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YUFA SUPPORTS CUPE 3903
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In this email:
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A. Letter from the Chairperson: Why should YUFA support CUPE?
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B. Guidelines for members leading up to and in the event of a strike
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C. Senate policy 008 protects students
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D. Information flyer from CUPE 3903 to undergraduates (for classroom use)
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A. Letter from the Chairperson
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Why should YUFA support CUPE?
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Once again, the Employer has brought us to the brink of a strike.
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CUPE 3903, the union representing Teaching Assistants, contract faculty,
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and Graduate & Research Assistants received a strong strike mandate from
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their membership last week and could be on strike on Thursday morning,
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October 26th.
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The YUFA Executive has been meeting regularly with CUPE to discuss ways in
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which YUFA can support CUPE's efforts to obtain a fair settlement. Why?
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Education and educational labour are being restructured right in front of
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us. The key issue in this dispute is "tuition indexation", the tying
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Teaching Assistants wages to tuition rates set by the Board of Governors.
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What is at stake here is nothing less than the accessibility of graduate
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education, keeping the "public" in public education. The Employer is
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buckling to pressure from other universities and the Harris government to
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remove from CUPE 3903's contract one of the last effective barriers to
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total deregulation of graduate education in Ontario.
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There are other issues, many critically important, between the parties in
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this negotiation - wages, job security, class sizes. To read about these,
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see part 4 of this email. I think you'll agree that YUFA stands beside
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CUPE on each of their key demands.
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Next week, we may be called upon to support our colleagues on the picket
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lines. Many of you will remember that CUPE members risked their wages and
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job security to walk beside YUFA members.
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At our meeting this week, the YUFA Executive voted to:
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* offer to cover the expenses of a shared strike headquarters with CUPE
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* publicize YUFA's support for CUPE
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* initially provide up to $10 000 in strike support
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* offer CUPE a strike loan as per YUFA By-law s.2(a)
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Please read on for other important information, including the YUFA
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Executive's advice to members in the lead-up to a strike.
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Penni Stewart
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YUFA Chairperson
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B. Guidelines for members leading up to and in the event of a strike
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The YUFA Executive Committee is committed to ongoing solidarity with other
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campus unions. Communication and co-operation among the five unions
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strengthens all University employees in their relations with York
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management. The recent overwhelming strike mandate given to CUPE 3903
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negotiators means that YUFA members may face a job action by TAs, contract
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faculty, and GAs/RAs as soon as Thursday, the 26th of October. The YUFA
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Executive has agreed on the following guidelines for YUFA members in
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relation to the CUPE situation.
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Leading up to a strike:
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1. As soon as possible, YUFA members should speak to their students and
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other members of the community about CUPE’s issues (see "CUPE 3903
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bargaining for today & tomorrow" below and CUPE 3903's excellent
website
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http://3903.cupe.ca). You can tell your students:
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* what you plan to do in the event of a strike;
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* that no academic penalties are to be levied on them if they refuse to
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cross picket lines (see ‘Senate policy 008' below);
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* the importance of respecting picket lines;
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* that you do not wish them to cross CUPE picket lines to come to class;
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* that they may join CUPE picket lines.
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2. YUFA members should write to the President. Let her know you support
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CUPE's fight for the ongoing accessibility of publicly funded graduate
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education.
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3. YUFA members are encouraged to join picket lines individually or as a
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group. Please follow the instructions of the picket captain on duty at the
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time. The YUFA Executive is organising support pickets. To join:
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* stop at the CUPE table in the Vari link, where YUFA picket sign-up
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sheets are available
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* Email yufa@yorku.ca or telephone 736 5236
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In the event of a strike:
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1. YUFA members must be absolutely scrupulous in not carrying out any of
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the work normally done by CUPE members. This is known as ‘scabbing’ or
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‘strike-breaking’. Do not conduct tutorials or labs, provide advice, do
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marking or perform any other activity normally done by a CUPE member. You
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cannot be legally required to do any of these activities. If you are
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requested or ordered to perform any duties normally undertaken by members
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of CUPE 3903, you should immediately contact YUFA.
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2. YUFA members should note that holding classes during a strike pressures
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students to cross picket lines, possibly against their consciences.
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Furthermore, conducting classes without the normal tutorials may threaten
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the academic integrity of courses. Finally, YUFA members should give
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serious thought to the fairness - to students who choose to respect picket
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lines - of presenting new material in class during a strike. YUFA members
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should acquaint themselves with the rights of students and the
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responsibilities of faculty members under Senate Policy 008, "Academic
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Implications of Disruptions or Cessations of University Business Due to
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Labour Disputes or Other Causes" (see below).
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3. Ontario labour law prevents a union from calling for the withdrawal of
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its members’ services in order to support another union’s strike, unless
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the sympathetic union is itself in a strike position (YUFA is not). YUFA
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cannot therefore advise members not to cross picket lines of another
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campus union.
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4. YUFA members should, however, give serious consideration to their
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decision whether or not to respect CUPE picket lines.
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5. YUFA members are not required to work: where there is reason to believe
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that the physical condition of the workplace is likely to be dangerous; or
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when ill.
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6. Refusal to cross other unions’ picket lines could conceivably expose
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you to discipline with sanctions. If members who choose not to cross lines
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are subjected to penalties, YUFA will do its utmost to assist them under
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the ‘exceptional circumstances’ clause of 11.01(a).
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7. To Chairs: As members of YUFA, you are not responsible for reporting
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the presence or absence of colleagues in the workplace.
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8. Consult YUFA before you communicate to your Dean, Principal, or
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University Librarian any information about what you plan to do in the
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event of a strike.
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C. Senate policy protects students
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YUFA members are urged to talk with their students in advance about the
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implications of a CUPE strike for completing course work, deadlines,
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making up classes etc. It is important that your discussion include
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information about faculty expectations and students rights and obligations
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during job action.
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Faculty members should consult Senate Policy (008) “On the Academic
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Implications of Disruptions or Cessations of University Business Due to
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Labour Disputes or Other Causes”, which can found on the York web site at
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http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/legislation/senate/dsrptcls.htm.
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Especially relevant is clause 2.2 “Fairness to students”. This clause (see
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below) provides that students who do not cross picket lines are entitled
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to accommodation in terms of deadlines and access to course materials. In
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the interests of fairness and accessibility, it is important that we
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understand and honour the principle of this policy.
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2.2 Fairness to Students
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2 2.1 Students who do not participate in academic activities because:
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a) they are unable to do so owing to a Disruption, or
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b) they choose not to participate in academic activities owing to a strike
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or lock-out on campus
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are entitled to immunity from penalty, to reasonable alternative access to
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materials covered in their absence, to reasonable extensions of deadlines
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and to other such remedy as Senate deems necessary and consistent with the
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principle of academic integrity.
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2.2.2 Such remedies shall not alter the academic standards associated with
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the missed activity, not shall it relieve the students of the
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responsibility for mastering the materials covered.
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2.2.3 The availability of a remedy under this policy does not guarantee
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students the same learning experience that they would have
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received in the absence of a Disruption.
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D. Information flyer from CUPE 3903 to undergraduates (for classroom use)
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CUPE 3903 BARGAINING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
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The University administration may force CUPE 3903 to take strike action to
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help defend the quality of education at York and make Graduate School
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affordable - Read on to find out why …
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Affordability
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Have you ever thought about doing a Masters degree in Economics,
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Sociology, Psychology, Biology or any of the other disciplines at York?
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Have you thought about some day getting a Ph D to teach as a Professor? In
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1995, changes made by the administration reduced our accessibility to
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these opportunities. The University administration decided to raise
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tuition by 50% by making all graduate students pay for full fees for the
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Summer term when there are next to no courses to take and many of the
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facilities are closed. What that means today is graduate students must pay
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over $5 000 per year ($1 700 for each term). In the same year, the
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administration also charged full rather than partial fees for Ph D
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students (who make up the majority of the 1 000 TAs at York) even after
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they finished all of their courses (called post-residency fees)! It has
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meant that rather than paying a nominal fee in the last four years of
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their programs, they now pay the full $5 000+! These days it is not
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uncommon for Ph D students to graduate with $40 000 in student debt.
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What we did about it
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In 1996 the Union negotiated a tuition rebate to soften the blow of
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tuition increases. In 1998 we increased the rebate to about $400 per term
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and instituted the very important concept of indexation to the rebate.
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Indexation meant that for every dollar graduate tuition went up, the
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rebate went up by the same amount. We felt that the only way to ensure
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some measure of income security for our present members and accessibility
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for future members was to negotiate the indexed tuition rebate.
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So Why a Possible Strike?
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The University administration wants to give indexation only to present TAs
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(what they call a grandparenting clause) but not to incoming TAs from this
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year forward. That means that any new graduate students will not have the
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benefit of indexation. It is a cynical move to divide our present members
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from our future members (potentially you!). The University has also denied
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all efforts to extend the indexed tuition rebate to our newly unionized
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members, the Graduate and Research Assistants, who are predominantly
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Masters students. What that means for you and our Masters students is that
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Graduate School will be less affordable and less accessible. We don’t
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think that’s fair, and we’re ready to defend our right to both maintain
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the indexed tuition rebate for TAs in the present and the future and
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extend indexation to our GA/RAs.
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We feel that after doubling the cost of a Ph D over the 1990s and making
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all graduate students pay Summer fees for little or no services, enough is
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enough. We have had tuition increases to last us a generation.
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page 2
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CUPE 3903 WILL FIGHT TO IMPROVE YORK’S QUALITY OF EDUCATION
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Class Sizes
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Our local is proud to be at the forefront of the fight for smaller class
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sizes. In the past two years we have negotiated a reduction of class sizes
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in Foundations courses as well as
imposing an incentive to the
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administration against over-enrolling tutorials. And while our members
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remain very committed to defending in-class instruction, we also
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negotiated lower class sizes (a 40% reduction!) for Internet and
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Correspondence courses so that undergraduates could get the support and
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feedback they needed to make these courses worthwhile. This year, we are
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again proposing new and wide-ranging class size reductions but the York
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administration to date has not even seen fit to have any meaningful
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discussion about this.
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Job Security
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Did you know that many of the people who are Course Directors at York have
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no job security? They lecture in courses just like other Professors, but
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unlike Professors who are represented by Faculty Association (YUFA), they
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must apply to teach every year. CUPE 3903 represents these Contract
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Faculty. Many teach a lot more than tenured faculty to make ends meet. And
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many Contract Faculty have been doing so for almost a decade or more.
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Since the University will have to replace hundreds of Professors over the
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next several years, what we want is for the University to promote Contract
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Faculty to some of those full time positions. This will allow the people
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who teach your courses to have a reduced course load so that they better
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plan their courses for you. The promotion of our Contract Faculty into the
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tenure-stream will improve the quality of education by allowing them the
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time, support and resources to do more research, innovate their courses
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and give more time to their students. But rather than improve the
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promotion programs for Contract Faculty, the University administration has
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proposed to substantially alter them to make it more difficult for our
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Contract Faculty to get promoted.
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Wages
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How would you like to work in a place where the employer gives you very
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little or no pay increases? Would it effect the quality of your work
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eventually? Would you be less enthusiastic about your job? While all of
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our members are committed to teaching, the lack of pay increases have
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understandably effected our morale. Our Contract Faculty are more
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qualified but on average make far less than even High School teachers. Our
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best funded TAs have less than $700 a month to live on after tuition and
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deductions. Our GA/RAs have much less than that! The Union is asking for a
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5% wage increase this year and the University administration is only
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offering 1%. Why do we want 5%? In all but one year in the 1990s our
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members lost real income due to increases to the cost of living. Because
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of low wage increases or wage freezes in 1990s, our members have lost well
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over 10% to rising cost of living. In fact, for six years there was a
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virtual wage freeze. In every year of that wage freeze there were
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increases to undergraduate tuition-so your money clearly wasn’t coming to
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us! The University administration and the Government does have money, they
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are voting for salary increases for themselves to make up for lost ground.
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In fact, the highest paid University President in the country Lorna
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Marsden, just got another $4 000 raise to make her salary $239 000. While
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the University pays her almost $700 a day, many of our members have to
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live on less than that per month.
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