Look for your invitation to the CUPE 3909 Welcome (Back) Party in your UM email account.

In September, CUPE Local 3909 will be busy participating in orientation events put on by UMSU, the GSA, and the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.  We want to meet with new members and reconnect with returning members.  We also see this as an opportunity to educate the University community about our role in post secondary education.

Come by the CUPE 3909 table in University Centre on the week of September 9 – 12 during UMSU’s orientation week events.  If you are a Grad Student, you’ll see us at the GSA’s orientation from 1:30 – 2:30 on Tuesday, September 10 in the GSA Lounge.  New student employees who attend the University’s orientation on September 3 in E3-270 (Engineering Complex) will have a chance at a Q & A with a member of the 3909 executive.

We will hold our own “Welcome (Back)” social event (pizza and drinks) after we have received contact information for new members from the University.

You can find out more about CUPE 3909-affiliated events and meetings on the Events calendar.

The University’s new on-line posting and hiring system, REACH-UM, was implemented over a month ago and most CUPE 3909 members have had some experience using it.  New and returning members have had to create accounts in order to apply for courses; positions are offered and accepted through REACH-UM; and once hired, new members must go through a “new hire checklist” to ensure that they have access to IDs, library cards, and emails, and that the Payroll office has all relevant information.

As a job search engine, REACH-UM is still difficult to manage.  A first search will bring up all CUPE positions at the U of M, student and sessional, as well as all support staff and managerial positions.  If you click on “quick job search” and click on either “Instructor” or “Teaching Assistant/Grader Markers”, you will find CUPE positions but sessional librarians and counsellors do not have a similar category.  The “advanced job search” allows for you to focus on a particular faculty and on one of 3 CUPE categories: “Instructor, Distance Ed Instructor, or TA/GM”.  The Local has spent several hours in consultation with Human Resources staff working on REACH-UM and will continue to work with the University to help refine searches in order to make REACH-UM a useful tool for users.

A positive result of the implementation of REACH-UM has been that postings have been much more consistent and there have been fewer mistakes.  In previous years, the Local routinely found postings that excluded important information such as number of credit hours, time slot, and days of work, making it difficult for applicants to confidently accept positions.  The new posting procedure for all departments has a series of required fields and these lapses are no longer a serious concern.  However, the Local has had to inform the University that qualifications for Instructor and Lecturer positions have mistakenly included a Master’s degree as a minimum requirement.  This may sometimes be true, but most teaching positions have a Master’s or PhD as a preferred qualification, not as a requirement.  Also, we occasionally need to report a mistake in the rate of pay.  When a serious change of this last type has to be made, the position must be reposted.  Another improvement over the previous posting procedures is that revised or reposted positions retain the same job posting number and are therefore easy to track.

Another positive change is that the University now posts awards on the Human Resources website under Results of Competitions.  Click on REACH-UM Support Managerial Results of Competitions to see Sessional/Unit 2 awards.  Student Academic positions have always been posted but this practice is new for Sessional positions.  These awards are posted according to the job posting number.  Click here to decipher REACH-UM’s CUPE job categories.

Please be sure to follow-up with your department during this whole process and phone the Human Resources Help Line 204 474 9400.  If you are concerned that you did not receive a position due to difficulties with REACH-UM, contact us immediately.

The Bargaining Committee negotiating the Sessional Academic Worker (Unit 2) Collective Agreement has been meeting with the Human Resources Staff Relations Officer and their bargaining team regularly throughout the spring and summer months.  Because of the constant and direct dialogue, both committees have had the opportunity to exchange information and solve issues that have come up during the course of negotiations.  Many of these revolve around posting and hiring practices and have resulted in satisfactory resolutions for our members.

The CUPE 3909 Bargaining Committee went into these negotiations committed to make improvements based on an exhaustive survey of the members.  We have been working hard to recreate a collective agreement that is clear, concise, transparent, and fair.  We hope that soon we will have a document to present to the members and that you will be pleased with the changes.

Student and Sessional Academic Workers must apply for positions through a new system called REACHUM.  All applicants to a CUPE 3909 position are expected to create an account in order to enter a résumé and/or CV and complete the application process through this system.  Although anyone who has gone through this process knows that there are many challenges with REACHUM, a possible, but not ensured, positive outcome may be that the posting and hiring process will become more standardized and transparent.  In the meantime, as an internal applicant you are encouraged to enter your account as soon as possible, even if there are no positions posted yet.  The University has staff to help complete the process (Help Desk 204 474 9400) but it is also a good idea to follow up with your department to make sure your applications go through. Finally, if you believe that you have lost out on a position because of a problem with REACHUM, contact us immediately.

Over the past few years, there has been an effort by all campus unions to work together and demonstrate solidarity culminating most impressively in the “It’s our University too” rally that brought to everyone’s attention concerns that we have all had with the increasing privatization of services and corporatization of campus.  The recent decision to remove Aramark management of custodial services might be seen as a result of the message getting through to the University, although it’s clear that the mounting number of grievances and skyrocketing sicktime had a role to play in that decision.  In response to the rally, President Barnard extended an invitation to engage in dialogue with the unions.  Along with representatives from UMFA, AESES, CAW, GSA, UMSU, and CUPE 1482, CUPE 3909 President Ana Vialard Hart and VP Unit 1 (Student Academic Workers) Rachel ten Bruggencate had the opportunity to meet with President David Barnard and other administration representatives on June 14, 2013 to discuss member concerns.

CUPE 3909 brought three concerns to the table:

• The International College of Manitoba (ICM)’s presence on campus, specifically their use of publically funded University infrastructure and non-unionized workforce.  We requested that the University not limit the Senate’s upcoming review of ICM to the academic programs, and include as well working conditions and the conflict created by outsourcing unionized work.
• The disproportionate burden brought to bear on CUPE 3909 members, who are primarily hired through discretionary funds, by the Government of Manitoba’s scaled back funding of the University of Manitoba
• Campus accessibility issues stemming from events at Investor’s Group Field, especially lack of casual parking during evening, weekend, and summer events, during which CUPE 3909 members are more likely to be on campus.  Although some efforts have been made to accommodate employees and students with temporary parking passes, these passes have been badly advertised and even denied to our members.

The response from the administration was mixed.  ICM’s presence and conduct on campus was characterized as the result of binding contracts signed prior to David Barnard’s tenure at the university.  The effects of budget cuts on CUPE 3909 members were said to be the result of decisions made at the unit, rather than university level.  Promises were made to address event-day accessibility, with the administration assuring our representatives that ample parking in the centre-east portion of campus and access through King’s Drive would be made available to employees working on game-days.

In spite of this mixed success, the spirit of the meeting was one of openness and a desire to build a working relationship between the campus unions and campus administration.  The CUPE 3909 executive is grateful to David Barnard and the other administration representatives present for the opportunity to present our concerns.  We hope that this meeting marks the beginning of an era in which union action against changes on campus is replaced by union input into the processes that bring them about.  Until that happens, we remain committed to voicing our opposition to University innitiatives that negatively affect our members and their working conditions.

The Local held an Annual General Membership Meeting on April 24, 2013 and the members approved the new executive: Ana Vialard Hart, President; Rachel ten Bruggencatte, Vice President Unit 1 (Student Academic Workers); Karen Naylor, Vice President Unit 2 (Sessional Academic Workers); Karl Koth, VP Social Policy; Brianne Goertzen, Recording Secretary; and George Buri, Secretary Treasurer.  The new executive wishes to thank the outgoing members of the executive, Matt McLean, Brian Latour, and Shanon Price, for all of the hard work they’ve put in over the past year or more.  Read executive, financial, and convention reports.