$27k divided over 14 people is about $1900 a person, which incidentally, is about 2x the amount an average grad student (in my department) gets monthly. I'm sure that's entirely fair..

Originally Posted by gdevenyi

$27k divided over 14 people is about $1900 a person, which incidentally, is about 2x the amount an average grad student (in my department) gets monthly. I'm sure that's entirely fair..

What do they get this bonus for?

Good question.

Originally Posted by Parnian

You guys are bitching about 27k, spread amongst more than one person?

Our president at McMaster has decided not to take a pay increase this year(the first time in years!) and will be sitting pretty at just over 500k! Oh and let's forget the retirement package he got! Wasn't it half a million? I'm pretty sure it was more.

Yet his name is plastered all over the CUPE negotiations. He sure worked really hard, what with the snail's pace and all.

What a shame.

EDIT! Here it is http://www.thespec.com/article/393529

You're complaining about the bonus Peter George gets, but not the amount the Prime Minister gets paid??????

The point is, in this thread, we are talking about CUPE's demands. If we wanted to talk about the people at Mac who make the most money, I'm sure there's other we could talk about. But right here, right now, we're talking about CUPE.

Originally Posted by Kathy2

You're complaining about the bonus Peter George gets, but not the amount the Prime Minister gets paid??????

The point is, in this thread, we are talking about CUPE's demands. If we wanted to talk about the people at Mac who make the most money, I'm sure there's other we could talk about. But right here, right now, we're talking about CUPE.

Peter George was part of the negotiations (on the University Side) with CUPE. He is directly related to this topic at hand.

Originally Posted by Parnian

Peter George was part of the negotiations (on the University Side) with CUPE. He is directly related to this topic at hand.

How do you know this?

Look at the proposed contracts. Peter Smith is the 'highest up' person I could find.

Originally Posted by Parnian

Peter George was part of the negotiations (on the University Side) with CUPE. He is directly related to this topic at hand.

No one said they were pro Peter George getting such an extravagant retirement package. This thread wasn't about that though so why would anyone have expressed that belief without being prompted by the quesiton.

You can't say you're complaining about X but not Y if the thread isn't discussing Y or you didn't ask anyone about their opinions on Y?

Many people who disagree with this demand of CUPE's probably also disagree with Peter George's retirement package but since we aren't discussing that issue now they didn't bring it up.

Originally Posted by kleung

How do you know this?

Look at the proposed contracts. Peter Smith is the 'highest up' person I could find.

Um exactly.

Originally Posted by Parnian

Um exactly.

Peter George =/= Peter Smith

They do share the same first name though

Originally Posted by gdevenyi

$27k divided over 14 people is about $1900 a person, which incidentally, is about 2x the amount an average grad student (in my department) gets monthly. I'm sure that's entirely fair..

>implying that being part of CUPE isn't working.
being part of the upper ranks is a job I would say. And it is an incentive for them to do their job correctly.
>implying that the $1900 isn't spread over the whole year

Originally Posted by kleung

Peter George =/= Peter Smith

They do share the same first name though

Thanks for pointing that out. Proceed to turn a crimson red.

Originally Posted by FireDragoonX

>implying that being part of CUPE isn't working.
being part of the upper ranks is a job I would say. And it is an incentive for them to do their job correctly.
>implying that the $1900 isn't spread over the whole year

For the record I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the demand for 27 K because it isn't clear exactly what or who it is for.

That said, if working for CUPE is a job (which presumably it is) wouldn't these people be getting paid a salary/hour wages? If so why are they asking for the University to pay them an extra sum for their duties? I'm legitimately curious about what this money is for, it is very unclear and thus causing a lot of debate and speculation.

Originally Posted by sew12

For the record I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the demand for 27 K because it isn't clear exactly what or who it is for.

That said, if working for CUPE is a job (which presumably it is) wouldn't these people be getting paid a salary/hour wages? If so why are they asking for the University to pay them an extra sum for their duties? I'm legitimately curious about what this money is for, it is very unclear and thus causing a lot of debate and speculation.

it's a union.
their work is a like a job.

do you know the MSU BoD (at least the president) gets a stipend as well.

Originally Posted by talues

You must understand our frustration with scabs, however. If we do end up with a new, better contract due to the strike, those who made the decision to scab will benefit from said contract, along with benefiting from being a scab. It will be the sacrifices of others which will lead to their personal gains, and that is inherently selfish.

The union represents a large number of people that have different priorities, values and sources of funding. For example, grad students in the sciences or engineering may have research scholarships in addition to their TAships. Both of these, however, may come from a single pool of money set aside by a professor as the cost of having this student. And that money may come from an external source, given to the professor as research funding. The TAship is then merely a means of getting that money already set aside for the student to the student in a way that sees return for the department or faculty. Understand that this hypothetical grad student would not view their TAship as a "job" in the classical sense. Afterall, they didn't apply for it (it was guaranteed to them) and they'll get paid the exact same amount regardless of how many hours they end of working (i.e. possibly much less than the arbitrary time allotment).

Nonetheless, the same union that represents people that view their TAship as a job, as a means to support themselves and a source of benefits, also represents the student above, and he has absoultely no choice in the matter. The union has stated that one of the reasons the results of the strike mandate vote will not be released is because the university would be able to exploit the differences in opinon evidienced by the different results coming from different faculties. Obviously, these differences already exist if we are attempting to hide the results!

Many times I've been asked, as a member of the union, to cast my vote in the "collective" best interests, rather than my own. This includes the strike mandate vote. Do you really think I would feel that the union is representing me? There are entire departments like what I've described. How well do you feel the union is representing them?

And finally, when the union tells them that they're on strike, and they keep going in because they care about their students' education, you think that they're the ones acting selfishly?

Originally Posted by FireDragoonX

it's a union.
their work is a like a job.

do you know the MSU BoD (at least the president) gets a stipend as well.

Your response doesn't even make sense in reference to what I said.

I said its a job so don't they get paid? If they get paid why are they asking for the University to give them extra money?

I'm asking a question about whether or not they are paid a salary or hourly wages, you didn't answer.

I'm asking if they get paid, what is this extra money they're asking the University for for?

I'm aware that the MSU President is paid, what does this have to do with what I asked? I never said it wasn't a job or that they shouldn't be paid.