The Steward: January 2010
Beyond the Thunderbird Stadium
Ambulance Paramedics of British Columbia
On November 7th, the BC Paramedics (CUPE local 873) were legislated back to work by the BC liberals via Bill 21 (Back to work Legislation). The bill was introduced by the BC liberals based on an edict from VANOC (Vancouver Olympic Committee) asking the government to end the strike before the Winter Olympics.
The BC Paramedics had been on strike for almost 7 months (since April 1st, 2009). Their main goal is to increase wages of their 3500 members from their current $2.00 an hour pager pay rate. The paramedics get paid just two dollars per hour beyond their regular pay while on call-out, and yet the government is unwilling to negotiate their wages. As a result, they are now paid less than Paramedics in Calgary, Edmonton and Windsor-Ontario. Their working conditions, including ambulance stations are not fairing any better. Some of the stations have been housed in temporary trailers for over 2 years.
How can bill 21 affect our bargaining?
Not too long ago (back in 2003), bill 21 was applied by the provincial government to legislate striking workers of CUPE 2278 (the teaching assistants at UBC) back to work. There is a pattern to legislating workers back to work in this province and the situation with the paramedics could have an impact on bargaining throughout the Post-Secondary Education sector
For further details about BC Paramedics, click here.
Back to the school – McMaster University
8:00am Monday, November 2nd, 2009, after months of negotiation with University, the teaching assistants of McMaster University (CUPE 3906 Unit #1) withdrew theirlabour until a fair settlement is reached. Over the past months, McMaster University has continuously brought to the table wage increases of 2% for year 1 and 1.3% for year 2 while a projected tuition hike mounts up to an alarming 8% increase. It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that this would result in a wage decrease. Furthermore McMaster refused to appropriately address any non-monetary issues regarding benefits, class sizes, work load control and job security.
On Tuesday, November 10th, the bargaining unit for CUPE 3906 had to sign the “Back to Work Protocol” to protect the member’s rights as they returned to work. While the protocol protects the teaching assistants from any reprisals, the University has taken away 7.7% of their paid hours which is approximately 10 hours or $350. Even now, teaching assistants at McMaster University are struggling to catch up on the workload while dealing with the financial hardship. In light of the reduced paid hours, meticulous logging of hours worked is more important than ever. Read more about this here.
Victory down south – University of Illinois
On Tuesday, November 17 teaching and graduate student assistants at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign unanimously voted to suspend their two-day strike. In a press release authored by the Graduate Employees’ Organization (IFT/AFT 6300) the labor action was declared a “major victory” that achieved multiple gains over the University’s original contract position. Members won protection for tuition waivers, an additional two weeks of unpaid parental leave, increases to the University’s contribution to health care premiums, and a ten percent increase to the minimum salary over the next three years. The Graduate Employees’ Union represents more than 2,600 teaching and graduate students in the bargaining unit and is one of the largest higher education union locals in the United States.
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