HAMILTON, ON — The CUPE 3906 Unit 3 Bargaining Team met face-to-face with the Employer’s Bargaining Team for a second set of dates on June 4th and June 5th

In addition to making improvements on many of the day-to-day labour relations issues, we have secured
improvements to the ‘No Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Harassment’ article, agreed to a new article providing protection and support for those who have suffered from domestic violence, and strengthened language on workplace accommodations. We have also secured some tangible gains – such as a tuition bursary for your dependents. We also believe that we are close to securing language that would provide guidelines and limitations on student mentorship workloads and expectations

Problematically, the Employer has tabled language that we feel would adversely affect your right to vacation entitlement and creating a situation in which days slowly accrue, making it harder to secure enough days for a sustained vacation. We’re continuing to push back against this.

We saw the Employer propose some modest increases to the Health Care Spending Account and Professional Development Fund that would fail to provide any increased entitlement for individual members.

On June 5th, however, the provincial government tabled a bill that seeks to limit total compensation increases to 1% per year over three years. This caused the Employer to withdraw their proposed increases to the Health Care Spending Account and Professional Development Fund, as well as all proposed wage increases to both the salary floor and to a yearly increase.

We want to be clear – your bargaining team takes its direction from you and is accountable to you, the members, NOT to Doug Ford!

The government has simply tabled the bill, and it has not passed into law. As such, we are looking to secure additional bargaining dates with the Employer and will continue to push hard for the gains that you have identified as being important. We will do our best to keep you updated as the situation progresses.

Did you know: there are many ways that you can keep up-to-date with negotiations and support your Bargaining Team? Here are a few things you can do:

• Download, print, and share the petition to McMaster President Patrick Deane in support of our bargaining demands.
• Take a picture with the #BetterMac window sign and tag us on social media. Visit BetterMac.ca for a copy of the sign, or drop by the Union Office at Kenneth Taylor Hall, room B111 to participate!
• Attend a bargaining support committee meeting and participate in bargaining support activities. Our Bargaining Team is only as strong as the members who support us, so show that support by getting involved in the committee and meeting your peers and colleagues at the University. The next meeting is on Wednesday, June 26 from 12:30-2:00pm in Kenneth Taylor Hall, room B111.

Unit 3 is CUPE 3906’s smallest unit with just over 170 members and consists of postdoctoral fellows working at McMaster University. The current collective agreement expires on August 31.