Originally Posted by goodnews.inc

I did a survey online where they asked me if my decision to not choose York was because of the strike and how that impacted my perception of the university. That strike has made quite a stir.

Of course. The number of students who applied this year dropped quite a bit too. They have a lot of work ahead of them.

York is still a good school, they just made an ass of themselves.

you are veryyyy correcttttttt
it's deff not someting I want McMaster to go through...
that would be, beyond terrible.

Isn't it sad that York is now the gold standard? You can't say York without thinking Strike, and you can't say Strike without thinking York.

I hope it doesn't come to picket signs or anything even more serious. Picketing secretaries can still be a pain in the ass. A few years ago, the cleaners went on strike and it took literally an hour for the bus to drive from King Street to Mac, down Sterling (which should normally take like 2 minutes).

Collective bargaining update - University and Post Doctoral Fellows make progress at conciliation

July 26, 2009

McMaster and CUPE Local 3906, Unit 3 are making significant progress as they negotiate a first contract for Post Doctoral Fellows.

Both parties resumed negotiations last Thursday and talks continued through Saturday, July 25 with the assistance of a provincial conciliation officer. Progress was made during those talks, leading the union to postpone a general membership meeting that was originally to be held on Monday, July 27 in order to continue negotiations with the University.

The union meeting will probably now be held on Thursday, July 30. A tentative agreement could be presented for ratification at that meeting, pending the outcome of this week's talks. If a tentative agreement is not reached prior to the membership meeting, the union has said that it expects to table and discuss a motion to hold a strike mandate vote.

Both parties have agreed to a communications and media blackout at this important point in the negotiations.

(Source: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca /story.cfm?id=6293)

Mac will not be another York. There are too many key differences.

-While the secretaries are valuable to our school, it is much easier to bring in replacements for them than replacement TAs, and we can run classes without them.

-After the York thing, they would know they would have no public sympathy (something the TA's at York had in the beginning.)

-Its an older demographic. Most TA's still had parental support, and didn't rely as heavily on their income from TAing. Most of the people who could strike for this have real financial obligations- mortgages, children, etc.

-The MSU, with all its faults, would NEVER back them in the event of a strike. (Probably an irrelevant point, but but the fact that the YFS backed the TA's in the strike is still a huge shock to me.)

If they know that they won't get sympathy, know that they won't be able to disrupt the school as effectively, and know how easy it would be to replace them AND need their jobs, it is unlikely they would strike at all. Even if they did, it would be nothing more than a mild inconvenience.

Not only the secretaries will be on strike (if the bargaining falls through) but also the lab technicians, which also belong to the same union.

I think I'm on the union side for this one since the University agreed to signed the same contract for profs and management but not to secretaries and lab techs.

Originally Posted by chugaucon

Not only the secretaries will be on strike (if the bargaining falls through) but also the lab technicians, which also belong to the same union.

I think I'm on the union side for this one since the University agreed to signed the same contract for profs and management but not to secretaries and lab techs.

That's an interesting point.

I also think that most people are unaware of just how critical the administrative staff are to making the "machinery" of an institution like Mac run smoothly . People were probably completely oblivious to the fact that their high school secretaries were the people who made their high school run -- get rid of the secretary, and the whole thing falls apart! Doesn't matter if temps are called in -- they don't know how the "machine" runs It is just not that simple, is all I am saying.

Currently the groups that are in collective bargaining with Mac are:

The non-academic staff (not just 'secretaries' this includes over 2000 administrative workers as well as technical workers)

The post-doc fellows (around 200)

The T.As and R.A's (around 3000)

A strike among the non-academic staff would have a huge effect in my opinion. Do you really think financial aide, career services, the registrar and the like could operate smoothly with only a few managers running the place?

why would they want to distrupt the school... these people are sick and don't even deserve to have the jobs they have now. seriously look at the offer mcmaster tabled for them, what more do they possibly want.

these people disgust me.

Originally Posted by zango

seriously look at the offer mcmaster tabled for them, what more do they possibly want.

What they want is to not make concessions. Their demands are THE SAME as their former agreement.

They are not going to the bargaining table wanting more, they are demanding the same contract that they have had.

This includes giving all new hires the same pension plan, the University wants to exclude new hires.

You should really read the CAW Local 555 site with their demands AS WELL as the Mac Labour Relations site. Mac's offer only tells one side of the story.

Do you seriously think that everyone is going to get the same plan from now until forever?

Honestly? This would mean that no matter what economic situations present themselves, changes in health care, changes in the Canada Pension Plan, changes in everything of that matter, every new hire would have the same contract as someone who worked for McMaster from several years prior?

You don't even make sense, why would you side with the people who are willing to take away your education, an education that you are paying for, and the health care benefits and salary of the people for which you are paying to, are these very same pigs who want more than what they CAN bargain for.

P.S. - You do know that by the time any of us or any of the new hires WOULD be eligible to receive money from the CPP there will be no money left correct?

Originally Posted by .:callen:.

Currently the groups that are in collective bargaining with Mac are:

The non-academic staff (not just 'secretaries' this includes over 2000 administrative workers as well as technical workers)

The post-doc fellows (around 200)

The T.As and R.A's (around 3000)

A strike among the non-academic staff would have a huge effect in my opinion. Do you really think financial aide, career services, the registrar and the like could operate smoothly with only a few managers running the place?

A lot of people don't realize what non academic staff is. This includes CSD, Career Services, the Registrar, Academic Advisors, Financial Aid, Student Tours, etc.

Does anyone know if they are going on strike for sure? I can't seem to find a definate answer..

Originally Posted by HeatherH

Does anyone know if they are going on strike for sure? I can't seem to find a definate answer..

Currently the non-academic staff are involved in a strike vote. The strike date would be Sept 1.

There are many bargaining dates scheduled for the end of August so hopefully those go well and we can avoid a strike should the vote pass.

Right now, you shouldn't worry. There's no plan to go on strike as of this moment. Also, the university's plan is to stay open and run classes in the event of a strike, so even if there is a strike, we'll probably not lose our classes.

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca /story.cfm?id=6291

can someone tell me why they should be receiving MORE than this?