Members going to the June 1st LMC meeting pose with flags and fists in the air.
On Monday June 1, the union’s Labour Management Committee met with the employer to discuss ongoing implementation of our collective agreements. Important information for every unit came out of this meeting.
Foremost, members in the room clearly expressed their rage at the misinterpretation of the tuition offset language in the Units 1 and 3 agreements. The employer remains unmoved; they will provide us with dates and times for a grievance meeting shortly.
The issue of pay schedules has been addressed for all units. For Unit 2, the concern is that members who are teaching in the spring 2015 session are being paid over three months instead of two. They would not commit to a date at which this will be rectified, but seem confident that it would not have to wait until July. For Units 1 and 3, we clarified that, unlike what was stated at the May 28 Dean’s Cafe, members will not be getting their entire summer funding on June 10. The employer will pay the difference owing from the total increase in summer funding and minimum guarantee, as well as any amounts owing from payroll errors made on May 25. The normal pay schedule will resume on June 25, reflecting the prior summer funding arrangements. The employer has promised to deposit $25,000 to the Ways and Means Fund as a penalty for this error. They remain non-committal on the question of paying interest on members’ late pay.
On the childcare fund we recently won, it was decided that it will be administered by the union, beginning in September 2015.
Many Unit 2 implementation issues were discussed. Notably, the list of successful conversion and alternate teaching stream conversion candidates should be announced by July 1. There was also discussion of the Professional Expense Reimbursement (PER). The employer is looking into providing bi-annual letters to Unit 2 members informing them of the amounts they can claim. To speed up the process of reimbursement, there was also discussion of improving access to and providing information on the Concur system so that members can submit their PER claims online. Members who are between contracts but want to access Concur should email Charles Bisram (bisr590@yorku.ca) in the Faculty Relations Office and ask for an one-month extension. Finally, the employer has been touring departments to educate them on the workings of the new collective agreement, including of the Continual Sessional Status (CSS) program . Eligible members are required to be informed of their status by October 1, 2015.