Welcome to CUPE 3903!  Our local, which represents the contract faculty, teaching assistants, and graduate + research assistants at York University, is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), a national union whose membership exceeds 500,000 workers and is Canada’s largest union. CUPE is made up of more than 2200 local branches of which 3903 is one. CUPE represents workers in health care, education, municipalities, libraries, universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services and airlines.

CUPE Local 3903 is constantly struggling to improve the working conditions of more than 3300 of its members. York promotes the funding package it offers to graduate students, but it is the members of CUPE 3903 who have fought hard to win the rights and benefits enshrined in our Collective Agreement. In the winter of 2000-2001, CUPE 3903 won a history-making 78-day strike, forcing an intransigent Administration to back down on its efforts to cancel tuition indexation and erode job security. Three years ago we negotiated a new, stronger Collective Agreement, and your solidarity and support has enabled your union to make much needed gains in job security, toward guaranteed funding for all 12 months of each year, wages, and benefits. The Double Cohort has introduced a unique strain on workers at York, and CUPE 3903 members have been essential to this transition period. York’s growing dependency on contract faculty and TAs to absorb the effects of increased enrolment also exposes us to new concerns around work exploitation and job security. This year, we are going into collective bargaining once again, and will be in a strong position to make further gains toward the security, equity and parity of all units that our members have demanded as workers at York University. Our collective strength will come from our members, including you!!

Why being a member of a union is a good thing:

• The biggest thing that separates union from non-union workplaces is the collective agreement. In non-union workplaces, employees are often at the mercy of employers who play favourites and change terms and conditions of employment on a whim. But in a unionized environment, workers have written and legally-binding guarantees covering things like wages and benefits. Collective agreements give union workers rights and protections that are not available to other workers. Unlike the non-union environment where workers are basically subject to the whims of their employer, workers in unionized workplaces (like York) have a clear set of rights which are outlined in detail in their collective agreements. If our employer breaches provisions of our contract, then we can take action through the established grievance procedure.
• One of the most obvious benefits of belonging to a union is higher pay. Union members in Canada make on average significantly more than non-union members.
• Women with union representation earn an average of 89 percent of the wages earned by men, compared to 71 percent in non-unionized workplaces.
• Our union representation gives us guaranteed extended health and dental coverage.
• Unions have and continue to be part of broad social movements working to make Toronto, Canada and the world better places to live for workers. Union members have worked for living wages, for an end to homelessness, for public education, for health care, against the privatisation of hydro and water, for fair treatment of immigrants and refugees, for women’s right to choice, for fair trade policies, for protection of the environment, for accessibility issues, against corporatization and globalization and for lots more.

Why being a member of CUPE 3903 is an even better thing:

You are a worker and the York University administration is your employer. Our collective agreement, one that is negotiated by members of our union and representatives from the university administration, guarantees us certain rights as workers at York. It secures our wages, limits class size, provides health benefits, protects job security, and generally makes our working conditions better. Because we bargain for this collective agreement as a group, we are able to demand that our various interests be met by our employer, and we have the power to take action should these interests not be met to our satisfaction. We will be heading into negotiations for our next contract in 2008. It is all of our responsibility to decide what issues are important to us as workers and how we will fight for their inclusion in our collective agreement. The union will provide opportunity for us as to discuss and debate these issues together, and members of our union will then represent us at the negotiation table next year. We look forward to hearing what you have to say about the existing contract and the changes you would like to see in the next one.

The union also defends your rights by making sure that the York administration follows the terms of the collective agreement while it is in effect. For example, if you are pressured to work more than the number of hours set in the agreement, you have a right to say no, you have a right to extra compensation for additional work, and we have a grievance process to force the employer to comply. If you think you are being treated in a way that violates your rights, contact the union immediately and we will do our best to help.

CUPE 3903 not only fights to improve the working conditions of our own members; we are active in a labour movement that has a long history of fighting for workers everywhere. We are against all forms of oppression and we are for an alternative society without racism, without sexism, and without classes. Our union has a number of broadly active anti-oppression groups that you are invited to join (see committee/working group section for details).