Dear Graduate TAs and TFs:

On March 23rd a significant majority of graduate teaching assistant and teaching fellow voters (454 vs. 351) voted yes to forming a union to make graduate student employees a partner in the workplace. We join our peers in Ontario at the University of Toronto, McMaster, the University of Western Ontario, Guelph, Trent, Carleton, and Ottawa, among others, as unionized graduate student employees.

Our next steps include certifying as a directly chartered local of the Public Service Alliance of Canada and electing a collective bargaining committee. As a democratic and autonomous unit, graduate employee members will have the opportunity to elect representatives of the collective bargaining committee. As part of the process leading to the negotiation of a collective agreement, all members may participate in determining priorities for collective bargaining. Some of the gains made by other unionized graduate student employees include:

• fair and equitable wages

• provisions for paid leave

• freedom from harassment, discrimination and other forms of bias

• no discipline without just cause

• control over professional training and funding for conferences/professional development

• control over TA evaluations

• intellectual property rights protection

• clarity on job duties, hours and expectations

• job security against potential budget cuts

• supplemental health and dental benefits

• a subsidy to offset the cost of UHIP

• pay for all hours worked - no more ‘free' overtime

• a grievance procedure, with guaranteed union representation

• increased transparency in the allotment of TA and TF vacancies

• paid maternity and parental leaves, and subsidized child care

While we cannot guarantee the outcome of negotiations with the administration, we anticipate being able to eventually gain what has been won by colleagues at universities in Ontario. Some of these bargaining points will be easier to achieve than others and we welcome your input to set our priorities. As with other aspects of building a representative local, members will have the opportunity to vote on whether to accept the outcome of collective bargaining (i.e. the Collective Agreement).

Elections for a Union Executive will occur in the Fall 2010 to ensure the inclusion of all members of the local.

To begin this process, we will be holding a general meeting of members on April 19th, location and time to be announced. (As soon as a location is booked it will be announced on the SGPS website and in the 15 April SGPS Newsletter). This will be an opportunity to meet with the PSAC negotiator, Gaby Levesque, who will be joining graduate student members on the bargaining committee.

The TAFA Team

Teaching Assistant and Teaching Fellow General Meeting Agenda

19 April 2010

Time: TBA

Location: TBA

1. Certifying as a Directly Chartered Local of the PSAC

2. Union Name Brainstorming

3. Introducing Gaby Levesque

4. Q&A with Gaby Levesque. Where do we go from here?

5. Collective Bargaining Priorities.

Reports on:

a) TAFA campaign issues

b) Collective agreements at other Canadian Universities

6. Collective Bargaining Priorities - Discussion (with Gaby Levesque)

7. Call for Nominations for the Collective Bargaining Committee

8. Speeches by Nominees

9. Election of the Collective Bargaining Committee