Why Good Turnout is Needed Sunday November 8th
BY LAURIE SMITH
This was posted to the
CUPE blog. This post reaffirms why it is so important that there is a good turn-out to Sunday night's meeting.
Derek Sahota – November 6, 2009 at 10:43 pm
That’s correct, scrutineers will be elected at the meeting on Sunday.
David Hummel – November 7, 2009 at 12:21 am
Thanks Derek. Has there ever been any talk of formalizing the procedures for selecting scrutineers for votes such as this (i.e. adding provisions in the bylaws)? It may not be the most important thing right now, but I feel that it deserves consideration in the future.
I feel it is of the utmost importance given the fact the scrutineers are voted in at Sunday night’s meeting, that as many members come out to the meeting to ensure in the end, the membership has voted in individuals who will be a part of the vote counting process that the membership feels confident will ensure the vote counting proceeds without any circumspect concerns.
Below is a copy of the Globe & Mail article run Tuesday of this past week outlining issues with York Cupe Unit 3903 relating that the unit has been now been taken over and run by they national executive and investigations are underway due to allegations of missing funds ($1 Million + – a complete forensic audit has been called) and investigations are underway into charges of intimidation and harassment of local members. Taking control of a local CUPE unit is a very serious move by the national executive.
National union takes over York University local
The union local that shut down York University in one of the longest strikes in Canadian campus history has been taken over by the national executive because of “serious financial issues,” including a ballooning debt pegged at more than $1-million and a failure to keep adequate records.
The York local, which represents 3,300 contract faculty and teaching and research assistants, was placed under the administration of the national wing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees last week at the request of the local's executive. A forensic audit is planned, as well as an investigation into charges of intimidation and harassment of local members.
The move comes as campuses across the country brace for what is shaping up to be a period of labour unease as universities look to cut costs in response to growing deficits. Teaching assistants at Hamilton's McMaster University went on strike this week, and contract faculty at the University of Toronto will be in a strike position on Monday.
In Ontario, the York contract has long been seen as a benchmark for other campus negotiations. A failure by the local to get its financial house in order before its next round of bargaining in less than two years could weaken that position. Problems at the local also come as CUPE is hoping to increase its clout at the bargaining table by co-ordinating campus contracts. There are now 27 CUPE locals on Ontario campuses with contracts up for negotiations in 2010.
The troubles at the York local follow a bitter three-month strike that threatened the school year of more than 50,000 students before it was ended by the province in February with back-to-work legislation. A new local executive was voted into office after that dispute and soon discovered problems with the local's accounting practices, including its strike records and receipts for expenses, according to an internal e-mail obtained by The Globe and Mail.
Last week that executive group voted to ask the national wing of the union to step in.
Lynn McDougall, appointed by the national union as administrator of the local, said the financial difficulties stem, in part, from the lengthy strike, but also involve “financial practices.”
“There are very serious financial issues,” she said in an interview yesterday. “There has been a great deal of speculation and certainly there is documentation that is lacking in several areas.”
Ms. McDougall said she also has received several reports of harassment and intimidation from local members since taking her post last week and will be examining those concerns.
A group of union members opposed to the move by the national union are attempting to take back control of the local.
Ms. McDougall said the national wing must get approval from the labour board to keep the local under administration for more than one year. “Administration in our minds is a very serious move and it takes very serious reasons for an executive to contemplate requesting it and for national to do it,” she said.
Ms. McDougall did not rule out the potential of wrongdoing, saying anything is possible, but that the audit will answer that question.
