The Accessibility Committee is organizing a workshop (with two dates) titled “Unpacking Ableism”, lead by Kate Welsh, Mari Ramsawakh, & Jayde Hinds of CRIP (Community.Resistance. Intimacy.Project): www.criproject.com

Space is limited for both workshops, so advanced registration is required.

Date: Monday 4 March 2019
Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: Second Student Centre (room confirmed with online registration)
Registration: Register at tinyurl.com/yyga2bg9 or email electrocrip@gmail.com

Date: Friday 15 March 2019
Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: Second Student Centre (room confirmed with online registration)
Registration: Register at tinyurl.com/yyga2bg9 or email electrocrip@gmail.com

CUPE 3903 will be holding a general election for the contested positions below:

The first day of the election will be held at the AGM on March 14th, and thereafter for five
days, until March 21st.

• Chairperson: Maija Duncan and Heather Jordan
• Recording Secretary: Gizem Çakmak and Emilie Hurst
• Treasurer: Michael Laurentius and Sylvia Peacock
• Vice President Unit 2: Kyle Belozerov and Vanessa Lehan
• Chief Steward Unit 2: Mike Palamarek and Alireza Rafiee
• Communications Officer: Tanya Da Sylva and Tatiana Paulin

The following candidates have been acclaimed to the positions listed:

• Vice President Unit 1: Stacey Berquist
• Vice President Unit 3: Tai Vo
• Chief Steward Unit 1:  Alison Fisher
• Chief Steward Unit 3: Mariful Alam
• Chief Steward Unit 4: Stephanie Power
• Grievance Officer: Julian Arend

Congratulations to the acclaimed candidates, and good luck to all campaigning!

On Thursday, February 14th, the union’s Labour-Management Committee met with the employer to discuss a full agenda of issues for Units 1, 2, and 3.

While follow-up will be necessary for many items, the employer’s approach to regular items was largely productive. However, the employer continues to refuse to engage meaningfully with the ongoing problems with remediation. More than six months after all three units returned to work, the employer will still not divulge the precise guidelines — if there are any — used to determine what workload forms were approved or denied. They claim that the process must remain decentralized, which accounts for the lack of consistency between departments. The union-side representatives raised the objection that workers under a single contract should not be held to different standards across departments. Unit 1 also raised the objection that the stipulations agreed to by Unit 2, for example, the relevance of a number of students remaining, should not apply, as Units 1 and 3 did not agree to those terms. In the absence of a Memorandum of Settlement, it does not follow that the logic and terms of our contracts would be significantly altered by remediation. It seems obvious that these issues will have to be resolved through the grievance process, as there is no willingness to discuss and reach agreement collaboratively. If members were not paid in full for the work they completed during the remediation period they should complete the pay discrepancy survey, found here: https://form.jotform.com/82986576938280, and attach all relevant documentation to assist staff in filing a grievance on their behalf. In the meantime, we were assured that new remediation workload forms will continue to be accepted.

Other issues which were discussed are separated by unit below.

Continue reading →

Many of our members have started asking for T4s showing their strike pay. Strike pay is not taxable income. As such, neither CUPE 3903, CUPE-National, nor the payroll company employed by the local for the strike (NEBS) will be issuing T4s.

Members can consult the Canada Revenue Agency list of non-taxable amounts that do not have to be reported as income.

CUPE 3903 will be holding its 2019 general elections for the executive positions listed below. All members in good standing are eligible to run for any of the positions listed, except for the Vice President or Chief Steward positions, which are unit specific. (Unit-specific positions are only for members who are in that unit.) All candidates must comply with the Union’s Bylaws.

If you’re eligible and interested in running, please note the following dates: the nomination period will be from February 12^th to the 26^th and the campaigning period will be from Feb. 27^th to March 13^th. The first day of the election will be held at the AGM on March 14^th and will continue thereafter, until March 21^st.

All Unit Positions

• Chairperson
• Recording Secretary
• Treasurer
• Communications Officer
• Grievance Officer

Unit-Specific Positions:

• Vice-President Unit 1
• Vice-President Unit 2
• Vice-President Unit 3
• Chief Steward Unit 1
• Chief Steward Unit 2
• Chief Steward Unit 3
• Chief Steward Unit 4

Nomination Guidelines

Candidates nominating themselves for the above-listed positions must fill out the Nomination Form with their name and signature. The names and signatures of two other supporting members must also be included on the form. For unit-specific positions, the two supporting members must be from the same unit that the election is held in.

Once the nomination form has been completed, the candidate will need to drop it off at the union office (143 Atkinson Building) and put it in the Nominations Box (located on the front desk in lobby area).

A sign-in sheet will be attached to this box, which the running candidate must fill out and sign at that point. It is important that this sheet is signed when dropping off the nomination form. Failure to do so will result in the candidate becoming ineligible to run for election.

The Election Officers will contact all candidates at the end of the nomination period.

February 2019 General Membership Meeting
Friday February 8, 2019
12pm-3pm
320 Bethune College

Tentative Agenda: 

1. Roll call of officers (2 mins)
2. Reading of the Equality Statement (3 mins)
3. Reading of the Mississauga Land Acknowledgement (2 mins)
4. Approval of Agenda (5 mins)
5. Notices (3 mins)
   1. Bylaw amendment: Trans Fund Committee
6. Reading and Approval of minutes (30 mins)
   1. February 2018 GMM minutes
   2. September 2018 GMM minutes
   3. October 2018 GMM minutes
   4. November 2018 GMM minutes
   5. December 2018 GMM minutes
   6. January 2019 GMM Minutes
7. Treasurer’s Report (30 mins)
   1. Budget amendments
8. Unfinished Business (10 mins)
   1. Endorsement request: York Affordable Housing Committee
   2. Endorsement request: Israeli Apartheid Week by SAIA UofT
9. Matters Arising (30 mins)
   1. Motion to destroy the ballots from the vote on the bylaw amendment: JHSC restructuring
   2. Motion to destroy the ballots from the vote on the bylaw amendment: Bilingualism Committee
   3. Bylaw amendment: In-camera procedure
   4. Donation request: York Affordable Housing Committee ($1000)
   5. Donation request: SAIA at UofT ($500)
10. Nominations, Elections or Installations (15 minutes)
    1. Committee elections
       1. Posting Officer
    2. Delegate elections
       1. Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee
       2. CUPE National Bargaining Conference
11. Executive Report-backs (15 mins)
12. New Business (20 mins)
13. Reports of committees and delegates (15 mins)
    1. Trustees’ Report (2017-18 Fiscal Year)
14. Adjournment

Many Unit 1 members may have accidentally submitted Unit 2 Blanket Applications.

Unit 1 members who logged into York’s online Blanket Application system using their employee Passport York were automatically given a Unit 2 Blanket Application to fill in.

Members must log in with their STUDENT Passport York in order to access the Unit 1 Blanket Application.

Despite York’s insistence that student Passport York accounts are unrelated to our members’s status as employees it is only through this login that a Unit 1 Blanket (employment) Application can be reached.

Members may wish to resubmit their application and have until the end of business day today, January 31st (4:30pm) to do so. However, we will vigorously defend any members denied positions due to York’s mishandling of this issue.

The position of Posting Officer has become vacant. Any members interested in becoming a posting officer can nominate themselves by emailing the Recording Secretary at recsec.cupe3903@gmail.com by 5pm on February 7, 2019. If more than one member nominates themselves, a by-election will take place at the February GMM.

For information on the duties of the position, click here.

CUPE 3903 has a budget set aside to send members to represent the local at a variety of different labour movement conferences. At the February GMM, we will be electing delegates for the CUPE Ontario University Workers Coordination Committee Conference, and the CUPE National Bargaining Conference. More information on each of these conferences can be found below.

Members can nominate themselves to be conference delegates during the GMM. However, if you would like to nominate yourself and cannot attend the GMM, email your nomination to cupe3903vpu1@gmail.com by 5pm on February 7, 2019.

Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee (OUWCC) Conference (February 22-25, 2019)

Representing 39 union locals in 17 university campuses across Ontario, the goal of the OUWCC is to unify university workers and leverage collective power to strengthen public post-secondary education and improve workers’ lives. The OUWCC conference will be an opportunity for university sector workers to come together, make efforts to coordinate bargaining, and work towards initiating province-wide political action on issues facing university workers. CUPE 3903 is entitled to 2 voting delegates in the conference. We will also be electing 2 alternates.

For more information on the conference, please click here.

CUPE National Bargaining Conference (March 18-22, 2019)

CUPE National’s Bargaining Conference will be centered around four half-day workshops where members will develop their skills on everything they need to move forward in bargaining. The workshops will allow members to share their ideas for planning for bargaining, engaging members, campaigning to build public support and winning strikes.

During the conference, CUPE National will provide local leadership with opportunities to develop skills and share strategies for success in bargaining, building on CUPE’s bargaining policy of “no concessions,” and will feature training in strategic planning processes that will help members prepare more effectively for bargaining. The conference will also highlight tools and resources to support CUPE locals in the full lifecycle of the bargaining process.

For more information, click here.

In July 2018, the Recording Secretary of our local submitted to CUPE National the bylaw amendments passed by the membership between June 2015 and July 2018 for final approval. According to the official response that we have received from CUPE National, several minor edits are suggested, and all but one were approved of the 30 bylaw amendments passed by the CUPE 3903 membership. See here for a full list of submitted amendments and the corresponding language.

Of particular note is CUPE National’s rejection of the amendment regarding re-introducing recall language into our bylaws [Article 8(m)]. As can be seen in his official response, CUPE National President Mark Hancock stated that he considers the proposed recall language to be discipline, and that the proper venue to resolve such issues is the trial procedure.

Our local had recall language prior to being taken under administration in 2009. At this time, all existing committees of the union (including the Executive Committee) had been dissolved, and the CUPE National-appointed trustee Lynn McDougall became responsible for the administration of the local. During her trusteeship, Lynn McDougall revised CUPE 3903’s bylaws, and unilaterally rewrote and removed many existing provisions, including the recall language the local already had.

The Executive Committee is disappointed with CUPE National’s decision to reject an important measure of accountability that our membership wanted to re-introduce into our policies. We are particularly concerned that the alternative avenue that is being suggested by the National President is the trial procedure, a process that is known to be highly problematic and has been heavily criticized by many CUPE locals. The trial process is also currently in review by the National Executive Board as per the resolution passed at the latest CUPE National Convention in 2017, and the results are to be presented at the convention in 2019. In addition to the procedural problems associated with the trial process, there is no clarity around how the process will even look like by the end of this review.

In order to register our disappointment with the response to our bylaw amendment, the Executive Committee has requested that the National President reconsider this decision and approve the re-introduction of the recall language into the CUPE 3903 bylaws (see here for the Executive Committee’s communication). We have received confirmation of receipt of this correspondence by the National President, but no further response. We will keep the membership updated on any new developments.