Notification

Ballots sent out January 26th

by

A big THANK YOU goes out to all members attending our General Members Meeting yesterday afternoon (and evening, it was long!).

Members who attended the GMM and left their mailing address with us (via Google Forms link provided at the GMM), will be receiving their ballots soon! The envelopes were put in the trusting hands of a Canada Post unionized worker this morning 😉

When you receive the ballots, read the instruction sheet carefully. All the ranking boxes next to candidates’ names need to be filled in with a number in order of your preference of the candidate for the position. Leaving even one of them blank means spoiled ballot for that particular position. … Read more…

TA and Marker-Grader duties

by

It has been brought to our attention that some departments expect Marker-Graders to do TA duties.

Marker-Graders are being asked, for example, to field students’ inquiries about assignment instructions, and general course-related information, which is a TA duty.

If anyone is asked to perform TA duties while on a M-G contract, please contact the Chief Steward, chiefsteward@cupe4207.org

Below is the Workload language from our Collective Agreement, Article 22.01: … Read more…

Retro pay on your payroll

by

Our Unit 1 collective bargaining ended on November 3 2020, with both sides ratifying the new language for 2019 – 2022. The increase in pay for 2019-2020 will be paid retroactively (see Appendix B in the new collective agreement).

HR notified us that this is how retro pay is handled:

  1. Members with contracts D1 (September – April) will receive retro payment  as a lump sum that “will make up for the difference between the old and new rates for the entire duration of the contract.” This lump sum pay will be paid in January, while the old rates apply for the duration of their D1 contract.
  2. Members with D3 contracts will be paid the new rate of pay.

The lump sum can be expected this Friday, January 22, our pay day.

The payday schedule is here.  Please let us know is you have any questions info@cupe4207.org.

Bylaw amendments

by

The Policy, Bylaws and Finance Committee proposed amendments to our bylaws. These (and other agenda) are to be discussed and voted on at a Special General Meeting late in July (TBA).

The proposed changes are in the pdf file linked below. The bolded text are the additions, and the crossed through text signifies removal of the text.

https://4207.cupe.ca/files/2020/07/Proposed-Bylaw-Amendments2020June.pdf

Access to payslips and ROE

by

According to the Ontario Employment Standards Act the employer must provide a wage statement – payslip – on or before an employee’s pay day. We lose access to Workday when our contract expires, yet there are still two more pay periods after April 30th. The employer provides a solution to payslip access on the Human Resources website: https://brocku.ca/human-resources/payslips-t4s-roes/

The page also informs about the automatic release of ROE to Service Canada. This is important to members who apply for Employment Insurance benefits.

On or about May 3 the employers sent this:
Your appointment with the University has ended. If your regular access to Workday is no longer active, you can obtain limited Workday access for 7 days after your final pay deposit to view/print your final payslip. Follow the instructions in the job aid found at the following link to access your payslip: https://brocku.ca/human-resources/wp-content/uploads/sites/81/HR_PostTerminationAccess.pdf

Employee and Family Assistance Program extended!

by

The Employer has extended the EFAP benefits until SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 for all Unit 1, 2 and 3 members who are on the respective units’ seniority lists.

This means that any member, whether currently holding a contract or not, can use the Employee and Family Assistance Program, an online and phone based support service. It offers Professional Counselling, Financial Support, Legal Support, Nutrition Support, Family Support, Career Counselling, Health Coaching and Naturopathic Service.

https://brocku.ca/human-resources/efap/

Important info about Employment Insurance claims

by

To all members who are planning on going on Employment Insurance (EI) for the Summer:

1) How to request a Record of Employment [ROE].

Although it is hoped that ROE will be automatically generated with Workday, until that is confirmed, please go to the Human Resources website:

https://brocku.ca/human-resources/

Once there, click the Faculty & Staff tab. From there, select Payroll. You will be prompted to the Sharepoint site. On the right hand side of the screen, there is a Record of Employment Request Form. Fill it out as soon as your contract ends, and submit it.

2) When to expect that your ROE will be submitted*?

Given the changes to our pay with Workday, our final pay has been pushed later into May. Human Resources must submit a ROE five days after the last pay period ends, or 14 days after the last day of work. Given that a lot of our contracts will end on April 30th, the ROE must be submitted by May 15.

According to Service Canada, to qualify for EI, you would need to have worked 665 hours in the last calendar year. For more information, please email chiefsteward@cupe4207.org

*ROE is submitted directly to Service Canada that administers EI

CUPE Ontario Aboriginal Council Statement on the Killing of Colten Boushie

by
CUPE Ontario and its Aboriginal Council wish to express our heartfelt sorrow and condolences to the family of Colten Boushie, his friends and all Indigenous peoples. The killing of Colten Boushie and the failure to convict the person who killed him is another stain on Canada’s justice system and how it deals with Indigenous peoples.
Canada’s justice system does not work for Indigenous peoples. Their representation as police officers, prosecutors, judges, and on juries is almost non-existent in our system. Indigenous culture and values are not represented in Canada’s “rule of law”.
The failure of Canada’s justice system is another example of the societal injustices Indigenous peoples face. Residential schools, the 60’s scoop, the failure to investigate missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, the lack of adequate education funding for Indigenous children, the violation of treaty rights, imprisonment rates, lack of clean water on reserves, and crippling poverty are evidence of Canada’s discriminatory approach to Indigenous peoples.
Radical change needs to happen in Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples.
CUPE Ontario’s Aboriginal Council calls on the government of Canada to reform our justice system so that it reflects the culture and values of Indigenous peoples. We need to work toward the creation of an Indigenous peoples’ justice system and to end the practice of peremptory challenge that was used by the defence in the Colten Boushie trial to exclude Indigenous peoples from the jury resulting in an all-white jury. Changing the jury selection process so that it does not discriminate was an action that Justice Murray Sinclair called for back in 1991. Five years ago, former Justice Frank Iacobucci also recommended that Ontario urge the federal government to end peremptory challenges.
It is time for change and CUPE Ontario and the Aboriginal Council will continue to fight for the changes necessary to ensure Indigenous peoples get justice.

Sick? Know your rights.

by

It’s the end of the Fall term and also the beginning of flu season. All the crunch associated with wrapping up courses and marking/grading at the end of the semester makes us vulnerable to bugs and viruses.

Fortunately, our collective agreement allows for a paid sick leave.

For Unit 1 it is five paid sick days a term. The odd particularity about our sick leave is that each day of the week is covered only once (e.g., one Monday, one Tuesday, etc.). See article 19 of our collective agreement.

In the event you become sick, make sure you let the Chair of your department know as soon as you can, so the department can make arrangements associated with your absence and even find a replacement for you. This means that you do not lose pay while nursing your illness at home, and the replacement fellow worker gets paid – a win-win solution!

If you not have scheduled contact hours with students (at the end of the semester or as Marker/Grader), the department shall allow reasonable and sufficient time to complete your marking/grading duties.

Questions?

Contact your union!