a Standard or Enhanced First Consideration, the department can extend your appointment and continue to appoint you directly.
We have developed a brochure to explain harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and what to do if you experience it. Please CLICK HERE to view the brochure.