Your Voice. Your Power. Your Vote. U1 Strike Mandate Vote

Dear Unit 1 Members,

We are writing to update you on the status of bargaining and to ask for your participation in a Strike Mandate Vote.

After months at the table, the employer has not moved meaningfully on the issues that matter most to Unit 1 members. We entered bargaining with clear, reasonable, and urgently needed priorities: fair wages, adequate benefit funding, and manageable workloads. These priorities came directly from you through surveys and consultations.

Unfortunately, the employer continues to fall short in all three areas:

1. Wages that reflect our work: Our wages have not kept pace with inflation, rising living costs, or the escalating demands placed on instructors, teaching assistants, course coordinators, marker-graders, and lab demonstrators. The employer’s offer so far does not address the real erosion in our pay.

We deserve compensation that recognizes the professional, academic, and emotional labour we provide every single week.

2. Benefits that actually meet members’ needs: The Unit 1 benefit fund is stretched to the breaking point. Members run out of benefit dollars long before the end of the academic year, forcing many to pay out of pocket for basic health, dental, and vision needs.

We are pushing for increased benefit funding so you are not left competing for limited resources or choosing between your health and your wallet.

3. Workload protections that keep teaching sustainable: Class sizes, course demands, and administrative tasks continue to grow without the support, compensation, or protections required to do this work effectively and fairly.

We are fighting for clearer workload language, reasonable class and seminar sizes, and protections against unpaid work.

These are not extravagant asks. These are the essentials required to maintain high-quality working and learning conditions at Brock University.

Why a Strike Mandate Now? A strong strike mandate does not mean going on strike. It means giving your bargaining team the power to demand better, and ensuring the employer finally takes our issues seriously. Historically, at CUPE 4207 and across the postsecondary sector, strong strike mandates are the single most effective tool to secure a fair deal without job action.

We have scheduled three Strike Mandate Presentations and we encourage you to attend one of the three Hybrid sessions:

Wed, Dec 3 at 10:00 AM in WH 204 & Zoom;

Thu, Dec 4 at 12:00 PM in GLN A 164 & Zoom;

Thu, Dec 4 at  6:00 PM in GLN A 164 & Zoom.

Your Vote Matters! Voting opens on Thursday, Dec 4th at 8:00 PM and closes on Thursday, Dec 11th at 8:00 PM. All current Unit 1 contract holders will be emailed a link to the electronic ballot.

This vote is your opportunity to show the employer that Unit 1 members deserve wages that keep you afloat, benefits that protect your health, and workloads that respect your time and expertise.

We can achieve this together, with a strong, united YES vote.

In solidarity,

Your Unit 1 Bargaining Committee,

Tracy Kennedy (Chair), Kendra-Lee Dupuis, Brigitte Cecckin, Tracy Stewart, Darrin Sunstrum, Phil Wachel

Click HERE for a Strike Mandate Vote FAQ

Stop Bill 60!!

Hello CUPE friends,

I want to bring to your attention an issue that I believe would be of interest to our membership. Currently, the Doug Ford government is forcing through Bill 60, without consultation or public hearings, that attacks tenant rights.

Many of our members (and I am thinking especially of our grad student members) may be among Ontario’s more than 1.7 million renters and their families (~38% of population). In 2018 Ford lifted rent control on any new construction and promised they would not touch rent control; Now, however, they refuse to promise to protect rent control and have floated proposals that would effectively end rent control in Ontario. The government has back pedaled on their most controversial proposal to end month-to-month tenancies, but it is still necessary to keep up pressure as we know they are unreliable at best. Measures remaining in the bill will still make it easier and faster for landlords to evict tenants and limit tenant rights in fighting back.

Housing is a particularly critical issue in our region. As of September, the region had 1,264 people known by name who were experiencing houselessness. As of last January, there were more than 80,000 houseless people in Ontario, which is expected to at least double in the next decade.

Student rent is already exorbitant– I have heard from students they are paying $600 or more for a room in a house, and as a young population perhaps inexperienced with renting, they may be more susceptible to maltreatment by landlords. I don’t have stats for this, just what I have heard from students while teaching.

I have [included] a flyer provided by ACORN Hamilton, a tenants’ rights advocacy group, that outlines the changes Ford is attempting. These can also be found on the ACORN website at https://acorncanada.org/campaigns/housing-tenant-unions/.

Members concerned about this attack on tenants’ rights and the risk to rent control are encouraged to:

  1. Sign the petition at ACORN, which will also send emails to the relevant politicians https://acorncanada.org/take_action/urgent-message-to-doug-ford-dont-end-rent-control/
  2. Email Premier Doug Ford  doug.fordco@pc.ola.org or web form at https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/EN/feedback/default.aspx or premier@ontario.ca (I think? An email address is hard to find for him. He can also be called or texted.)
  3. Email the Attorney General Doug Downey doug.downey@pc.ola.org
  4. Email the Housing Minister Rob Flack rob.flack@pc.ola.org
  5. Share your renting stories with NDP housing critic Catherine McKenney cmckenney-co@ndp.on.ca
  6. Email local MPPs
    1. Jenny Stevens, NDP (St. Catharines) jstevens-qp@ndp.on.ca
    2. Wayne Gates, NDP (Niagara Falls) wgates-qp@ndp.on.ca 
    3. Jeff Burch, NDP (Niagara Centre) jburch-co@ndp.on.ca
    4. Sam Oosterhoff, PC (Niagara West) sam.oosterhoff@pc.ola.org
    5. Other MPPs can be found here as needed: https://www.ola.org/en/members 
  7. Email local mayors and councilors to encourage them to push back, as we live with the results of houselessness on our streets and in our classrooms. https://www.niagararegion.ca/government/council/profiles/default.aspx
  8. Talk to friends, coworkers, neighbours to spread awareness.

Since the government has been busy trying to privatize water and sewage, removing bike lanes, cutting green roofing, cutting transit, spending millions on a tunnel study, spending millions on Ronald Regan ads, getting rid of school boards (and probably a few other things I have forgotten already), this issue has flown under many folks’ radar. I hope the union can help bring this critical issue to members’ attention and encourage them to sign the ACORN petition. 

Thank you,

A Concerned CUPE 4207 Member

Join OPIRG for their next Niagara Free Store pop-up!

A message from OPIRG Brock….

We are hosting a Free Winter and Household Item Pick Up with Brock International and Brock Faith and Life Centre. Link to event: https://experiencebu.brocku.ca/event/303042

Wednesday, November 12 2025, 1:30pm EST

Alphie’s Trough – Faith and Life Centre, Brock University

We are also in need of donations of winter gear, shoes, bedding/linens, towels, and kitchen/household items. You can drop off donations at the following locations during their open hours:

  • Fine Grind Cafe – 37 James St., St. Catharines
  • Lock Street Brewing Co. (Bedding and towels only) – 15 Lock St., St. Catharines
  • At the event

For more info & upcoming Free Store dates, visit our website at www.opirgbrock.com/niagarafreestore 

Hope to see you there!

Niagara Free Store Team

General Membership Meeting

Calling all members!
Join in person or Zoom – November 26th at 4:30 p.m. for an important union meeting. A light dinner will be served in person in Plaza 600F.

We’ll provide bargaining updates, answer your questions about the process, and hold key elections:

  • Elect the Unit 3 Bargaining Committee
  • Elect the Vice-President for Unit 1

We also have our Steward Elections!!!: Unit Stewards, Instructor Steward, International Student Steward, and Department Stewards. More information can be found in our bylaws 8.1.1 & 8.1.2 (pages 14-15). A list of departments can be found on pages 28-29.

Stewards are the heart of CUPE 4207. They’re the connection between members and the union by supporting coworkers, sharing updates, and making sure our collective agreement is respected. It’s a great way to build leadership experience, strengthen our union, and make a difference in your department.

If you care about fairness at work and want your coworkers’ voices heard, consider running for Steward. Your voice matters, and so does your leadership.

In order to vote, you must register 24 hours in advance to be eligible to vote either in person or online. You must be a Member in Good Standing to attend union meetings.

Your participation is essential — make sure your voice is heard!

Unit 5 Solidarity Breakfast!

Unit 5 Solidarity Breakfast!

Friday, November 21st
International Centre Lobby
9:30-10:30am

Join us in supporting our Unit 5 Faculty of Education Instructors while they bargain with the employer.

Complimentary Breakfast Sandwiches, Coffee, Tea, & Hot Chocolate!

TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER!

WE DEMAND FAIR WAGES! JOB SECURITY! REASONABLE CLASS SIZES!

CUPE 4207’s Solidarity Rally & Community BBQ Draws Widespread Support Across Niagara

The Niagara labour community came out in force on Thursday, October 23rd to support CUPE 4207’s Solidarity Rally & Community BBQ, held outside Glenridge A at Brock University. The event brought together workers, students, and community allies in a powerful show of solidarity and unity for CUPE 4207’s Unit 1 (Instructors, Course Coordinators, Teaching Assistants, Lab Demonstrators, and Marker-Graders) and Unit 5 (Faculty of Education Instructors) as they continue to fight for a fair deal at the bargaining table. 

The community solidarity rally highlighted three key issues central to both bargaining units:

Fair Wages: keeping pace with the rising cost of living;

Class & Seminar Sizes: protecting quality education and working conditions for in-person and virtual learning spaces;

Preference in Instructor Hiring for PhD Students: balancing teaching opportunities fairly so that there is no risk to academic progress, and so that no teaching group is used to undermine another teaching group.

The event was well attended and strongly supported by Union locals across the Niagara region, including: CUPE Locals 9102, 1263, 4156, 1317, 911, 1295, 2328, and 2977, as well as members of BUFA (Librarians and Faculty Members), OSSTF Local 35, OSSTF District 22, OSBCU, COPE 343, and the Niagara Regional Labour Council. Community organizations, such as the United Way and local political allies, including City Councillor Caleb Batzlaff and representation from MPP Jennie Stevens’ office (NDP), also joined in solidarity.

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows from Brock University added their voices, emphasizing that improving working conditions for CUPE 4207 members means improving learning conditions for students. “I was the last one to arrive in my seminar and it was standing room only – there was no chair for me to sit in. It was awful,” shared an undergraduate student.

“We’re fighting not just for fair wages, but for the integrity of education at Brock,” said Tracy Kennedy, Vice President Unit 1 Instructors for CUPE 4207. “When instructors and teaching assistants are overworked and underpaid, students lose out. The show of support at our Solidarity Rally and BBQ proves that this fight belongs to everyone in the Niagara Community, and the labour movement across the province.”

The message was clear: the Niagara community is united in demanding fairness, respect, and quality education at Brock. 

CUPE 4207 Unit 1 and Unit 5 members won’t back down until wages, class sizes, and hiring practices reflect the true value of the education its members deliver.

Pathways to Permanent Residence with Ian Wood

Join us for an Immigration presentation with Ian Wood: Pathways to Permanent Residence. Ian will give members valuable insights on current immigration program dynamics. This is very timely for International Students, given the country will be announcing its new immigration targets this week. Let’s hope it’s good news for our members.

Some of our bargaining team members will be available to chat about concerns specific to international students and to ensure everyone’s voice is heard at the table. International students face unique challenges, and our bargaining team is committed to addressing them at the table.

Please join us & bring a friend!

Limited space is available so you must register for your spot. Click on the link to register for this in-person event or use the QR code in the poster:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/e7pyN-l5Qv6MGOVZPRzh1w

Once you register, you will receive an email confirming your in-person seat.

See you there!

#MakeItFair

“Job security, fair pay, and benefits for contract faculty will deliver fairness for workers and protect the high‐quality education our students deserve.”

Many thanks to the Academic supporters who work with us everyday and see our value and contribution to the university: Brock University Faculty Association (BUFA), Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), and Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA).

When Brock chooses cuts over investment, it traps contract workers in unstable jobs with low pay and no job security. Precarity isn’t an accident. It’s the business model that austerity builds. It’s the model that Brock uses to keep contract workers paid unfairly and bumps long-term contract holders out of their work.

We say: NO AUSTERITY. NO PRECARITY. NO CONCESSIONS.

We won’t be nickle & dimed anymore. Our work is vital to this university.

Quality Teaching Deserves Quality Pay

Quality teaching deserves Quality pay. It’s time to pay us what we’re worth.

CUPE 4207 Unit 1 members play an essential role in delivering and supporting high-quality education to students at Brock University.

Brock’s reputation for academic excellence depends on the people who teach, grade, and support its students everyday. It’s time to invest in us: over a thousand instructors, teaching assistants, course coordinators, marker-graders, and lab demonstrators teaching the next generation of youth that will shape the future.

Austerity and precarity are choices that hurt both workers and students. We’re standing together to demand a fair contract that reflects the value of our work.

Fair wages now!

No austerity.
No precarity.
No concessions.

Game Night

Once again we invite all members out to board game night. Come to the Sanky Chambers at 6:30 Wed Oct 29th for great board games and some chips, pop and other snacks. Wet wipes will be provided. Please send any game or snack request to Dan the M.O.O.