Subject: Back to Work Protocol for Unit #1 Members – 7.7% Loss of Paid Hours.

Unit 1 Members,

Today your bargaining team regretfully signed the back to work protocol.  In order to protect member’s rights as they return to work, we had no choice but to do so. Your bargaining team and executive are both shocked and deeply concerned by the contents of this protocol, which are unprecedented both at McMaster and in the sector. However, the employer was intractable in their position. We feel as though this protocol is punitive in nature and is a direct attack on the membership for showing your strength on the lines this week.

The protocol outlines how TAs and RAs in lieu will be integrated back into the classroom. As of tomorrow (Wednesday, November 11), our unit will be back to work. You should report to work as usual.

The protocol will protect you, after you return to work, from any reprisals.  It enshrines that bargaining unit members will not face any reprisals from either the union or the employer for the choice to participate or not to participate in the strike.  Regardless of your own choice, you cannot be treated differently in regards to your academics (such as grant applications), any future hiring decisions or discipline, your benefits, your status as a union member or your relationship with your department and supervisor.  We have agreed upon a dispute resolution system through the regular grievance procedure to resolve any breach of this protocol.  Also, your benefits have been secured.

The University Administration has decided that the period of the strike will be deemed as unpaid time.  As such, any bargaining unit member who did not fill out a weekly verification of intent to work form will lose 7.7% of your paid hours for this term.  For a 130 hour position, this represents a loss of 10 paid hours or approximately $350 after deductions.

We acknowledge that this protocol will cause financial hardship for all of our members. The nature of this hardship will be different for all of our members and will impact individuals in different ways. Also, if you are on leave or have completed all of your appointed hours, please ensure that you let us know so that we can defend your rights as a worker.  Your executive and bargaining team are currently working on ways to address this additional loss in pay and support our members. Please understand that our options are very limited at this point. We will have more in-depth discussion about these issues and present options at our next GMM, which is scheduled for November 25^th at 5:00pm. In the meantime, we invite suggestions for courses of action from our membership. Please email these suggestions to: <staff@cupe3906.org>.

If you have questions or trouble with your pay, our office will remain at 17 Paradise Road S until November 21^st, after which time the office will move back to our regular campus location.

To our fabulous picketers

To our fabulous picketers;

We are writing to express our sincere thanks to all of you who have been out on the lines in the past week.  We cannot tell you how proud we are of all of you, or how much of an impact you’ve had on our McMaster community.

As you’ve heard, the vote tonight was 58% in favour of ratifying this contract.  Do not, in any way, regard this as a defeat!  The changes we’ve wrought over recent days can’t be underestimated.  The solidarity we’ve built, the community we’ve changed, the apathy we’ve broken through, and the issues we’ve raised have forever changed McMaster.  Never would we have thought that this was possible three years ago – or even one year ago!

Your support of each other in our struggle to fight for quality education, for access to jobs, and to defend our wages and benefits against erosion has been exhilarating.  More than that, your support of each other is inspiring.

We truly believe that there is far more positive to take away from this experience than there is negative.  For one, we KNOW the University administration noticed us!  The Union is truly stronger than ever, and we cannot be dismissed.  We have a voice that is speaking for not only our own members, but for all of the members of the McMaster community in a way that has been truly absent.  This voice is not absent any longer, and we’re looking forward to being louder and stronger than ever in the days, weeks, months and years to come.

The years of this contract are going to be years of significant change at Mac.  We’ve got a new President arriving, SEIU and CAW (who you may have seen on our lines!) will be negotiating collective agreements, as will our own Sessional Faculty.  The post-secondary sector is facing challenges in access and funding.  CUPE 3906 has in the last months and weeks established itself as a leader – thanks to you! – and we can continue to build on that strength.

Thank you, we love you, and we’ll see you at a party in the VERY near future!

With gratitude and pride,

Your Bargaining Team

Diana Zawadzki

Rebecca Strung

Derek Sahota

Marc Ouellette

Nicholas Longaphy

Heather Johnson

Nancy MacBain

Jesse Payne

RESULTS OF RATIFICATION VOTE

Dear Members

The results of the November 8th and 9th ratification vote are as follows.  This vote was conducted under the protocols laid out in the local?s bylaws, monitored by an external supervisor and counted by two elected scrutineers.  It represents the democratic will of the membership of this local.  This vote has been the latest step in an ongoing democratic process.

The members have voted 58% in favour of accepting the Employer?s offer.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, local 3906 has accepted McMaster?s University?s latest offer.

WHAT NOW?

The membership of this local has opted to accept the employer?s contract and, as a result, cease strike activity effective immediately. We will be meeting the Employer at 10 A.M. tomorrow to negotiate a back-to-work protocol that will set forth the conditions by which members will resume their regular duties as teaching and research assistants.  Please contact our strike office at  905-528-2873 if you have  questions about returning to work.  Details of this agreement will be made available as soon as possible.  Please continue to check the blogs and your email for information.
unit1bargaining.wordpress.com
unit1strike.wordpress.com

In solidarity,
Mary Ellen Campbell
President, CUPE 3906

BREAKING NEWS: Sessionals with CUPE at U of T reach tentative agreement with benefits, wages and more

On Saturday night the CUPE-organized sessional faculty at University of Toronto, reached a tentative agreement with their employer: a three year deal which included increases to benefits and wage increases of 3.0%, 3.0% and 3.3% over the life of the contract.

While the agreement still needs to be ratified by the local membership, the union bargaining team is recommending the deal.

This is in stark contrast to the situation at McMaster where teaching assistants and research assistants have been on strike since November 1st and where, for a 2-year contract, the employer has offered a mere 2.6% and 1.6% in total compensation (i.e. all costs associated with the contract.  Unlike their counterparts at U of T, the McMaster administration has opted to force a strike rather than bargain fairly.  A ratification vote at McMaster began on Sunday night and continues 10am-5pm at the union’s strike office, but the union bargaining team is encouraging members to reject the contract which meets none of the membership’s bargaining priorities and represents cuts to benefits and a net loss of take-home pay.

CUPE 3906 Unit 1 Ratification Vote 2009 — Why You Should Vote “No”

This is NOT a “status quo” contract.  If ratified:

 1) YOU WILL LOSE MONEY

• Domestic graduate students will lose an average cumulative $736 over the two years of the contract (-$199 in year 1 and  -$537 in year 2).
•  International graduate students will lose an average cumulative $1835 over the two years of the contract (-$566 in year 1 and -$1259 in year 2).
•  Undergraduate students will lose a cumulative $745 over the two years of the contract (-S175 in year 1 and -$395 in year 2).

 2) YOUR BENEFITS WILL BE CUT

Benefits funds are in deficit because usage has outstripped the university’s contribution. A benefits freeze means a reduction in the level benefits of provided. For example,

• The hardship fund will be cancelled altogether. If you experience financial hardship because of these rising costs we will not be able to provide you with any assistance.
• UHIP subsidies will be reduced to $75/member from $100/member.
• Vision care allowances will be reduced to $200 from $250 and only 500 people will be allowed to make claims.

 Even if we make these cuts, the benefits fund will still be in deficit.

 3) YOUR KEY ISSUES ARE NOT ADDRESSED

 The priorities you identified in surveys and consultations last spring are NOT addressed. This contract:

 DOES NOT  address class sizes and overwork.

• NO protection from tutorial size, lab size or marking load increases in this contract.
• NO standard norms for how long particular assignments and tasks should take to be performed
• NO mechanism to allow the union to address overwork at the level of policy at the university (leaving individual members to grieve the issue on their own).

 DOES NOT provide improved access to positions for upper year graduate students

• NO extension of the guarantee for MA or PhD students
• NO repeal of “Class B” only posting language to allow upper year graduate students to compete for TAships that already exist

 DOES NOT address accessibility and affordability of Education

• NO offset for the hundreds of dollars lost in take home pay because of tuition hikes
• NO disincentive against future massive tuition hikes
• It will erode our ability to protect members against financial hardship

 DOES NOT provide fair and reasonable Benefits

• As explained above, benefits funds are in deficit and benefits levels will be drastically reduced or eliminated.

 McMaster Can Afford a Fair Contract

• A May 14, 2009 memo from Peter George states that McMaster University is in SURPLUS.
• A fair contract for TAs that addresses all of our key issues would only cost the university 0.17% of its $830 million budget. 
• McMaster can only find $474,000 (year 1) in new money for its TA and RAs but it spares no expense when paying its top execs. McMaster’s presidents and Vice Presidents make a combined $4.3 million per year in salaries alone. At $500,000 per year Peter George is the second highest paid University President in Canada and makes more than the Prime Minister. Upon retirement he will be paid $1.4 million in addition to $300,000 yearly pension. Other senior execs receive similar payouts.

 Our Demands Are Reasonable

• Everything the union is asking for is already in other collective agreements negotiated between TAs and Ontario Universities  

 The University Does Not Want a Prolonged Strike

• Long strikes are damaging to a University’s public profile and its bottom line. McMaster can’t afford a long strike. 
• York University’s 2008-2009 strike resulted in a 15% drop in the number of high school students who ranked it as their first choice when applying in January[1] and a 7% drop in their undergraduate enrolment in a year when enrolment increased at Ontario Universities.
• If we vote “no” on this ratification vote, we hope that McMaster will move quickly to end this labour dispute. 

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[1] http://www.yorku.ca/yfile/archive/index.asp?Article=12735

Strike Photos — Week 1

After 6 days on strike, we’ve finally had a moment to post some photos from the picket lines, waiting for the employer at the bargaining table, the strike office, and more. Check it out!

http://unit1bargaining.wordpress.com/strike-photos/

Here a sample of the action from the lines:

Strike Video — Day 3 — Sterling Gate in the Rain

Watch more CUPE 3906 strike videos here.

Detailed Information about Employer’s Package

For those members looking for a detailed writeup about the Employer’s package, please see our

Information Annex

Why you should vote no

Information Regarding the Vote on the Employer’s Most Recent Offer

Dear members,

If you have questions pertaining to the vote on the employer’s most recent offer, click here.

What wil happen after the vote?

IF WE VOTE TO REJECT THE EMPLOYER’S OFFER:

• Our bargaining team will be prepared to meet with the employer at 9am on Tuesday, November 10th in order to work towards a deal.
• Strike activity will continue until a tentative agreement is reached.
• If members reject this contract, we believe the employer will be under tremendous pressure to meet us at the table and bring the strike to an agreeable conclusion.

IF WE FAIL TO REJECT THE EMPLOYER’S OFFER:

• Union representatives will likely meet on Tuesday with the employer to negotiate a back to work protocol.
• While the university administration has the right to force members back to work as early as Tuesday morning, we believe it is more likely that members will resume their duties after Tuesday.

Agenda and Notification of Special General Membership Meeting

A special general membership meeting will be held tomorrow starting at 4PM to address the Employer’s current package and hold a ratification vote on it.

The meeting will be held at the Hamilton Convention Centre. Registration and sign in starts at 3PM. Voting will begin following the adjournment of the meeting and continue until 10PM.

1. Call to Order
2. Equity Statement
3. Picket Captain Update
4. Financial Update
5. Election of Scrutineers
6. Explanation of Voting Process
7. Presentation of Employer’s Package
8. Bargaining Team Statement
9. QA on Employer’s Package (30 minute time limit)
10. Speech from Sid Ryan
11. Open Discussion (45 minute time limit)
12. Motion to Adjourn

For information about voter eligibility, please see our comprehensive FAQ here

Special Announcement — Ratification Vote GMM Sunday — BT says “reject this offer”

STRIKING McMASTER TAs and RAs TO VOTE AGAINST “SCHOOL-YARD BULLY” TACTICS

After three days on strike, Teaching and Research Assistants at McMaster are preparing to take the University’s last offer to a ratification vote, but not to end the strike.  Members will take a formal, secret ballot on the offer that has not changed significantly since August 6^th.  The Union’s bargaining team is unanimously recommending that members reject the proposed contract.

“We’ve moved several times on our proposals, but McMaster still won’t meet us half way,” say Canadian Union of Public Employees, local 3906 bargaining team member and teaching assistant Rebecca Strung, “Until last night, they were insisting that we recommend their offer to our members, even though our members already told us it is unacceptable time and again.  Now they’ve threatened to take everything off the table unless we concede to their demands. These aren’t bargaining tactics, these are the tactics of a school-yard bully.”

She adds that the only way to stand up to a bully is to band together and that’s exactly the point of taking a ratification vote.  The vote will begin on Sunday night following a membership meeting at the Hamilton Convention Centre and continuing through Monday from 10am-5pm at the union’s strike office.  Picket lines will remain up through that time.

“We came to the conclusion that McMaster would keep wasting our time, and the time of student, faculty and the rest of the McMaster community, unless we took this vote and demonstrated our resolve,” explained Derek Sahota, another member of the bargaining team and a research assistant, “while the picket lines are a clear enough symbol of our members will for us and for the rest of the campus community, it’s not enough for the university administration.  When we reject this offer, the employer will have no choice but to start bargaining with the honesty and maturity we expect of them.”

While the union has, from the beginning, insisted it doesn’t want any increase in wages, there are four major outstanding issues.  TAs want to protect their income from tuition increases, to maintain their benefits fund from impending cuts because of rising enrollment, to win guarantees that the most qualified and experienced TAs can have access to teaching work throughout their degrees, and to cap tutorial sizes so they can maintain their personal relationship with their students and the quality of education.

“The total cost of what we are asking for is less than 0.001% of the university’s operating budget,” says Strung, “the entire amount we need to just maintain our benefits for 2,700 people is less than a starting professor makes in one year.   The only conclusion we can reach is that this isn’t about money for McMaster, it’s about putting our members ‘in their place.’  It’s bullying, plain and simple.  And with this vote we are going to send the message we can’t be bullied.”

“We are the backbone of quality education at this university,” Sahota added, “we love teaching and research and we are care about our students and the quality of their education.  We provide critical one-on-one teaching and high-quality research and we work long hours and have a lot of training.  But we need the resources to do our jobs and McMaster needs to realize they can’t just take advantage of us.”

Picket lines will continue to snarl traffic at McMaster until the results of the ratification vote are counted on Monday night.  If the vote passes, TAs could head back to work mid-week.  If the vote fails, the union’s bargaining team is prepared to negotiate on Monday night to reach a deal to get their members back to work.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, local 3906 represents over 3000 members at McMaster including teaching and research assistants, part-time sessional faculty and post-doctoral research fellows.  The 2,700 members of the union’s “Unit 1” who are on strike are teaching and research assistants, the vast majority of whom are also students.

More information regarding the meeting will follow shortly.

In solidarity,

CUPE 3906

Important Information About Unit 1 “Final Offer” Vote

Dear fellow unit 1 members,

This Sunday evening at 4pm we will convene to discuss and vote on the employer’s current offer. We have called this vote in order to send a strong message to McMaster that they must address the key issues in bargaining, issues that we, as a union, have voted time and again to insist are pivotal. Until we vote down this offer, we will see no movement on class-sizes and overwork, work for upper-year students, maintenance of our benefits, and protection from tuition increases.

We began this bargaining process by tabling a modest but comprehensive set of proposals that included no new increase in graduate TA wages. We took into consideration the general economic situation. You gave us your trust and ideas. Time and again we revised and reformed our proposals. You have been with us through the entire bargaining process. We had hoped that our local’s rejection of a ratification vote on November 1st would be enough to convince the McMaster administration they need to take our proposals seriously. We had hoped that three days of strong picket lines would be enough. Now it is clear only a decisive and formal rejection of this insulting offer will succeed in winning the contract we deserve.

There are our main issues:

1. We are seeking protection from overwork due to ballooning tutorial and lab sizes. Large tutorial and labs undermine the quality of education and our personal relationship with our students.
2. We are seeking job security for upper-year graduate students so that they have access to TA or RA work as they finish their degrees.
3. We are seeking to protect benefits. Without an increase in funding that is proportional to member usage, benefits will be cut.
4. We need some protection of our take-home income from yearly tuition increases.

For more information on all of these issues, please check out the information “annex” to this document, to be posted this evening.

If we fail to reject this offer, we will not simply be settling for the “status quo.” The university’s offer means substantial cuts in take-home pay and total compensation for almost all members of Unit 1. We cannot be intimidated by the administration’s threats to that sabotage the hard-fought agreement reached on many items if we reject this contract. This is a typical, if mean-spirited, bargaining tactic. When we reject their contract and send a clear message we cannot be bullied, we have every reason to expect that they will willing to move enough our our key issues to settle this deal and get everyone back to work.

We have kept this message short in order to be clear and concise. Please check our blog regularly for updates.

Please contact the strike office with any questions: 905-528-CUPE

Voting will commence following our meeting at the Hamilton Convention Centre on Sunday night. All members should inform themselves and participate in the discussion.

We look forward to an informed and spirited discussion on Sunday night. Se you there!

Response to issues raised in Employer’s email to students

On November 5th, the University emailed our members with another misleading statement about how fantastic their offer is and asking members to ratify it. Our communications team has drafted a response:

1. While failure to reject the university administration’s offer does mean an end to the strike it does not mean an end to the issues that caused the strike. We will be in the same position in two years time when our contract expires. Rejection of the employer’s offer means the ball is in McMaster’s court to end this strike by addressing our key issues once and for all.
2. The university’s monetary offer represents a minimal package far weaker than the packages offered to other employee groups on campus like staff and faculty and far less than the 5% overall increase the Administration has budgeted for every employee group. It offers an almost insignificant increase to wages (and no increase to benefits except dental) in return for us abandoning our proposals that focus on securing the quality of education (tutorial/lab-size safeguards and funding of access to work for experienced TAs as they conclude their degrees). These monetary figures represent a net loss in pay for all members of the unit.
3. Job security for upper-year students is not guaranteed and the union receives dozens of complaints a year from members who are abandoned by their university as they try to finish their degrees. Without improved access to these positions, these problems will continue, problems that have forced many members to drop out of their degree programs for lack of funding and support. We have consistently asked that these positions not come at the expense of our lower-year members but instead represent an addition of teaching staff so as to reduce tutorial and lab sizes.
4. Lab and tutorial sizes are among the key concerns identified by our members because it undermines the quality of education and causes overwork. The employer wishes to believe that members are protected by the hours of work form but TAs know very well that actual hours worked almost always exceed those stated on the forms. The union receives scores of complaints each year about members feeling compelled to work beyond their paid hours in order to provide quality education to our students. Almost none of these members are willing to make a formal grievance because they fear reprisals from their department or feel that the process, which can take up to 9 months or longer, will not create a timely solution. Dealing with these issues in bargaining is the only solution.
5. Tuition fees are the single greatest work-related financial burden for the vast majority of TAs and RAs and they are an issue identified by an overwhelming number of members in bargaining surveys and at meetings as critical. The union works, outside of bargaining, with student, faculty and political groups to argue for higher funding for post-secondary education and lower tuition fees and ensure affordable, accessible high-quality post-secondary education for all students. In bargaining we seek to win compensation for tuition increases as employees so as to ensure we protect our take-home pay from yearly erosion. Without this protection, we can expect to lose more and more each year with no recourse.

In solidarity,
Your bargaining and bargaining support team

Vote “NO” this Sunday

Please see our strike blog for a statement on why you should vote no on Sunday:

http://unit1strike.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/vote-no-on-sunday/

Excerpt:

This Sunday evening at 4pm we will convene to discuss and vote on the employer’s current offer. We have called this vote in order to send a strong message to McMaster that they must address the key issues in bargaining, issues that we, as a union, have voted time and again to insist are pivotal. Until we vote down this offer, we will see no movement on class-sizes and overwork, work for upper-year students, maintenance of our benefits, and protection from tuition increases.

We began this bargaining process by tabling a modest but comprehensive set of proposals that included no new increase in graduate TA wages. We took into consideration the general economic situation. You gave us your trust and ideas. Time and again we revised and reformed our proposals. You have been with us through the entire bargaining process. We had hoped that our local’s rejection of a ratification vote on November 1st would be enough to convince the McMaster administration they need to take our proposals seriously. We had hoped that three days of strong picket lines would be enough. Now it is clear only a decisive and formal rejection of this insulting offer will succeed in winning the contract we deserve.

Read more >>

Employer’s Most Recent Offer — For Discussion and Voting

Dear CUPE 3906 member,

Please find the employer’s most recent package, which the Unit 1 membership will discuss this Sunday and then vote to accept or reject, here.

Our most recent offer to the employer (the university administration) can be viewed at the link below:

CUPE 3906 Unit 1 Position Document – Nov 1

We urge all members to review the employer’s AND the union’s proposed contract, prior to discussion and voting. 

The CUPE Unit 1 bargaining team recommends that members REJECT THE EMPLOYER’S OFFER BY VOTING “NO.”