CUPE 3903 Anti-Racism Town Hall

Posted on by
  1. Registration Link
  2. Anti-Racism Town Hall Statement
  3. Agenda
  4. Rules of Engagement
  5. Resources

1. Registration link
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpd-GsrTIuHNE4YVvoDY06zbf_lP3kgmzS

2. Anti-Racism Town Hall Statement

Come join your colleagues on August 11th at 11:30am for the CUPE 3903 Anti-Racism Town Hall. This meeting, co-chaired by Grievance Officer, Parbattie Ramsarran and Ahlam Abdelrahman, will be a space to discuss how racism shapes the experiences of racialized members both in their employment at York and in our union, as well as what steps can be taken to put meaningful anti-racism into practice.

As the conversation around systemic discrimination and the complicity of institutions with racism, most blatantly anti-Black racism, continues, there has been a proliferation of statements of solidarity, condemnation, and allyship. What is missing in many of these statements, including our own, is a commitment to looking inwards and taking meaningful, concrete steps. Some of the most insidious forms of white supremacy can be expressed in “performative allyship,” whereby expressing care and understanding are seen to be sufficient, thereby absolving us from taking further action and responsibility.

Real change takes substantive work and the steps to dismantle deeply entrenched structures of white supremacy are not always clear. Whether we are looking to force changes in the University or within our own Union, these processes begin with listening and learning. To push forward with this long overdue process, we will host a town hall in mid-August as the starting point of a fulsome campaign to address systemic discrimination. While CUPE 3903 already has a number of internal bodies and structures that speak to and address these issues, such as the Employment Equity Committee, the Advisory Committee on Race/Ethnic Relations, Discrimination and/or Harassment, and the Anti-Racism Working Group, much of this effort is directed towards defending our members, to hold our Employer accountable. Alongside this work we must equally focus on addressing systemic racism in our own Local and in the wider labour movement. We welcome substantive discussion on greater equity for Black members, and on how to ensure union spaces do not continue to replicate patterns of systemic racism.

Let us be clear: this town hall is a beginning, not an end. Some possible next steps include establishing a BIPOC caucus, reinvigorating the Anti-Racism Working Group, and how we might distribute funds to better align with anti-racist values. Like everything we do, however, we want our actions to be member-led. CUPE 3903 will release a fuller statement after the town hall with a concrete action plan to detail how we intend to move forward. Not only can we do better, we must do better.

3. Agenda

  1. Logistics and rules of engagement
  2. Roll-call of officers
  3. Reading of the Equality Statement
  4. Reading of the Mississauga Land Acknowledgement
  5. Agenda
  6. Welcome and vision for this townhall
  7. Current equity measures and the Grievance process
  8. Bargaining through an anti-racist lens
  9. Job security
    1. Quantitative language
    2. How are positions allocated?
    3. The Albertyn model
  10. Ideas for a media campaign
  11. Anti-Racism beyond the local
  12. Adjournment

4. Rules of Engagement

In order to ensure the smooth running of the meeting, we will be enforcing the following rules of engagement:

  1. No recording of the meeting without the consent of all participants.
  2. If you want to speak, use the “raise hand” function on the Participants screen. You will be added to the speaker’s list.
  3. Your microphone and video should be OFF unless you are speaking. Moderators may mute you if needed.
  4. Repeatedly speaking out of turn will cause you to be removed from the meeting.
  5. If you engage in any behaviours that are contrary to our local’s Equity Statement, a moderator will first give you a warning. If there is a repeated offense, you will then be placed in the waiting room until you are ready to come back to the meeting in a respectful way. If you are unwilling to resolve the problem, you will be removed from the meeting.

Please note that in order to help us make productive use of the discussions and suggestions that arise in this town hall, this meeting will be minuted. If at any point, you would like to share something which you would prefer not be minuted, you are welcome to indicate this either before or after you speak.

5. Resources