On Thursday, May 20th and Friday, May 21st, the CUPE 3903 Bargaining Team met with the Employer and conciliators. These meetings mainly focused on Unit 1, Unit 3, and Unit 2 School of Nursing counter proposals.
Notice for Elections – Bargaining Team and Executive Positions
The following positions are currently vacant and need to be filled.
Bargaining Team:
i) Third Representative for Unit 2
Executive Positions:
i) Chief Steward Unit 3
ii) Chief Steward Unit 4
Due to resignations and vacancies, the above positions are being reopened for nominations. The nomination period for these positions will open at the GMM on May 31st. At that time, members interested in nominating themselves will fill out a nomination form on the CUPE website. If needed, the nomination period will be followed by a two week campaign period and a five day election (via Simply Voting).
Timeline:
Nomination period (2 weeks) – May 31st – June 13th
Campaign period (2 weeks) June 14th – June 27th
Voting (5 days): June 28th – July 2nd
Please nominate yourself here: Nomination Form
If you have any questions, please contact the Elections Officers at cupe3903eo@gmail.com
Members Approve Provisional Strike Timeline
At our SGMM yesterday (May 19th), the membership grappled with the Employer’s continued reluctance to bargain in good faith on our proposals. The collective agreements for CUPE 3903 Units 1, 2, and 3 expired on August 31, 2020. Since then we have collected data, and on December 9th, presented the Employer a concise package of proposals. Our proposals aim to affirm job security for contract faculty, and promote employment equity, which aligns with York’s publicly stated commitment to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion. Despite the Union’s expressed desire and efforts to address these issues concretely and expeditiously in the context of the pandemic, the Employer has engaged with our proposals minimally.
Given how protracted movement has been at the bargaining table, the membership has approved a provisional strike timeline in order to consider the next steps in the bargaining process, and has restated their support for the Bargaining Team; they urge the Employer to bargain seriously.
Members can see the provisional strike timeline passed by the membership here.
SGMM on May 19th has not been cancelled.
Those of you who registered for the upcoming SGMM (on May 19th) may have received an email saying that the SGMM has been cancelled. This is unfortunate and only due to a technical problem that has now been fixed.
Please note that the SGMM has not been cancelled; however, you will need to re-register by clicking on the new link provided below:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
We thank you for your patience.
Welcome to Our New Assistant Staff Representative, Maija Duncan!
We would like to welcome Maija Duncan as our new Assistant Staff Representative! This is a new staff position that was negotiated during the last round of bargaining between our Local and our Local 1281 staff members. Maija will begin on May 18th. Thank you to the Hiring Committee for their work navigating hiring in the midst of a pandemic.
Maija comes to the position with a great deal of experience within labour activism. Within the 3903 context, she has served on the Executive Committee as Communications Officer and Chairperson, wherein she has been directly involved in bargaining and spearheaded numerous communications initiatives, campaigns, grievances, campus-wide activism, membership training and mobilization. The Hiring Committee was particularly impressed with Maija’s detailed insights and sensitivities to the challenges faced by our membership, the Local, and the greater York community.
SGMM on Bargaining – May 19th (Noon–3pm)
We are hosting a Bargaining Special General Membership Meeting via Zoom on May 19th at 12:00pm to 3:00pm! At this meeting, the Bargaining Team will present updates, and we will strategize next steps with input from membership. All members are encouraged to attend.
Please register in advance for this meeting here.
In order to register, you will need to provide your employee number, which will be kept confidential. Your employee number is on your monthly pay stub. If you don’t know your employee number, please click here for instructions.
Report Back – Bargaining with the Employer, May 8
On May 8th, the CUPE 3903 Bargaining Team (BT) met with mediator Chris Albertyn. Discussions focused on employment equity proposals (Articles 5.03 and 12.04). Members can see the proposals exchanged in the latest proposal package.
Employment Equity
The Employer submitted counters to our proposals on 5.03 and 12.04 the evening before the meeting. The Employer’s latest pass was framed as a “comprehensive package of proposals” where accepting one proposal would mean accepting them all. The Employer made a similar “comprehensive” pass on April 19, which the BT rejected by stating that we could entertain individual proposals as counters, but we will not engage with ultimatums, particularly not when they attempt to introduce concessions.
Report Back – Bargaining with the Employer, May 5
On Wednesday, May 5, the Bargaining Team met with the co-conciliators Hanane Benzidane and Greg Long. We would like to thank members in the room for attending as observers, as per our open bargaining practice.
The Employer presented two counters to the Union’s Unit 3 proposals from April 27. The Union responded to one of the these counters during the meeting on May 5. Members can see the Union’s latest proposal package which includes the Employer’s Unit 3 counters, as well as the Union’s proposals here.
Vacancy – CUPE Ontario Workers with Disabilities Committee – June 7th
The Workers with Disabilities (WWD) Committee has a vacancy that needs to be filled by appointment.
TFAC Meeting – May 26th (10am–Noon)
Come join us for the May TFAC meeting! At this meeting we will launch our first peer to peer skill sharing workshop, get an update on bargaining, and discuss how to proceed with the TFAC Financial Assistance Fund!
Zoom link https://yorku.zoom.us/j/93142182185?pwd=VVIyVGloQlE3aTI0bTNvdWhwM0pyUT09
Skill sharing workshop: Gizem will be teaching TFAC members how to take minutes at meetings. This is a skill you can take with you in other union, organizing, and activist spaces! All TFAC members who attend the workshop will receive a $15 honorarium!
Did you know? If you are the minute taker for a TFAC meeting, you will receive a $50 honorarium.
To join the tfac listserv please email the co-chairs at tfac.cupe3903@gmail.com