McMaster has walked away from the bargaining table. What now? Below, we outline the collective bargaining process for you. Right now, we are approaching conciliation and will soon be working with a provincially appointed conciliator to help the parties work through an impasse and help to secure a fair agreement from McMaster. Please click on the image for a larger version.
Since late August of this year, your bargaining team has been working diligently to get the best possible deal for you. We continue to survey and canvass our members and depend on your continued engagement. We’ve heard you loud and clear: our members demand better wages and improvements to job security.
Today, McMaster walked away from the table without proposing a counter-offer and has stated that they will file for conciliation. What’s worse is they denied improvements to job security and demanded a 5 year contract. This is unacceptable.
Wages
Over the last 13 years our wage increases averaged 1.5% (per year), well below the 2.75% inflation average over the same time period. Even still, our wage proposal (8.3% Year 1, 3% Year 2, 3% Year 3) has been viewed by the employer as untenable. Sessionals deserve a contract that mitigates the losses during a decade of austerity. The employer’s most recent offer included an average of 3.45% in wage increases over 5 years. While the employer’s latest wage proposal may technically be in line with sector averages, we would still be left behind colleagues at comparable Universities by 2029.
Job Security
The employer has made their point: they prefer “flexibility” over job security. Your precarious working conditions and your experience teaching is of little concern to them. They would rather be able to replace you with someone who they think is better than you.
Length of Contract
The contract McMaster wants is 5 years long. We would be locked into this contract with no chance of improvement until 2029. McMaster knows that a longer contract term that does not line up with other bargaining units will minimize our power. However, we made it clear: the offer McMaster made does not entitle them to 5 years of labour peace.
The Facts: McMaster Does Not Respect Our Work
The proposal we offered is fair, however McMaster has decided to file for conciliation. Conciliation involves intervention from the Ministry of Labour to assist with the bargaining process. Why did they file for conciliation? McMaster’s lead negotiator implied that we did not change our offer at all. In reality, we made substantial changes to reach a good deal for our members quickly! As much as we understand that guaranteed TA support is important to many of our members, we retracted that from our offer to show we are serious about making a deal.
Next Steps For Bargaining and Mobilizing
The employer stated they will file for conciliation next week. Filing for conciliation marks an escalation by the employer and brings us closer to a legal strike or lockout. We are still open to negotiations with or without a conciliation officer. The employer is able to return to the table at any time throughout this process, and we hope that they do.
Your Bargaining Team and the Contract Action Team will be ramping up mobilization efforts, reaching out to members and asking you for support and participation as the process evolves. We will be visiting you after your classes, speaking with you after your office hours, calling you and emailing you to keep you in the loop every step of the way.
Your participation in this process is vital. Please show your support by signing our bargaining petition.
McMaster heavily relies on Sessional Faculty in order to function as a university. That is why it is important for them to keep you tied into an abnormally long contract without job security and only meager wage increases. Your bargaining team shares your frustration and will continue to fight for a better contract.
Your bargaining team met with the employer’s bargaining team on November 5th. We would like to give you a brief update on where negotiations stand so far.
McMaster finally made a serious monetary proposal, including increases to wages and benefits.
– McMaster’s offer is for a 5-year contract. Your bargaining team believes that securing a 3-year contract is strategically important for future bargaining leverage. A 3-year contract means that in 2027, Sessionals will be able to combine their bargaining leverage with TAs and Postdocs, which means we will be much more likely to secure a far better contract for members in all three units.
– McMaster’s latest wage proposal will keep Sessional Faculty pay well below wages at UW, Western, York, Queens, U of T, and Ottawa for at least 4 years (see the bar graph below for comparison). These other universities have been able to gain significant wage increases in previous years by having a mobilized membership ready to strike for a better contract, and by combining negotiations with other bargaining units.
– McMaster is effectively trying to buy their way out of a three-year contract because they also know that combining our bargaining leverage with TAs and Postdocs would put them at a disadvantage in 2027.
– After originally proposing no increase in benefits money, McMaster has met our demands for the first three years of their proposed contract.
– McMaster has not moved on job security or TA support.
For more details on McMaster’s latest offer, please see the chart below.
|
Issue |
CUPE 3906 proposal |
McMaster’s proposal |
Notes |
|
Wages |
8.3% – year one $8724
3% – year two $8972.22
3% – year three $9241.39
14.3% over 3 years
4.7% yearly average |
3.5% – year one (plus $300 lump sum for Sessionals paid the current base rate in Fall 2024) $8338.34
3.75% – year two $8651.03
2% – year three $8824.05
2.5% – year four (plus 1% Market adjustment; 3.5% overall) $9132.89
2.5% – year five (plus guaranteed market adjustment of 2%; 4.5% overall) $9543.87
17.25% over 5 years
3.45% yearly average |
McMaster previously offered 2.5% in year one, and 2.25% in years two – five |
|
Guaranteed TA Support |
One guaranteed TA for every 50 students |
No guaranteed TA |
|
|
Enhanced Job Security |
Teach the same course twice, get right of first refusal (i.e. ongoing continuous appointment when offered to Sessionals) |
No enhanced job security |
|
|
Benefits
Current amount: $180,000
Current amount:
Current amount:
Current amount: |
Health benefits:
Year two (Sept. 1 2025) $230,205
Year three (Sept 1, 2026) $230,205
Professional development fund:
Year two
Year three $80,000
Dental Plan: Year one Year two $141,250
Year three
Family Dental: Year one $62,000
Year two $72,000
Year three $82,000 |
Year one $214,305
Year two-five $230,305
Year one $60,000
Year two $70,000
Year three-five $80,000
Year one
$131,250
Year two $141,250
Year three-five $151,250
Year one
$62,000
Year two $72,000
Year three-five $82,000 |
Employer previously offered no change to benefit amounts |
|
Length of contract |
3 years (aligning future negotiations with units 1 and 3) |
5 years |
|
Dear CUPE 3906 Unit 2 members (Sessional Instructors),
Your bargaining team met with the employer’s bargaining team at McMaster on October 4th and October 11th. We would like to give you a brief update on where negotiations stand so far.
Our bargaining priorities have not changed:
McMaster’s current offer is still subpar. After meeting with us several times, they have still only offered us crumbs:
This weak contract is also long. McMaster wants to lock us into an agreement with a sub-inflationary wage increase for five years. What you can do:
The Bargaining Team’s next steps:
In solidarity,
Your Unit 2 Bargaining Team
Your bargaining team met with the employer’s bargaining team at McMaster on October 4th and October 11th. We would like to give you a brief update on where negotiations stand so far.
Our bargaining priorities have not changed:
McMaster’s current offer is still subpar. After meeting with us several times, they have still only offered us crumbs:
This weak contract is also long. McMaster wants to lock us into an agreement with a sub-inflationary wage increase for five years. What you can do:
The Bargaining Team’s next steps:
In solidarity,
Your Unit 2 Bargaining Team
Dear Unit 2 members,
Your bargaining team met with the employer’s bargaining team on August 28th. We would like to give you a brief update on where negotiations stand so far.
Our bargaining priorities:
McMaster’s current offer:
Next Steps:
For more information on Unit 2 bargaining, visit bettermac.ca
If you’re interested in getting more involved in the union or bargaining process, do not hesitate to contact us!
To become a unit 2 steward, contact Hamed leadsteward_sessionals@cupe3906.org
To join the Contract Action Team, contact Mason vicepresident@cupe3906.org
In solidarity,
Your Unit 2 Bargaining Team
These priorities are:
The first Negotiation Session occurred on August 28.
The outcome of these contract negotiations will impact your job.
The only way to stop McMaster rolling back previous gains and secure some wins of our own is to make sure they feel the pressure from the whole membership to deliver a fair contract.
Contract Action Team
The Contract Action Team (CAT) exists to support the work of the Bargaining Team. The goal of the CAT is to inform, engage, and mobilize the entire membership of CUPE 3906 in support of the Unit 2 bargaining effort. We need to have an actively engaged membership to secure the best possible deal for our Unit 2 members. If you think you might be interested in getting involved in the CAT, email Walter at mobilizer@cupe3906.org or Varsha at bargainingcochairs@cupe3906.org
Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants (in lieu) will take a strike vote in our ongoing negotiations with the university.
Have Questions about the Strike Vote?
Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants (in lieu) will take a strike vote in our ongoing negotiations with the university.
Have Questions about the Strike Vote?
On May 6th, CUPE 3906 served McMaster University with notice to bargain for Teaching Assistants (Unit 1) and Postdoctoral Fellows (Unit 3), whose Collective Agreements are set to expire on August 31. After three and a half months of waiting, the university finally joined us at the bargaining table for four days of bargaining shared between both units.
On August 24th, the university’s bargaining team informed us that they were not prepared to bargain anything pertaining to money because the Board of Governors failed to give them a mandate. Usually, this mandate would be given well in advance and would offer the university’s bargaining team a sense of what kinds of changes the university is willing to make–and crucially, how much the university is willing to spend–to renew our Collective Agreements.
The union and the university have made good progress on some non-monetary items, such as updating gender pronouns and common language in the agreements, clarifying members’ rights to take pregnancy leave in the event of a still birth or miscarriage and parental leaves for adoptions, clarifying members’ rights to participate in safety planning in situations of domestic and sexual violence, and adding a TA Training article to the Unit 1 Agreement. But with the university unable (or unwilling) to negotiate things like wages, benefits enhancements, extended graduate funding guarantees and protections against future tuition increases for Teaching Assistants, or workload issues and retirement security for Postdocs, we find ourselves in the shocking position of arriving at an impasse on key issues after just four days.
We are calling on the relevant bodies at the university to meet and confirm a bargaining mandate immediately. We are also calling for that mandate to include:
Large enough pay increases to compensate for the alarming rise in the cost of living that workers are experiencing across Ontario;
Funding guarantees for graduate students that reflect how long our programs actually take;
A progressive and inclusive benefits package that allows every TA and Postdoc to take care of themselves and do their best work, including leaves and funds for reproductive health;
Protections from future tuition increases that could otherwise cut into our wages and put us even further behind, especially for international student workers; and
Allow Postdoctoral Fellows to address overwork in a meaningful way and to begin to save for retirement.
Our Collective Agreements expire today, so it is crucial that the university acts immediately. For this reason, the union’s bargaining teams have filed for conciliation, requesting that the government appoint an external mediator who can hopefully facilitate productive discussions when we return to the table.