Originally Posted by .:callen:.

The strike vote will be happening again and it will most likely pass once they get quorum. The union is not budging on the pension issue (for good reason)

Just a correction on something that people often get confused with. The vote CAW will be having is a strike MANDATE vote. This is not a vote to go on strike. What this is is a vote to say "The bargaining committee has the capacity to say 'Our membership is willing to go on strike if we cannot reach an agreement.'"

Unions need this any time negotiations are contentious as it provides them with the leverage they need at the bargaining table. After all, if the mandate vote fails, the university knows that the union doesn't have the desire to strike and thus won't have much of a reason to negotiate.

Strike vote != strike

Originally Posted by Bobble

Just a correction on something that people often get confused with. The vote CUPE will be having is a strike MANDATE vote. This is not a vote to go on strike. What this is is a vote to say "The bargaining committee has the capacity to say 'Our membership is willing to go on strike if we cannot reach an agreement.'"

Unions need this any time negotiations are contentious as it provides them with the leverage they need at the bargaining table. After all, if the mandate vote fails, the university knows that the union doesn't have the desire to strike and thus won't have much of a reason to negotiate.

Strike vote != strike

Yes sorry I should have been clear. I was talking about CAW doing the strike mandate vote again since they didn't reach quorum the first time.

Negotiations are not going as well as they hoped and the university seems firm on denying new employees the same pension benefits as current employees. The CAW members I've talked to seem to think that a strike will happen unless the university reconsiders their offer on this issue.

I think this is completely reasonable. A two tier pension system isn't fair at all and the pension system they're offering for new employees is terrible from what I've heard.

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca /story.cfm?id=6305

Originally Posted by Matt Wright

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca /story.cfm?id=6305

Sounds fair to me. They'd better not complain about their wages...

Sooo whats's the latest update on this issue? Did the T.A's accept the offer?

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca /story.cfm?id=6315

Seems like they're making headway

The TA people always come to the GSA softball games to tell everyone how they're doing and give out free gatorade..

from what I hear the bargaining people make tons of money just to bargain.... so obvi they do. I also hear they vote to strike to put pressure on the university to make a decision.

Again, they just better not. It's not like they're affecting the output of a factory by striking - they're stopping 20k LIVES.

Originally Posted by micadjems

Again, they just better not. It's not like they're affecting the output of a factory by striking - they're stopping 20k LIVES.

I don't understand how a factory striking wouldn't impact 20K lives (I'm assuming it's a large faculty with several hundred employees). I think it could have the potential to.

That was how a couple grad TAs described it to me. I see what you mean, but without getting into semantics, if you make cogs, the cogs suffer. At a school, the *people* suffer.

Originally Posted by micadjems

The TA people always come to the GSA softball games to tell everyone how they're doing and give out free gatorade..

from what I hear the bargaining people make tons of money just to bargain.... so obvi they do. I also hear they vote to strike to put pressure on the university to make a decision.

The people who would do the bargaining would be full time employees of the union. Usually Labour Relations Officers who have graduate degrees in Industrial Relations so yes they would make a fair amount... nothing outrageous though.

Yep that's the way strikes work. They're used to put pressure on the university to change their offer if the union doesn't like it.

I do agree that a strike would have an enormous negative effect on all of our lives. However, I doubt a strike will happen because both parties want to avoid another York. That wasn't good for anyone since the strikers were ordered back to work by the government.

According to their blog it seems like they're doing a strike mandate vote in a couple days though... http://unit1bargaining.wordp ress.com/

Collective Bargaining Update - August 19, 2009

The University and CAW return to the bargaining table today to continue negotiations for a renewed collective agreement for McMaster's 2200 support staff.
Outstanding issues include the administration of the job evaluation system, rates of pay, and transition to new pension and post-retirement benefit plans for future employees only.
The University's proposal includes take home pay increases for all CAW members and makes no changes to the Defined Benefit Pension Plan and post-retirement benefit plan for current employees. McMaster is proposing to maintain the current job evaluation plan including the existing criteria for job evaluations. The administration of the plan would be streamlined with the University evaluating jobs and a new joint CAW/University grievance procedure with the option of third party binding arbitration.
The provincially appointed conciliator will assist with negotiations which are scheduled for today, tomorrow and August 31.

I was just at the Phoenix and the strike mandate vote for the T.As and R.As is going on right now.

They better not strike. *shakes fist* I don't want to do any picketing. ):

Yeah, me neither!

Collective bargaining update - August 20, 2009


August 20, 2009

The University and CAW returned to the bargaining table this week to continue negotiations for a renewed collective agreement for McMaster's 2200 support staff.

Outstanding issues include the administration of the job evaluation system, rates of pay, and transition to new pension and post-retirement benefit plans for future employees only.

In an update from the bargaining team on Thursday to employees who are members of the CAW, Local 555 Unit 1 bargaining unit, the team said, "We have been searching for ways forward that provide a fair and equitable agreement and that also provide a timely solution in the face of the September 1st strike date that was requested by the union."

The University has now tabled its Final Offer of Settlement. The proposal includes take home pay increases for all CAW members and makes no changes to the Defined Benefit Pension Plan and post-retirement benefit plan for current employees. McMaster is proposing to maintain the current job evaluation plan including the existing criteria for job evaluations. It also offers staff the opportunity to be involved in the process, and introduces the option to have a third party arbitrator decide the outcome.
The bargaining team memo went on to say, "The decision to table the University's Final Offer was not made lightly. We hope that it will be carefully reviewed and accepted by the CAW bargaining team. We will be available to meet with the union at anytime as we move towards the scheduled August 31 bargaining date to help to clarify any questions or address any issues the union may have."