Organize uWaterloo and CUPE are pleased to present the first webinar in our new Faculty Discussion Series on Unionization. First the guests will give brief remarks identifying workplace issues in the Faculty and outlining the role of unions to address them. Then the floor will be open for discussion, including questions and concerns from audience members. All are welcome!
Bring your questions or submit in advance!
In order to facilitate open sharing and discussion, this webinar will not be recorded. Minutes will be taken and shared after the session, within the faculty of Environment, among attendees and on this page. Attendee names will remain anonymous.
Faculty Discussion Series On Unionization #1
Faculty of Environment
Panelists:
CUPE is the largest union in Canada
700,000 members across the country
225 bargaining units in the university sector
Focuses on representing employees in broader public sector
They are the largest union in the university sector in Canada
Diverse union
Members include technical workers, blue collar workers, white collar workers
Majority women union (about 60%)
Large diversity within membership
In Ontario, CUPE organizes university unions under the Ontario University Workers Coordination Committee (OUWCC)
Represent about 21000 TA/Ras
1200 Postdocs
18 institutions
79 collective agreements
Believe in local autonomy
Waterloo union will have student executives
Staff of national CUPE organization do not interfere with the local operations
We will have freedom to decide when to negotiate, what to prioritize
CUPE Is here to provide resources and support
Help with bargaining/enforcement of the collective agreement
Provide us a national representative to CUPE
Will support in getting research, legal, communications, education, health and safety, and human rights support
CUPE is currently part of multiple political campaigns
Reducing precarious employment on campus
Stop universities contracting-out
Increase cleaning standards
Expand benefits and pension coverage
Increase public funding to universities (from both provincial and federal government)
Reduce tuition fees
Make UHOP OHIP (get rid of private insurance for international students and have them instead get OHIP coverage)
Union works to help the environment
Political action around climate change
Transforming workplaces to be more environmentally friendly (recycling, installing solar/wind)
Unionization Process
Ontario law says we need 40% minimum card signing to have a vote on unionization (need 40% of Tas and RAs on campus to sign)
Then CUPE files for unionization with the Ontario Labour Board, and there is a campus-wide vote. If we get 50 + 1, then a union is formed, and bargaining starts
Will be a digital process
Learn more here: https://organizeuw.org/post/process/
No protection for graduate students working as TAs and RAs, leaves them open to exploitation by the school to be overworked
No third party to mediate issues between students and their supervisor/Waterloo
Grad students often work for their supervisors as RAs. Worry about creating conflict with their supervisor when they push back about hours they are working, or jobs they are being asked to do.
No one to protect students from harassment
No clear/consistent hiring process
Creates clear guidelines for work
When you unionize, you get a collective agreement (contract that applies to everyone). Agreement is negotiated with the university out outline roles and responsibilities of the employer, and the employee.
Clarifies the work that employee is expected to do, and what the employer had to do to facilitate that work, and make sure that the environment is safe
Stops overworking of students
Collective agreement outlines pay and hours you work. If you go over, you have the ability to go to the union and saying you are working too much/not on the right things.
Union files a grievance with the university (not with your supervisor). As the employer, the university is responsible for following the collective agreement.
Waterloo will get fined if they break the rules of the collective agreement
Dealing with harassment
CUPE has language in almost all of their collective agreements about harassment
Union has many legal processes to enforce a safe work environment
Handled through health and safety committee since it is a workplace hazard
Hiring Process
Collective agreement will outline the process that the university has to follow
Provides clarity for students
Gets rid of the favouritism that happens with TA hires
GSA is recognized by UW as the official representative of all graduate students, but was not set up to be a labour union
No collective agreement to enforce, no legal authority to enforce rights
Lack of a network of stewards in every department to advocate and represent student workers
Graduate students have a voice and vote in UW decisions, but don't have a lot of clout in these decisions
UW administrators have expressed the view that a graduate degree is a financial investment (like a house) that will pay off later, which justifies going into debt
Graduate TAs in some departments face arbitrary and extreme penalties, e.g., losing $250 for showing up late to proctor an exam
Jobs and pay are allocated inconsistently and unfairly (e.g., graduate students working as sessional instructors are paid half what a professor is paid)
Graham Cox:
No way for a GSA to be a labour union
Waterloo is one of the last among major public universities to have a union for graduate student (not including the province of Alberta)
Waterloo graduate student are making less per hour (nearly $8) than other students at other schools: https://organizeuw.org/post/ta-wages-whynotwaterloo-part-1/
Missing other funding supports like support for buying equipment to teach online, childcare support
How has Waterloo handled COVID-19 compared to other schools, and would a union change that?
Has observed that campuses are safer when there are unions with health and safety committees
How do I get involved?
Email us (see below), check out the OrganizeUW website (see below), come talk to us in Waterloo Park (see event below)
Information on getting involved with card signing: https://organizeuw.org/post/cardsigning/
Information on getting involved with volunteering: https://organizeuw.org/post/volunteer/
Organize UWaterloo email: organizeuw@joincupe.org
Name the goose campaign – name the movement's mascot! https://organizeuw.org/post/goose/