[lorend]

CUPE will hold ratification vote

From: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca /story.cfm?id=6459

November 04, 2009
Updated Nov. 4 11:00 p.m. - CUPE 3906, Unit 1 has announced to its members that it will hold a ratification vote on the University's contract offer.
"We had asked CUPE to let members of the bargaining unit vote on the offer and we're pleased that it has decided to take this step," said Peter Smith, chair of the University's bargaining committee and associate vie-president, Academic. "We believe the University's best offer is both fair and equitable and we encourage all TAs and RAs to be informed and to participate in the vote."
The union informed members Wednesday night that the vote will begin Sunday night following a membership meeting at the Hamilton Convention Centre. The voting will continue Monday at the union's strike office from 10am to 5pm.


Updated Nov. 4 at 3:30 p.m. - Picket lines remain up at the University's Sterling St. and Cootes Dr. entrances as CUPE 3906 unit 1 continues its strike. The McMaster community's continued patience has ensured the safety of everyone at the lines and is appreciated.
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Updated Nov. 3 at 9:00 p.m. - The University and CUPE 3906 unit 1 met on Tuesday, the second day of a strike by the union representing TAs and RAs at McMaster.
"We very much value the work of our TAs and RAs and want this strike to be as short as possible for teaching and research assistants, for all of our students, and for the overall university, but we regret we made no progress in our latest meeting with the union," said Peter Smith, chair of the university's bargaining team and associate vice-president, Academic. "We have put our best offer on the table and we believe it is fair and competitive. The University confirmed in writing today that the offer will remain open for acceptance for a full week, ending Tuesday, November 10 at 12:01 a.m. It will then be withdrawn."
The union indicated in the meeting that it is only willing to meet with the University if the provincial mediator is present. Smith said, "If the mediator sees potential for a settlement he will bring both parties together and we will be there." No meetings are scheduled at this point.
The University's best offer includes wage increases, higher university contributions to dental benefits, continuation of the University contribution to the union administered benefit fund, job security and other provisions to enhance the working environment for TAs and RAs.


Updated Nov. 3 at 12:00 p.m. - Picket lines are back up on campus today as CUPE 3906 unit 1, which represents Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants, continues its strike. After some initial delays, traffic lineups did ease at University entrances.
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Does this mean the strike is firm until Monday?

If by 'firm' you mean 'ten people walking around in circles all day', then yes. Seems like more of a circle-jerk than a picket line to me, but what can you do, right?

From emails received, I've heard that the strike is 'successful'. So successful that they're going to backtrack and hold a full, formal ratification vote on McMaster's best offer. I would fully expect the strike to be in effect until Monday, and probably past that depending on how things go.

In solidarity, and all that fun stuff.

these are the sorriest excuses for picket lines i've ever seen. if you can only get 20 people to walk lethargically in circles then maybe you shouldn't be picketing.

one guy even has a sign saying "I don't want to strike but i will"
if you don't want to strike, and apparently no one else does....then don't!

Originally Posted by InYoutoGive

If by 'firm' you mean 'ten people walking around in circles all day', then yes. Seems like more of a circle-jerk than a picket line to me, but what can you do, right?

From emails received, I've heard that the strike is 'successful'. So successful that they're going to backtrack and hold a full, formal ratification vote on McMaster's best offer. I would fully expect the strike to be in effect until Monday, and probably past that depending on how things go.

In solidarity, and all that fun stuff.

The main reason they're calling this ratification vote is because a bunch of us (120+ and counting) signed a petition to hold this ratification vote. There's no telling if they would have done this by their own accord, because in their e-mail to us they made it crystal clear that they want us to vote down the offer. So yes, unfortunately the strike will be going on until Monday at the earliest, unless for some reason Mac caves between now and then.

In sensibility.

Originally Posted by AYuen

The main reason they're calling this ratification vote is because a bunch of us (120+ and counting) signed a petition to hold this ratification vote. There's no telling if they would have done this by their own accord, because in their e-mail to us they made it crystal clear that they want us to vote down the offer. So yes, unfortunately the strike will be going on until Monday at the earliest, unless for some reason Mac caves between now and then.

In sensibility.

I can't help but think with the way the pickets are turning out, and the fact that there are so many scabs, that maybe a tiny part of the exec view this as an opportunity for a coup de grace for the strike.

In sensibility!

Sending a message and what not aside (as argued following the previous special GMM on Sunday), the GMM needed to happen one way or another.

"In sensibility." I haven't been on the forum/blog much yesterday, so this sign off phrase is new to me. It sits pretty well with me, more so than the.....I'll call it the original, popular one.

I still have some unanswered questions before the vote, mostly regarding the statements made by the university in the open letter to the bargaining team about the number of TAs (with reference to benefits erosion) and the structural deficit of the university.

I've posted the former in the comments on the bargaining blog, but it hasn't illicted a response after 24 hours. Generally I assume that if I have a question others have it to, so it's best to do it in an open forum.

It doesn't look like Derek participates on these boards any more. I don't know if he got sick of it or if he was advised/forced to stop. It's too bad, because I prefer the discussion format here with individual threads.

In sensibility

Originally Posted by hummeld

I still have some unanswered questions before the vote, mostly regarding the statements made by the university in the open letter to the bargaining team about the number of TAs (with reference to benefits erosion) and the structural deficit of the university.

I've posted the former in the comments on the bargaining blog, but it hasn't illicted a response after 24 hours. Generally I assume that if I have a question others have it to, so it's best to do it in an open forum.

It doesn't look like Derek participates on these boards any more. I don't know if he got sick of it or if he was advised/forced to stop. It's too bad, because I prefer the discussion format here with individual threads.

In sensibility

I agree with you with the format of the threads here. On the blog it's more like an open floor, with each...with the discussions scattered across the comment sections of different posts, and each "thread" broken up into smaller threads.

My understanding is that even if the B-team (to answer your question in the blog, Mr. T called and couldn't make it) is less vocal on the blog these days, they're still having meetings caucusing and what not.

Do bring up the question again though, I am curious about it too and I'm sure we're not the only ones.

Originally Posted by hummeld

I still have some unanswered questions before the vote, mostly regarding the statements made by the university in the open letter to the bargaining team about the number of TAs (with reference to benefits erosion) and the structural deficit of the university.

I've posted the former in the comments on the bargaining blog, but it hasn't illicted a response after 24 hours. Generally I assume that if I have a question others have it to, so it's best to do it in an open forum.

It doesn't look like Derek participates on these boards any more. I don't know if he got sick of it or if he was advised/forced to stop. It's too bad, because I prefer the discussion format here with individual threads.

In sensibility

There's been almost 500 comments on the blog this week so its hard to get answers out to everything. If something hasn't been answered email me the questions and I'll write you a response ASAP. You can of course feel free to publicly post these emails. My email is [email protected]

At the moment I'm ridiculously busy with media interviews (television, radio, print etc) and writing press release materials as well as actually being at strategy and bargaining sessions. I don't have the capacity at the moment to read threads as well .

That is true. The thread's moving too fast even just for an average reader. For the B-team members that would have to sit down to compile comprehensive replies is a much bigger task.

Go make us look good Derek.

There appears to have been a change in policy on the bargaining blog. My understanding was that once one of your posts has passed moderation that you are free to continue posting. Unfortunately, my most recent comment in response to Derek is once again awaiting moderation. Or, maybe I was never completely familiar with the policy.

Originally Posted by dsahota

At the moment I'm ridiculously busy with media interviews (television, radio, print etc)

Being a news junkie myself I can attest to the fact that there is very little media coverage of this strike, with the exception of a few stories by the local paper/media.

There is definitely no news coverage by the major media outlets.

Nobody outside of western GTA/Hamilton (with the exception of student family members, other university admins and other unions) knows this is happening, and few within the western GTA/Hamilton even knows this is happening.

Originally Posted by hummeld

There appears to have been a change in policy on the bargaining blog. My understanding was that once one of your posts has passed moderation that you are free to continue posting. Unfortunately, my most recent comment in response to Derek is once again awaiting moderation. Or, maybe I was never completely familiar with the policy.

Yeah we just changed it about an hour ago. Unfortunately someone started posting racist and homophobic remarks on the blog and repeatedly did it so we had to change the moderation system to moderate everything in response.

Derek

Originally Posted by dsahota

Yeah we just changed it about an hour ago. Unfortunately someone started posting racist and homophobic remarks on the blog and repeatedly did it so we had to change the moderation system to moderate everything in response.

Derek

That's really unfortunate. I'm not very fond of the nested reply format of the bargaining blog because multiple conversations in the same comment thread become confusing (to me at least), but it was a good place to grab the attention of people in the know.