CUPE 3903 Strike News
--+ January 07, 2009 +--

In this issue:

1. Upcoming Meetings 

 

a . Thursday, January 8

i. 1:00 PM - Emergency Joint BT/Exec meeting at HQ, all members welcome
 

ii. 5:00 PM - GMM at Montecassino Hotel/Banquet Hall (3710 Chesswood Drive), all members welcome, but please bring ID or a pay stub [Details below]
 

 

b. Friday, January 9

i. 12:00 PM - Greek solidarity rally at the Consulate General of Greece, 325 Bloor Street East (at Sherbourne), all members welcome [Details below]

ii. 3:30 PM - SC meeting at HQ, all members welcome

iii. 5:00 PM - Exec meeting at HQ, all members welcome

 

c. Sunday, January 10

i. 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Town Hall Meeting at 5250 OISE (Bloor and Avenue Road, just above St. George Station), all members welcome [Details below]
 

ii. 3:00 PM - Picket Captain training and debriefing, 5250 OISE, all members welcome [Details below]

 

d. Tuesday, January 13

10:30 - Communications meeting at HQ (635 Petrolia Road); all members welcome [Details below]

 

2. Bargaining Updates from January 7th

 

 

 

1. Upcoming Meetings
 

 

a) Thursday, January 8
 

ii. GMM Thursday

The next GMM will be on Thursday, Jan 8, from 5-8 pm.  Picket lines will come down at 2 so that people can arrive by 4 to review minutes of past meetings.  Light supper will be provided at 6:30.  Proof of ID is required to register and vote. 
 

A child care room has been booked on site and a member has volunteered to provide supervision.

TTC tokens will be distributed.  Attendance will count towards strike duty.

The location:

Montecassino Hotel/Banquet Hall
3710 Chesswood Drive
North York, ON M3J 2W4
Corner of Sheppard and Chesswood
NW of Downsview Subway (about 5 minutes walk)

The employer has put a new offer on the table and we encourage all members to come to the GMM tomorrow to hear in detail about the offer and the union's analysis of it. Unfortunately, the offer falls well short of the Union's priorities for all three Units.

The York administration has already committed to continue bargaining on Friday.

We must have as many members present as possible to give their input and support to the bargaining team, in order to send the York Administration the strongest possible message.

 

b) Friday, January 9

i.  Spark In Athens, Fire In Toronto - Greek Uprising Solidarity Rally

On Friday January 9 at 12 noon, join the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students, Common Cause, CUPE 3903, CUPE 3907, No One Is Illegal Toronto, and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty for a solidarity rally outside the Consulate General of Greece at 365 Bloor Street East (at Sherbourne).

The death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, an unarmed fifteen-year-old boy, at the hands of Athenian police on December 6, has sparked riots in Greece.  Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest police brutality, attacks against immigrants and migrants (including an acid attack on a Bulgarian union organizer), and rising unemployment fuelled by the global financial crisis.

Friday's rally will address privatization of education, corporatization of campuses, barriers to immigration, police repression, poverty, and institutionalized racism.  These led to the current uprising in Greece, and we are struggling here with the very same issues.  Come out and support our Greek brothers and sisters!
 

 

 

c) Sunday, January 11
 

 

i.  Town Hall Meeting - Location Announced
 

All CUPE 3903 members are invited to attend the next town hall meeting, which will be held downtown at 5250 OISE from 1:00pm-3:00pm on Sunday January 11. Food and two TTC tokens will be provided to every member who attends. Childcare reimbursement can also be covered. We request that you RSVP to healythompson@gmail.com so that we can make sure there is enough food and so that we can make sure you are informed of the location when that is finalized. (You may attend even if you don't RSVP but if you can, please RSVP.) We have chosen this time and location because the last two Town Halls occured near campus during picketing hours and because the evenings this week are full of other meetings (strike committee, TFAC, GMM, and Executive); we want to make Town Halls accessible to to as many different members as possible.

1:00-3:00pm
Sunday, January 11
5250 OISE (Bloor and Avenue Road, just above St. George Station)
All CUPE 3903 members are invited to attend
RSVP to healythompson@gmail.com

These town hall meetings, which occur weekly or biweekly (depending on demand and other events) are intended to provide a forum for people to ask questions and have discussions about any issue related to CUPE 3903 and/or the strike. This is not an "official" CUPE 3903 meeting (meaning it's not covered by our bylaws or policy manual), which means we do not have to follow Bourinot's Rules of Order (and we don't!). Past town halls have focused on issues of equity within the strike, the experiences/concerns/suggestions of picketers, and the questions of members. To answer questions, take note of concerns, and receive feedback, at least one member of the executive will be present. If the bargaining team isn't in bargaining, we will probably also have at least one member of the bargaining team there.

Please don't hesitate to contact healythompson@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

 
 

ii. Picket Captain Training Session - Location Announced
 

 

Special Super-Fun Strike Committee Picket Captain/Car Talker Debrief/Welcome

Sunday January 10, Post-Town Hall, 5250 OISE

All members (Picket Captains or not) welcome and encouraged to attend!

Note - we apologize for the postponement of this important event.  Many car-talkers and picket captains have expressed interest in such an event for quite some time, and we are happy to finally implement such plans at this key moment.  We will also discuss how to organize our lines against a potential rat vote!

---

Ahoy Picket Captains, new and old!

The Strike Committee has heard discussions amongst groups of PCs on various lines, and there is broad agreement on the need for PCs, both newly "deputized" and old, to debrief, to share new skills and to retrain ourselves in a fashion that is more suited to the demands of the York environment.

While we recognize that each line has its own interests and needs, the role of the picket captain, which entails providing leadership while allowing for member autonomy, continues to be important in this strike.  PCs often find themselves stuck between the Scylla of micro-management and thus appearing authoritarian, and the Charydbis of rudderless facilitation only to end up taking on three tasks at once while missing out on the fourth one.

With this in mind, it is time for us to discuss as well as analyse the role of the picket captain.

Long-serving PCs can share their experiences - both good and bad - with newly deputized captains and/or those that are interested in becoming captains, with an eye towards making the task both as approachable as possible and more understandable and transparent for members.  Members with reccomendations in regards to the role of the PC are welcome to share their experiences.  

In addition to discussing and sharing our experiences as captains, we will role-play various scenarios, as in the initial PC training sessions, specifically scenarios that are unique to our strike.  Feel free to send us any suggestions for such scenarios, or bring one of your own!

We are using Vari Hall in the spirit of other actions and teach-ins that have taken place on our campus, as it will give us the space in which to role-play while not taking folks away from the lines during picket-hours.  We are open, though, to having another debrief during picket-hours and/or the weekend so as to facilitate involvement of PCs and members who are only on the morning shifts.

We also need to look into some unfortunate gender dynamics on the picketlines.  It has been apparent to PCs and members that often male and female PCs are treated differently by members. This dynamic ranges from a lack of respect for female PC leadership, to a penchant for venting frustration to female PCs, all the while listening to male PCs.  Similar dynamics appear in other "duties" on the line.

Other agenda items:

- Car Talking!  Anyone with questions or skills to share are strongly advised to attend!  

- Building morale and keeping the lines fun!

- Rotating picketers (and captains) to other lines

- Picketline safety - what is (and isn't) an incident.  Dealing with police and security.

- Encouraging members to stay after the end of the late shift for takedown, so as to take up the burden of PCs who have been known to have to wait alone in the cold.

Strike to Win!

All Power to the Picket Lines!

For more info, contact

Jordy Cummings - jordylcummings@hotmail.com

Gary Romanuk - gromanuk@yorku.ca

Madeleine Boyer - madeleine_b222@hotmail.com 


d) Tuesday, January 13

The Communications Committee will be meeting at HQ at 10:30 in the morning.  All union members are invited to hear updates, share ideas, offer their skills, and meet some of the dedicated and talented people behind CUPE 3903's videos, bulletins, flyers, website, press releases, Facebook groups, and other communications. 

 

2. Bargaining Updates - Thanks Matt and Angel!

a) BARGAINING UPDATE JANUARY 7 � 4:00 PM
 
We presented a number of counterproposals to the employer at 3:00pm.
 
For Unit 2, we responded to their offer of one conversion per year by demanding 8 for 2008-2009 and 7 for 2009-2010.  We reiterated our position that we will not accept that gains in the Teaching Stream Appointment (TSA) programs would be used to justify lowering the amount of conversions we have historically been afforded.  We also restated that the conversion program as the new TSA program are for 2 different groups of the membership, and so, again, they should not be conflating the issues.
 
On the subject of TSAs:
- We agreed on a number of smaller elements for the TSA program.
- We stated that we would like to open a dialogue concerning the inclusion of sabbaticals, that - members should be able to have time to prepare their teaching files for the review process that is scheduled to occur every 5 years.
- We proposed a revised system for determining appointees.
- We have suggested a change to the proposed wages from $70,000 with no progress-through-the-ranks, to $65,000 with progress-through-the-ranks.
- We have countered their offer of a 3.5 course load, suggesting that there should be a choice given to appointees about whether they would teach 3.0 courses and do service, or teach 3.5 courses with no service.
- We demanded the inclusion of the YUFA layoff clauses to give appointees better job security within YUFA.
 
We are also maintaining that 26% of all tutor 1 work should continue to be posted in Unit 2.
 
Both Units 1 and 3 have withdrawn the proposals concerning post-residency fees in order to focus on graduate funding.
 
For Unit 1, we have attempted to lower the cost of the minimum guarantee by maintaining our position that it should be set at $19,400, but only starting in year 2.  This is because incoming Unit 1 members often receive more money in the first year of their Ph.D.
 
Unit 1 has also altered their position on priority pool language by retracting the sought deletion of "member of the bargaining unit during the preceding 12 month period, including those on leaves of absence under the collective agreement".  We are still attempting to ensure that overwork is not counted against the minimum guarantee, and that there are 14 working days notice for appointments in the summer.
 
Unit 3 has withdrawn their proposal concerning a minimum guarantee of $12,000, that the employer costed at 1.6 million dollars.  In its stead, we have expressed that there will be no more flexibility surrounding the issue of a summer GFA of $590, something currently inexistent in the Unit 3 collective agreement, but present in Unit 1 collective agreement.
 
On the matter of funds we have retracted our demand for Unit 3 to be included in the Ph.D completion fund and the master's bursary fund, but are maintaining our position that it is both appropriate and important for our members to be part of an improved Research Costs Fund.
 
We are about to hear responses from the Employer.

 

b) BARGAINING TEAM UPDATE JANUARY 7-- 6:15 PM�

UNION: Funds
$185,000 for the Graduate Bursary Fund
EMPLOYER: Funds
$185,000 for the Graduate Bursary Fund
 
UNION: New Childcare Fund
increase of $115,000 � to subsidize both on-campus and off-campus childcare costs.
EMPLOYER: Increases to Childcare
Increase in existing subsidies from $17,250 to $18,750 in 2008-2009, then $28,750 in 2009-2010
 
UNION: Extended Health Benefits
We accept the broad parameters of their offer for "paramedical services covered in the ASO plan", but we maintain that the current EHB fund should remain at 175k, and we are still negotiating some small issues with the functioning of the coverage
EMPLOYER: Extended Health Benefits
They have offered ASO-based paramedical services, with a supplementary $35,000 EHB Fund.
 
UNION: Minimum Guarantee Unit 1
Increases to Unit 1 Minimum Guaranteed funding to $19,400 for Unit 1 priority pool members
EMPLOYER:Minimum Guarantee Unit 1
Increase from $17,400 to $17,636
 
UNION: Conversions
8 conversions to tenure stream appointments in the first year, and 7 in the second year.
EMPLOYER: Conversions
 2 conversion in Year one, 2 in year two, 1 in year three.
 
PLEASE COME OUT TO TOMORROW'S GMM, WHERE WE WILL HAVE IMPORTANT
DISCUSSIONS ON THE STATUS OF BARGAINING