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.

Sessional Faculty Strike Deadline Set for July 22

On June 27, the University’s negotiators requested that the Ministry of Labour start the countdown to a legal strike or lockout position after the Unit 2 Bargaining Team refused to accept the University’s latest proposal of a two-year, 1% per year agreement with no improvements to job security. It is not clear whether McMaster plans to lock Sessionals out, but because they’ve set this process in motion the Collective Agreement will have no legal effect as of Friday, July 22 unless a tentative agreement can be reached. This would mean continuing to work without the protection of the union, without access to the grievance procedure, and with no guarantee of ongoing access to benefits or anything else established by our Collective Agreement. In response, the Unit 2 Bargaining Team has had no choice but to a set a strike deadline of Friday, July 22. The Team has indicated to the employer its desire to continue to bargain, but based on the results of the strike vote and the many months of consultation with members about their priorities, the deal on the table now is simply unacceptable.

Unless a tentative agreement can be reached, Sessionals will be on strike as of July 22. Anyone continuing to work will be scabbing. “Scabbing” means performing work usually done by a striking worker. Scabbing does serious damage to the labour movement. It undermines the union’s ability to secure a strong Collective Agreement. Scabs will not have the protection of the union during a strike, and they could face sanctions by the union once a strike is resolved.

The Strike Committee has begun canvassing members for their availability for picket duties and is in the process of scheduling a town hall meeting where we can all come together to learn what’s at stake, ask questions, and voice our concerns. Please continue to monitor your inboxes for that information. In the meantime, please take a look at our Strike FAQ for more information. If you would like to get involved in planning the strike, please reach out to strikecochairs@cupe3906.org.

Members may want to begin discussing with their students the potential impacts a strike may have on them. To that end, members should review the University’s policy on the Rights and Responsibilities of Undergraduate Students During Work Stoppages That Substantially Disrupt Academic Activities. Members may also want to talk to full-time faculty in their departments about their right to refuse to perform struck work. Teaching Assistants and Postdocs may also be asked to scab in the event of a strike. As fellow members of CUPE 3906, their Collective Agreements protect them from being forced to perform struck work and the union expects them to respect Sessionals’ right to strike by refusing to scab.

Please consider sending a letter to the University to show your support for Sessionals.

The Unit 2 Bargaining Team met with the Employer on June 13th and June 17th, aided by a provincially appointed conciliator. The Union has made considerable movement in an effort to secure a fair and reasonable agreement for our members. The employer, however, tabled a set of proposals that failed to address any of the key priorities identified by the membership and are unwilling to discuss improvements to job security or the creation of a retirement security plan.

The Employer’s “settlement offer” was a 2-year agreement and contained increases of only 1% to the base rate in each year and no meaningful improvements to job or retirement security. The union’s extremely modest proposal to create joint committees where we could at least discuss the issues of job and retirement security have also been ignored. The offer expired on June 27th at 4 p.m. Because the Employer’s so-called settlement offer failed to address any of the major issues identified by the membership, the Union’s elected bargaining team notified the Employer that we would not be accepting that offer.

On June 28th, the Employer informed us that it has requested a ‘No Board Report’ from the conciliator. This is a legal process required under the Labour Relations Act in order to start a countdown toward a work stoppage. As such, the Union has every reason to believe that the employer will lock out union members by mid-to-late July (the exact date of a lockout remains TBA – a lockout can begin 17 days after the issuance of the conciliator’s ‘No Board Report,’ and the conciliator has five days to issue the report after being requested to do so). Furthermore, on the day a strike or lockout can begin, the Collective Agreement is no longer in force and the employer can unilaterally change the terms under which we work, whether or not job action occurs, leaving Sessionals in a vulnerable position.

The Union has been clear and reasonable in our demands throughout the ten months that we have bargained. The membership deserves a fair increase to wages (especially in light of rapidly rising inflation), improvements to job security language, and access to retirement security. In support of these proposals, a record-setting number of Sessionals voted 85% in favour of strike action if needed. We believe that a fair and reasonable settlement can still be negotiated and have worked tirelessly in good-faith to secure a fair agreement, but the Employer has responded only with ‘no’ and now looks poised to lock out Sessional Faculty in the middle of summer.

The Union is hoping to continue to bargain with the Employer, with the assistance of the provincially appointed mediator, in July, but in the interim we need to prepare for job action should negotiations fail to lead to any meaningful gains for the membership.

As part of our ongoing strike preparations, the Union is running an important “Picket Captain Training” workshop on June 30th from 1-4 p.m. at the CUPE National Office at 21 King St. West in Hamilton. Members voted overwhelmingly to engage in job action if needed, and it looks like it may become necessary. If you are interested in attending the Picket Captain training session, or in joining the Strike Committee, please e-mail our Mobilizer, Walter, at mobilizer@cupe3906.org.

Picket Captain Training will happen on June 30 from 1-4pm at the CUPE Hamilton Area Office downtown (21 King St W). A safe and effective picket at McMaster will require a strong roster of well-trained Picket Captains.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Chris at president@cupe3906.org

Hamilton, ON – 13 May 2022 – The front-line instructors responsible for a significant proportion of undergraduate teaching at McMaster University have concluded a strike vote after three days of online voting.  Sessional Faculty and Hourly-Rated Sessional Music Faculty at McMaster University, comprising CUPE Local 3906 (Unit 2), voted 85% in favour of providing their Bargaining Committee with a strong strike mandate should negotiations the table with the McMaster Administration fail. 

The Local witnessed a record number of members participating in the vote between May 10^th and 12^th, held online due to pandemic safety measures. “The bargaining team is grateful that a record number of members demonstrated such strong support for the Union’s proposals on the table,” says Chris Fairweather, the Local’s President. This strong mandate speaks to the sky-high inflation rates faced by members, the increasingly precarious nature of employment at postsecondary institutions, and the compensation restrictions imposed on public sector workers by the Ford government’s ‘Bill 124’ legislation. At the same time, the Employer refuses even to discuss options for retirement security and improved job security for members, many of whom have spent decades working at McMaster.

This 85% strike mandate highlights the Employer’s need to take members’ concerns to heart immediately or face job action.  The Employer must work with the Union to find ways to improve job security to support Sessionals in continuing to provide the high quality teaching excellence on which McMaster prides itself as one of Canada’s top-ranked employers.  “We have also seen the Employer issue significant pay increases to upper management and administration over the past few years,” says Fairweather. “Now that we are coming out of our mandatory wage-restriction period, our members – who often juggle multiple jobs – deserve wages gains that address the realities of inflation and keep pace with a rising cost of living in the spirt of respect, equity, and inclusion,” he adds.

The results of this vote do not mean that a strike is forthcoming, but empower the bargaining team to call a strike should further negotiations not provide meaningful gains to members. The employer walked away from our last meeting on April 27^th after one hour of bargaining, declared an impasse, and filed for conciliation. The next step in the bargaining process is conciliation, in which a Provincially-appointed conciliator will meet with the parties.

Local 3906 is eager to put the support of its members into action at the bargaining table and is committed to membership engagement throughout the process. Please watch for further updates and additional bargaining support initiatives.

CUPE Local 3906 (Unit 2) represents over 600 Sessional Faculty and Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario each academic year.

Contacts: 

Chris Fairweather, President – president@cupe3906.org

Brad Walchuk, Staff Representative- brad@cupe3906.org

A PDF version can be found here: https://bettermac.ca/wp-content/blogs.dir/843/2022/05/CUPE-3906-strike-vote-release-final-2022.pdf

Your bargaining team met with the Employer’s team on April 27th. Unfortunately, that session lasted for less than 1 hour. Your bargaining team tabled a fair and reasonable package that continued to emphasize your key priorities. In particular, this includes improved job security and meaningful wage increases. We also made considerable movement on some priorities; for example, we are now proposing a working group to meet on retirement security over the next four years instead of proposing an immediate pension.

The Employer has no interest in expanding our job security, no interest in any sort of retirement security, and no interest in a wage increase that comes anywhere close to the rapidly rising cost of inflation. Despite making some movement to present a focused offer that addresses your major priorities, the Employer believes that we have reached an impasse in bargaining and decided to walk away from the virtual bargaining table and file for conciliation. Quite simply, the Employer does not want to bargain with us any longer, which is a shame, because we are committed to continuing to work toward a fair and equitable settlement.

“Conciliation” occurs when one or both Parties believe that they have reached an impasse and require assistance reaching an agreement from a government-appointed Conciliation Officer. A Conciliation Officer helps the parties try to work through the impasse and reach a settlement, but they cannot force the Parties to come to an agreement or make decisions about what proposals will form the Collective Agreement. The Parties are required to participate in Conciliation prior to either party triggering a strike or lockout.

In order to be successful at conciliation, it is unwise for the Union to enter Conciliation without a successful, strong strike vote.  The only way to make any movement on our key priorities at this point is with a demonstration of the members’ support through a successful strike vote. A conciliation officer will help the parties to work to a fair resolution, but they – and the Employer – need to know that the membership is behind their bargaining team. That is why the Union is calling for a strike vote.

A strike vote does not mean that our Union is going on strike. It is, however, the bargaining team is asking you for your support to call a strike in the event that talks with the Employer break down at the bargaining table. We believe that a strike vote will give us the added leverage that we need to secure a fair collective agreement. A strike would only occur if the talks break down and the bargaining team determines that the Employer is unwilling to provide a fair offer.

What is a stake? A lot! Below is a chart outlining some of the key priorities that remain on the table. Based on the results of the bargaining survey, you directed your bargaining team to secure meaningful wage increases, make improvements to job security, and explore options for retirement security. Despite meeting with the employer on 14 occasions since last summer, the Employer is unwilling to put forward a package that addresses your priorities in any substantive way.

As a result, your Union is calling for a strike vote. The strike vote meeting will occur at a virtual meeting being held online via Zoom on Tuesday, May 10th at 2 p.m. The vote itself will occur online after the meeting (beginning at 4 p.m.) and will continue until 11:55 p.m. on Thursday May 12th. All eligible members will be sent a registration link for the Zoom meeting as well as an electronic ballot via Election Runner for the strike vote.

We encourage members to vote “YES” in the strike vote to send the Employer a strong message. It is the best way to secure a fair and reasonable agreement that provides you with the gains that you deserve!

The Unit 2 Bargaining Team met with the Employer March 10, 2022, to receive the Employer’s latest proposal package. Unsurprisingly, there were few changes to the Employer’s previous proposals in years 1 and 2 of the agreement. (The Employer maintains its position that those years must be compliant with the 1% limitation on wages and total compensation mandated by the Ford government’s Bill 124. Unit 2 Members have already completed 1 full year under the 3-year legislative mandate in the 2020-2021 academic year.)

We have seen minor improvements in the Employer’s position on wages in the proposed third year of the agreement (from a 1.75% wage increase to the base rate of pay to a 3% wage increase to the base rate of pay). Despite the increase, this falls well short of the rate of inflation, and we are continuing to push for a higher wage increase. The Employer’s package includes some positive movement where we have asked for greater clarity in hiring practices and the provision of resources (especially technological resources and technological assistance) to members (where the Employer mandates the use of certain technologies and software), and guidelines for requests made of members by the Employer for the creation of deferred exams.

Also, we continue to discuss the importance of improvements to existing benefits funds, and would like to continue to hear from you about where benefits funds would be most useful (i.e., more health care spending reimbursements, funds for gender affirmation, etc.). It is thanks to your ongoing support and feedback that we are able to make any improvements, and we would like to continue to hear from you about what kinds of improvements would make the most impact for you. Please let us know by contacting Walter at mobilizer@cupe3906.org, Carolyn at chiefsteward_sessionals@cupe3906.org, or staff@cupe3906.org.

Although talks continue, the Employer remains unmoveable on issues of job security, retirement planning, and even basic equality and respect. Members have shown their dedication to McMaster for years, and even decades.
For example, members can miss out on a portion of supplementary student fees (i.e., the fee paid to members for each student in excess of 75 students) to the degree that their rate of pay exceeds the base rate of pay. (We are trying to change this so that all members have equal access to the supplemental fee language.) Unit 2 members miss out on the opportunity to plan for retirement by virtue of working contract-to-contract, even when they work at McMaster with the same colleagues for 10, 20, and even 30 or more years next to colleagues who enjoy employer-assisted retirement savings. Improvements to these areas of inequality would show respect to our members on behalf of the McMaster Administration.

Your colleagues on the Bargain Team strongly believe that more respect needs to be shown to you through the contract, especially considering the imposed restrictions of Bill 124. The Employer must recognize our members’ diligent work in our agreement–recognition that your colleagues on the bargaining team feel has been neglected by the Administration for a long time. This has had a negative impact on health, research, and professional development which is the backbone of higher education. Recognition is beneficial for both the University and its teaching staff.

A PDF version can be found here.