In search of increased job security, the Canadian Union of Public Employees 3903 Units 1, 2 and 3 went to strike after six months of bargaining with York University. Employees at Carleton University also recently opted to strike, advocating for pension benefits in the wake of confusion over language in the collective agreement. While CUPE 3906 is still bargaining, a strike is not off the table.
After rejecting the university’s offer, 3,000 teaching staff at York University walked off the job as part of a strike by CUPE 3903 on March 5. Although 60 per cent of teaching at York is facilitated by members of the union, the university has remained open and some classes have continued during the strike.
The strike at Carleton was led by support staff, including library and administrative employees, on March 5. On March 16, the union and university agreed to return to the bargaining table in hopes of resolving the labour dispute.
CUPE 3903 and 2424’s efforts follow a five-week-long strike by Ontario college instructors, which forced 500,000 students out of class and was ended through back-to-work legislation pushed by the province.
After rejecting the university’s offer, 3,000 teaching staff at York University walked off the job as part of a strike by CUPE 3903 on March 5.
On March 14, CUPE 3906 published letters to the unions at York and Carleton.
The letter to CUPE 2424 emphasized the union’s effort to advocate for improved retirement security and criticized Carleton’s neoliberal policies and unwillingness to acknowledge the importance of pensions for precarious support staff.
“As a local who represents primarily young workers who do not have access to a workplace pension, we find your defense of quality pensions for workers to be an inspiration,” read part of the letter to CUPE 2424.
The letter to York’s union praised its commitment to fighting issues arising from job precarity.
“Job security is an issue that we have here on campus too. Unit 1 members, specifically teaching assistants, only get four years guaranteed of teaching contracts,” said Sarah Wahab, CUPE 3906 vice president. “It’s not enough for us to complete our PhDs usually, so we’re kind of left in this limbo where we can’t find the funding we need in order to finish our dissertations.”
When asked about the likelihood that McMaster’s CUPE 3906 will go to strike after Unit 1 and 2 finish bargaining in 2019, CUPE 3906 president Angie Perez stated that it is invariably likely that, if the union is not listened to, it will call a strike vote.
The last time CUPE 3906 went to strike was in 2009, when teaching and research assistants sought increased wages and benefits from the university. This strike was short-lived, however, with 58 per cent of union members voting to accept the university’s offer after one week of striking.
“We do have a lot of issues regarding job security specifically. We’re living in a context where it’s getting harder and harder to live.”
Sarah Wahab
Vice president
CUPE 3906
Nevertheless, Wahab acknowledges that the union still has work to do on campus.
“We do have a lot of issues regarding job security specifically. We’re living in a context where it’s getting harder and harder to live. When that starts to happen, strikes start to happen,” said Wahab. “People need to rise up and demand what they deserve.”
Broadly speaking, CUPE 3906 sympathizes with students as they get trapped in a messy and unfortunate situation as a result of a strike. Nevertheless, they argue that students should direct their frustration to the university, not the union.
“The problem is that the narrative is controlled by the universities,” said Perez, who explains that because the university accepts students’ tuition dollars, it should be held accountable to accommodate students in the event of strike action.
Precarious employment continues to be on the rise at McMaster and across the province. As CUPE 3906’s Units 1 and 2 continue to bargain with the university, the union is standing in solidarity with the unions at York and Carleton.
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Watching a professor teach a large lecture hall full of students, one would hardly assume that they struggle to make ends meet. But for many sessional faculty members, the prestige of being a lecturer at McMaster University does not equal a steady income.
In July 2017, the local division of Canadian Union of Public Employees, CUPE 3906, began bargaining with McMaster University to improve working conditions for sessional faculty and hourly-rated sessional music faculty. Their main focus is on better wages and job security.
A sessional faculty member is a professor without tenure, who is expected to reapply for their positions once their short-term contract has ended. It is common for sessional faculty members to be hired on a semester-by-semester basis, meaning they must reapply for their job every few months.
"If you take 40 per cent of whatever the average assistant professor is making and how many classes they're teaching, usually two to four classes, it ends up being twice what our sessional are making, and it's the same work."
Graham Barker
President
Cupe 3906
“When you think as well about the idea of equal pay for equal work, which is a standard we hold onto as a local [union], you have to think about what other faculties on this campus are getting paid to do the same work sessionals are paid to do,” said Graham Baker, CUPE 3906 president.
Baker argued that once their income is broken down into segments, it is clear that contracted faculty are paid much more for the same work sessional faculty do.
“When you look at what the workload looks like for a tenured professor, the usual breakdown is that they’re expected to devote 40 per cent of their time to teaching,” he said.
LIVING WAGES FROM UNIVERSITY EMPLOYERS ARE NEEDED #highered #cdnpse https://t.co/cHQyzRODMe
— CUPE Local 3906 (@cupe_3906) September 20, 2017
“So if you take 40 per cent of whatever the average assistant professor is making and how many classes they’re teaching, usually two to four classes, it ends up being twice what our sessionals are making, and it’s the same work,” he added.
McMaster’s current rate for sessional faculty members is $7,050 per three-unit course. In comparison, University of Toronto’s starting rate is $7,304.56 per three-unit course and York’s rate is $8,389.50 per course. It should be noted, however, that the latter schools are considerably larger than McMaster, with their student populations well above 50,000. McMaster’s student population currently sits around 30,000.
There are approximately 300 sessional faculty members represented by CUPE 3906 currently teaching at McMaster. Of those 300, the majority teach in the commerce and engineering faculty, particularly in the B.Tech program, where 70 of their sessional faculty lay.
McMaster's current rate for sessional faculty members is $7,050 per three-unit course. In comparison, University of Toronto's starting rate is $7,304.56 per three-unit course and York's rate is $8,389.50 per course.
“There’s a misconception that sessional work is like this “gig” that recent PhD graduates do until they can land that permanent position,” said Baker. “People who’ve been working here since the 1970s and 1980s have no more job security now than when they started. The sessional faculty member is the definition of a precarious worker.”
Currently, the union is not poised to strike, and both parties are taking the necessary steps to avoid it. According to CUPE 3906, at the last bargaining meeting with the university, they made progress on smaller issues and did not address the major concerns of better wages and increased job security. Their next meeting is slated for early Oct.
As the union continues working with the university, everyone involved hopes that there is no work stoppage, ensuring that undergraduate students are not affected by these negotiations.
By: Gabi Herman
In a highly publicized message last week, McMaster University announced that they would ban all smoking on campus starting in January. This includes cigarettes, cigars, marijuana and e-cigs. Many in the campus community have lauded McMaster’s health-promoting decisions, but others are concerned about feasibility and accessibility.
The new policy is in the spirit of the Okanagan Charter, an agreement McMaster signed that calls on universities to “embed health into all aspects of campus cultures.”
Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke have well-established links with heart disease, stroke, cancer and respiratory distress. McMaster hopes this move will help foster a campus community that makes healthy decisions. The university will provide support to those quitting, with resources and sessions available to help students, staff, and faculty quit smoking.
McMaster is Ontario’s first campus to ban smoking, and the responses of the media and Ontario’s post-secondary community have been largely positive. The, University of Toronto responded to McMaster’s smoking ban by announcing their plan to institute a smoking ban too, according to the Varsity. Across Canada, smoking bans already exist at 14 campuses, mostly on the east coast. Reportedly, the bans there have been mostly successful.
A primary concern with the policy is whether enforcement is feasible. Right now, smoking is banned within nine metres of an entrance and inside all buildings. However, smoking near building entrances is extremely common, and the policy seems to go unenforced. Since the current policy is frequently broken, a stricter policy is very ambitious. Enforcement of the new smoking ban will be phased in over the next year, beginning with gentle reminders of McMaster’s smoking cessation policies.
McMaster’s size and location make it especially difficult to leave campus to smoke; the surrounding areas have few places to sit and rest, and many parts of campus are over ten minutes away from public property. This has the potential to impact employees who make use of short breaks to smoke.
According to Graham Baker, president of CUPE 3906, workers’ unions on campus were not consulted during the policy’s development, although they were told over the summer. Employers are not allowed to punish employees for breaking the smoking policy, but are not obligated to give employees extra break time to go off campus and smoke. McMaster has also stated it has worked to address concerns that smokers will crowd the sidewalks in surrounding neighbourhoods, but has not provided specifics.
In the announcement, the university wrote that it paid attention to the needs of Indigenous students, whose use of traditional and sacred medicines may conflict with the policy. Indigenous students can receive exemptions upon request.
Piers Kreps, co-president of the Cooperative of Indigenous Studies Students and Alumni said that CISSA was not consulted in the planning of the smoking ban, or given warning about the policy. Exemptions upon request could present a problem.
“It’s not like we plan when we’re going to smudge or burn tobacco,” said Kreps. However, Kreps was cautiously optimistic.
“I think this provides the university with a wonderful opportunity to promote and educate [students and staff about] the Indigenous position here,” he said.
Other accessibility concerns have been raised. Alex Wilson, Student Representative Assembly member (Science), put forward a motion at the SRA meeting on Sunday night.
“Marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by addiction and substance use due to social factors,” read the motion. The motion passed, so the MSU’s official position now advises against moving towards a smoke free campus without considering other factors such as safety and accessibility.
Ryan Deshpande, McMaster Students Union vice president (Education), was consulted by McMaster University, and reached out to the SRA for input. “The policy has not been finalized yet, and review is still ongoing,” said Deshpande.
For further clarity, student and staff groups will have to wait until policy finalization in the new year.
A strike may be on the horizon here at McMaster.
CUPE 3906, the union which represents all employees at McMaster, announced on Oct. 28 that all unit 1 workers, which is comprised of teaching assistants and research assistants, are going to take a striking vote, starting on Nov. 1. This announcement was posted on their website.
The vote does not automatically translate to CUPE going on strike, but rather gives the union the bargaining power to call a strike later.
The main bargaining points are centred around guaranteeing PhD students funding for five years as opposed to four, since this is a better reflection of how long it takes the average student to finish their thesis.
Additionally, CUPE hopes to secure access to mental health services from the Student Wellness Centre for graduate students.
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Related Post: CUPE 3906’s new campaign
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By: Emile Shen
Mac’s other union is making its voice heard with their new bargaining campaign.
Employees of McMaster are represented by CUPE 3906, a trade union servicing the public sector and focused on improving working conditions and relationships with the employer. Their current campaign is called #Bettermac.
The #Bettermac campaign revolves around collective bargaining between the members of the union and the employer: McMaster University. The collective element comes from the survey sent out to the large membership to listen to what members found significant. In several general meetings with the membership, priorities were then amalgamated. The bargaining process legally started on May 4, 2016.
The priorities of the campaign center on funding guarantee for five years instead of four, and mental health care coverage. Currently, McMaster provides four years of guaranteed funding for PhD candidates. However, the average PhD takes between five and six years to complete, which means a lack of secure funding for over a year. Simultaneously, graduate students are not eligible for any of the mental health care services at the Student Wellness Centre.
Sarah Wahab, president of CUPE 3906, clarified the conflation between mental illness and financial pressure. “It’s precarious work… Poverty can definitely amplify mental illness. So we think it is very important they have access to [mental health care]… So that’s something that was specifically mentioned in the survey: mental health care.”
If CUPE 3906 were to win the terms of their bargaining, it would also mean higher completion rates of doctorate degrees.
“#bettermac is trying to make a space that we already care deeply about, better. We love McMaster– we want to make it a better space for everyone to work.” Wahab explained.
Gord Arbeau, director of communications at McMaster, explained the university’s current stance.
“McMaster values the important work of the members of the bargaining unit. The university’s goal… is to reach an agreement that reflects the importance of the work of the members of the unit, while also… being financially responsible [so] the contract must reflect the current financial environment.”
The vice-president of CUPE 3906, Graham Baker, shared a similar story but added: “We’d like to keep meeting with them and keep the conversation going. […] We have made progress on a few different items, but some of those big priorities we listed, there is still work to be done there.”
“We kind of pride ourselves on being member-driven, democratic, transparent organization with rules in place that make this process open and fair,” stated Baker.
CUPE 3906 and McMaster will continue to negotiate the terms of the bargain in the next few weeks.
Ryan Sparrow / The Silhouette
While students are wrapping up their courses and gearing up for exams, negotiations are underway for contract renewal for sessional faculty members.
"Sessional faculty face a myriad of other problems, including the inadequacy of TA support, the rising cost of child care and a lack of decent health benefits," said Alex Diceanu, a sessional faculty member who teaches in Political Science and Labour Studies.
CUPE 3906, the union that represents the approximately 300 sessional faculty at McMaster, is negotiating for its membership. The bargaining team for the sessionals recognizes that things need to change at McMaster.
“The biggest issue this round is job security,” said the union’s president Blake McCall, who did his undergrad and masters degrees at McMaster
“Many members have to apply for their job every four months, with some exceptions. This creates high levels of uncertainty leaving many sessionals without knowing if they are going to have a steady income on a semester-to-semester basis. Changing this to ensure security of our members is a top priority.”
Sessional faculty members, like many contingent faculty, are hired on a course-by-course basis, which makes it difficult to make long-term personal decisions like purchasing a home or starting a family.
As of 2013, Ontario still ranks the last in per-student funding at universities in Canada. The most recent budget announced is expected to include additional cuts to post-secondary education despite record enrollment.
One common cost-cutting measure for universities is to rely on increasing numbers of lower paid part-time faculty.
Continued budget cuts have resulted in a casualization of the academic sector. While some academic workers still have a relatively secure position, such as tenured professors, there has have been efforts to erode even their relative power in institutions.
The growth of precarious work in academia is accelerating. A University Affairs report from January 2013 states that, in the U.S., one-third of faculty at universities are contract workers. Experts suggest that Canadian data may indicate similarly high rates.
The UA report specifically looks at job insecurity, pay and benefits. Out of the nine schools surveyed, McMaster is one out of three that have no teaching load limit. McMaster sessionals also have no access to a pension and only have access to benefits through their union membership.
Temporary and part-time faculty are paid on average 50 per cent less than tenured professors, and they lack the job security and academic freedom that is afforded to tenured professors.
Most of the part-time and temporary positions are solely confined to teaching-only work, which can have an effect on learning outcomes for students, especially as their professor may also have to engage in additional research.
Gord Arbeau, a university spokesperson, described how, “McMaster values the important work that is performed by all employees at the University and believes all employees deserve fair and equitable contracts.”
“Negotiations work best when they happen at the table and not through the media or other avenues of communication,”said Arbeau.
Students are seeing the effect this has on their professors, and they are concerned.
"I think largely decreasing levels of tenure being made available to professors is an unfortunate trend for academia as a whole," said Eric Gillis, incoming SRA Social Science representative.
“As in any round of bargaining we hope to better job security, and better wages and benefits for our members,” said McCall.
When Amina Khan and Yusra Munawar were told last year that their on-campus prayer room would be torn down, they didn’t hit the panic button.
Khan and Munawar, executive members of the McMaster Muslim Students Association, were assured by the university that they would be relocated before Wentworth House, home of their space, was demolished.
Now, with a few weeks left until eviction, the MSA and other student groups in Wentworth House are still looking for answers.
“Everybody’s scrambling. They’re trying to find spots for us in random places on campus, trying to find temporary solutions. We don’t know how long we’ll be in those spaces and it’s just really frustrating,” said Khan.
The MSA has more than 1,000 Muslim student members at McMaster and has two rooms in Wentworth House that allow up to 100 students to pray at a time.
“We were clear about our requirements – that the [new] space needs to be carpeted. It needs to be a large, accommodating area that’s accessible to campus in order for Muslim students to pray there. Surprisingly, the space we were given is anything but that,” said Khan.
Recently, several tenants including the MSA were told they would likely be moving to a portable unit in Lot O. The lot is about 1.5 km from campus, located past the bridge behind the Mary E. Keyes building. Shuttle buses run from campus to Lot O between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Monday to Friday.
“Muslim students pray five times a day between classes,” said Khan. “A place that needs a shuttle bus to reach is completely unacceptable to the Muslim community.”
Khan and Munawar said if the MSA had to temporarily move to Lot O, students would end up praying in various nooks on campus.
“You can’t fit a thousand Muslim students in hallways of libraries and little corners across campus,” said Khan.
About two weeks ago, representatives from four groups located in the Wentworth House came together in hopes of getting their individual needs across with more impact.
“We’re deeply concerned there hasn’t been uniformity in the communication between McMaster and the tenants,” said Norm Pase, vice-president (external) of CUPE 3906.
Pase started an open Facebook group Monday called “Save Our Space: Wentworth House Shutting Down” to create a forum for the parties involved.
The MACycle bike co-op, owned and operated by the McMaster Students Union, finds itself in the same position as the MSA and CUPE 3906.
MACycle director Connor Bennett knew that relocating would be a big project. He did some research on his own last summer, feeling a “slight sense of urgency.” Even so, he assumed a space would be secured by March.
“When you’re told not to worry, it’s nice to hear, especially when you’re dealing with school. I feel silly at this point, seeing how unprepared they are. Now we’re getting to the end of March and they’re saying, ‘we need your help,’” he said.
Bennett said MACycle having to move twice is the worst-case scenario because it has so many pieces of bike equipment.
“This has worried me a lot. I care about MACycle. A lot of people care about it,” said Bennett. He said that moving to Lot O temporarily would discourage cyclists from using the co-op because of the uphill ride afterward.
Roger Couldrey, McMaster’s vice-president of administration, said he was surprised tenants were worried about going to Lot O. He added that, so far, it’s only been decided that the McMaster Children’s Centre will move there by the end of April.
“It seems that what I’m being told isn’t fully understood by the tenants or wasn’t communicated to them,” he said.
Couldrey said an alternate space would be proposed to the MSA at a meeting on Friday. He said finding a space for MACycle would be more challenging but discussions are still ongoing.
However, Facility Services coordinator Robert Craik confirmed that Lot O would be a default solution if no other arrangements are made by the end of April.
For the tenants, getting mixed messages from Facility Services and the university's administration isn't new. David Campbell, the McMaster Students Union's VP (administration), expressed similar frustrations. He’s been advocating for some of the groups and asking for updates throughout the year.
“The first I heard about the Lot O decision was in January, and I was disappointed that that was the decision they came up with,” said Campbell.
The Photo Club's darkroom manager, Myles Francis, has been reaching out to administrators on his own since last spring, concerned about the darkroom being left behind.
“I felt like if I didn’t go out there and tell people that it existed, the building would have been demolished with the darkroom still there,” said Francis.
The Lodge, a temporary space for off-campus students in Wentworth House this year in lieu of the old Phoenix bar, seems to have been scrapped due to lack of space, according to coordinator Jennifer Kleven.
Francis didn’t want the same thing to happen to the darkroom.
Since February, Francis has been researching darkroom spaces in the downtown core, where he says involved students would be willing to go.
“I don’t like the idea of things being done for me that I feel I should have a hand in. I mean, nowadays who knows how to create a darkroom? Who knows what the darkroom needs, other than me?”
While they’re unsure of long-term plans, tenants aren’t giving up on their cause. But they’re not buying university officials’ advice to not worry.
“I think it’s an issue of prioritization on the university’s end,” Khan said. “Each club has different needs, but we’re united in that we all share the same space. Whatever we can do to help each other, we will.”
Photos by Anqi Shen.
Alex Rockingham
Silhouette Intern
An agreement has been reached between McMaster administration and CUPE 3906, a union representing the University’s Teaching and Research Assistants.
Two weeks ago, the union approved a strike mandate, demanding wage increases and benefit improvements. In the end, the strike was not implemented, as both parties reached a settlement through negotiation.
A tentative agreement was reached late on Nov. 17 after a series of thirteen bargaining dates. Based on the details released pertaining to the agreement, it appears that the days of hard haggling have paid off for the TA and RA union.
CUPE 3906’s bargaining team was able to negotiate wage increases for both McMaster graduate and undergraduate employees, as well as improvements for their benefits, such as the union’s Family Dental Plan.
Other gains made by the bargaining team include a bi-weekly payment system, the settlement of eight outstanding health and safety training grievances, and paid printing costs.
The ratification vote process ran on campus from Nov. 21 to Nov 23, and the union ultimately ratified the agreement. Bulletins outlining the agreement details are available at CUPE 3906’s website.
