Feb 08 2011

Unit Two News and Three Action Items

Category: NewsBob Hanke @ 11:01 pm

From the Unit Two Working Group:

The present moment is critical for Local 3903 and, more-so, for Unit 2.  The terminus of Administration is fast approaching.  Structural choices to be made during the next several weeks will define future conditions of Unit 2 within Local 3903.

Good news, though! The Unit 2 Proposal is in the mail.  This represents a singular opportunity for the Unit 2 membership to have a democratic voice concerning our issues and our future. So vote, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

We apologize for the length of this edition of U2News. But a number of important issues are occurring, which we feel need to be reported on in order to keep Contract Faculty informed of events as we shift into the final stages of administration.

We will try to keep future editions of U2News brief. However, in this edition, you will find:

*information regarding the Unit 2 vote
*as promised, report-backs on the forensic audit and bylaw GMMs
*details on Local executive elections and changes in voting procedures

UNIT 2 VOTE

The Unit 2 Working Group is pleased to announce that ballots are now in the mail for a vote on the U2WG’s recommendation!

Subsequent to her original commitment, and as a result of the pressure exerted through emails from contract faculty members, 3903 Administrator Lynn McDougall has agreed to hold a ‘vote in principle’  to determine if the membership of Unit 2 is in support of the creation of a Unit 2 Executive Board within CUPE 3903.

Your ballots should arrive by mail this week. Please note that your return ballot must be post-marked no later than Friday February 18th.

If you have any questions concerning the vote or the recommendations prepared by the U2WG, please come to one of the following informational sessions:

Wednesday February 9th 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.  D125 Hilliard (Glendon Campus)

Thursday February 10th 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. HNE 001 (Keele Campus)

Tuesday February 15th 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. 701 Ross South  (Keele Campus)

FORENSIC AUDIT REPORT

At the January 31st GMM, chaired by CUPE National President, Paul Moist, the auditors presented a thirty page summary of their forensic audit report.

As this report cannot be circulated electronically, we encourage all contract faculty to stop by 3903 headquarters in the East Office Building to pick up a copy of the auditors’ findings, or email 3903 administrator, Lynn McDougall (lmcdougall@cupe.ca), to have a hard copy sent to your home address.

The Forensic Auditor’s report raises serious concerns regarding fiscal mismanagement in the Local. Given that the bulk of Local 3903’s income comes from Unit 2 members’ dues, this is a grave issue that Contract Faculty not only must be concerned about, but also must concern themselves with.

A substantial portion of our monthly dues (check your payslip to see how much you are paying!) is now having to go to paying off debts generated by breaches in fiduciary responsibility, lack of internal financial controls, and the failure to properly complete necessary forms during the strike.

The Auditor’s final report will be submitted by the end of administration in mid March. It will then be up to the Local to investigate discrepancies found through the forensic audit. CUPE National will also submit a copy of the report to our bonding agency (Cooperatives) in an attempt to recoup at least a small portion of the lost monies in question.

However, a troubling aspect of the January 31st GMM was that many Unit 1 and Unit 3 members did not appear terribly disturbed by events and are seeking to sweep the problematic findings of the forensic audit under the carpet. As one Unit 1 member put it: “We had bad record keeping but saying we’re sending it to the police is inappropriate … we’ve been dysfunctional, deal with it and close the chapter.” Many were particularly opposed to submitting the report to the bonding agency (which would allow us to retrieve at least $50,000 back through insurance) as this would entail RCMP investigations.

Action Item: Please obtain a copy of Forensic Audit Report from 3903 headquarters and read it to determine what action or inaction the Local should take once the final report is submitted.

FEBRUARY 3 BYLAW GMM – STIGMATIZATION, MARGINALIZATION AND UNIT 2 AUTONOMY

As reported in the last issue of U2News, CUPE 3903 has begun the process of ratifying new bylaws that will govern the Local once administration ends.

On Thursday February 3rd, members from all three units gathered to begin reviewing and approving, article by article, 3903’s new bylaws.

Articles 1 through 8 (see CUPE 3903 website for a copy of the draft bylaws) were passed with some significant amendments, and Article 13 was endorsed so that the Local’s elections can proceed.  However, another meeting will need to be held to finalize the remaining articles in the Bylaws. This meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 17, 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm, in the Chemistry Building, Room 115.

It is unfortunate that the results of the Unit 2 vote on the recommendations generated by the U2WG will not be in before the bylaws review process is complete. If the results of the vote are positive and endorse the creation of a Unit 2 Executive Board within 3903, the Local’s bylaws will then have to be subsequently amended, either just before or just after administration ends, to reflect the necessary changes in the Local’s structure.

In the mean time, the U2WG is attempting to have input into the new bylaws by recommending amendments that will enhance Unit 2’s autonomy within the Local and address some of the concerns raised at Unit 2 meetings last spring.

At the two GMMs that have now been held on the issue of bylaws – January 21st and February 3rd – those opposed to Unit 2 autonomy have made their opposition perfectly clear.  At the January 21st GMM, they maintained the general 3903 membership must not have its time wasted by merely Unit 2 issues.  One Unit 1 member referred to Unit 2 issues as a “can of worms” that should not be opened. On February 3rd they insisted Unit 2 issues must not be addressed more unit-specifically by Unit 2 – because that would be divisive to the solidarity of the general membership.

It is no joke.  They really meant it.  Passionately.  Don’t waste collective time on Unit 2 issues – but don’t let Unit 2 divide the collective by addressing its own issues more autonomously.

This is the sort of tragically odious contradiction from which the opponents of Unit 2 autonomy continually derive the same oppressive conclusion.  Unit 2 issues should not be addressed.  Absent sufficiently extenuating circumstances, Unit 2 issues are better ignored in Local 3903.  That’s what the opponents of Unit 2 autonomy invariably conclude.  That’s what they appear to expect everyone should conclude.  That’s why they keep repeating Unit 2 has neither particular issues nor distinct identity from graduate students.

Alas, Unit 2 is distinct not only in fact, but by definition.  We are employees of York University.  Graduate students hold student and student-linked employment status, with a fixed guarantee of six years employment for Unit 1 members. Contract Faculty enjoy no such guarantees. Our guarantee of employment is precarious, from term to term, only assured once our contracts are signed, if and when we are offered contracts.  And there is nothing in our Collective Agreement definition of Unit 2, as “not full-time students,” that can justify this status-quo.  This status-quo is broken.

Locals organized on component models abound in Canada to reflect distinctions precisely such as Unit 2’s.  Yet more strikingly, Canadian society is fundamentally constituted on principle that difference cannot be oppressed and distinction cannot be repressed.  As residents in Canada, we must always seek to ensure our differences and distinctions are not just fairly represented – but even, more often, celebrated and given concrete meaning.

The travesty and mockery of Unit 2 has persisted too long by decades.  When our opponents deny our distinct identity and issues; when they inconsistently assert the general membership should not waste time on issues pertaining distinctly to Unit 2; when they again inconsistently maintain that our identity and issues are divisive to the general membership; this gives lie to any meaningful solidarity. We cannot continue to ignore such spectacularly divisive, anti-democratic, and totalitarian efforts to oppress us.

Instead of recognizing that a stronger Unit 2 means a stronger 3903 – our opponents seek only to silence us.  Instead of encouraging us to represent and express our issues in genuine solidarity – our opponents only deny we can have anything to say.  But we do have something to say.  We have plenty to say.  And our opponents will not – indeed, cannot – continue silencing us.  For right now, even as we speak, Unit 2 contract faculty have begun discussing and exploring our singular issues.  The conversation has begun.  It began at Unit 2 meetings during the strike. It has continued through Unit 2 meetings organized by the U2WG during administration. It will continue long after administration ends in March.

Action Item: Help bolster our Unit 2 conversation – come out to the next Bylaw meeting. The U2WG has prepared several amendments to address issues raised by Contract Faculty. Your attendance at the February 17th Bylaws meeting will be vital. Please try to attend. The precise details as to the time and location of the meeting will be posted on the U2listserv and CUPE 3903 News soon.

ELECTIONS

Plans for electing a new Local executive are now underway.  The timelines around elections are as follows:

February 7th to 11th — Nomination Period

February 14th to 25th — Campaign Period

February 28th to March 4th (inclusive) — Voting by secret ballot (at Keele and Glendon)

Ballots will be counted at the General Membership Meeting on March 7, 2011, at which time the newly elected officers will be sworn in.

One important victory that was achieved at the February 3rd bylaws meeting Is that unit-specific executive positions can now only be voted on by members within the specified bargaining unit. In other words, only Contract Faculty can nominate and vote in Unit 2 executive officers. This is an important change. It means that it will be crucial that Unit 2 members vote in the upcoming elections.

There remain, however, two significant problems with the impending elections.

First, the Grievance Officer position has traditionally been designated a Unit 2 position in the Local, mainly due to the fact that 85%-90% of the grievances that occur in 3903 relate to Unit 2 work. However, the new bylaws drafted by the Bylaw Committee have removed this designation, making the position open to all units in the Local. This is a serious problem as it is important to have skilled oversight, knowledge of the Unit 2 Collective Agreement, and a familiarity with the history of past grievances relating to Contract Faculty for this position.

The U2WG has prepared an amendment for Article 9 of the new bylaws (which defines the executive officer positions) to revert the Grievance Officer position back to a Unit 2 designation. However, the February 3rd GMM ended before this article and the U2WG amendment could be discussed and voted on. Hence, the administrator, Lynn McDougall, has proceeded incorrectly in her election announcements with opening up the position of Grievance Officer to all units. Since Article 9 has not yet been voted on, our current bylaws should apply. These bylaws stipulate that the Grievance Officer position “is reserved for a Unit 2 member, unless no member from that unit is willing to stand, in which case any unit member may be nominated” (CUPE 3903 Bylaws 2003).

The second problem regarding the recently advertised elections is that they include the position of Postings Officer. Again, traditionally, in this local, this position has been elected when committee elections are held, and not during the electoral process for executive officers. The Postings Officer does not sit on executive.

Currently, Contract Faculty are facing substantial challenges with respect to Unit 2 job postings, as the university quite arbitrarily attempts to change course descriptions, qualifications for Unit 2 positions, and variances in Unit 2 workloads, particularly with respect to Foundations and Gen Ed teaching. Hence, the U2WG has also prepared an amendment to make the Postings Officer a Unit 2-designated position. But, as with the Grievance Officer amendment, this change has yet to be reviewed and put forward at a GMM of the Local.

Action Item: Please attend the next bylaw GMM on February 17th (time and location TBA) to support the U2WG amendments, including those outlined above relating to Grievance and Posting Officer positions. Your attendance can make a difference for Unit 2!

We encourage any Unit 2 members who are interested in running for executive positions to put their names forward. While some executive positions are unit specific (i.e. U2 Vice President, U2 Chief Steward, and hopefully Grievance Officer), Unit 2 members should also consider running for all-unit positions, such as Chairperson, Secretary/Research Officer, Treasurer, and Communications Officer. The Trans-Feminist Action Caucus will also be holding elections for two positions on the executive. Interested Unit 2 members should consider running for these positions as well.

Nomination forms, the nomination box and register will be available at the 3903 union office no later than 10am, Monday February 7, and will continue to be available during office hours until 3pm on Friday February 11, 2011.

If you have any questions regarding the elections, running for executive office, or completing nomination forms, please contact the U2WG at: U2.Working.Group@gmail.com

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Jan 31 2011

CUPE Bylaws, Unit 2 Proposals and the February 3 Vote

Category: Events,Meetings,NewsBob Hanke @ 11:48 am

The present moment is critical for Local 3903 and, more-so, for Unit 2.  The terminus of Administration is fast approaching.  Structural choices to be made during the next several weeks will define future conditions of Unit 2 within Local 3903.

The Unit 2 Working Group has been working vigorously and diligently since Summer, 2010, to secure more recognition and autonomy pertaining to our distinctive Unit 2 issues.  In order to ensure that the membership of Unit 2 is properly informed and adequately prepared to mobilize as need be, there can be no further delay circulating this, the first issue of Unit 2 News.

Draft Bylaws

At the bequest of Local 3903 Administrator Lynn McDougall, The Unit 2 Working Group (U2WG) completed a full set of draft bylaws that would reflect some of the changes called for by members at Unit 2 meetings. These draft bylaws were completed and given to the Administrator in September, 2010, several months prior to the work produced by the Bylaw Committee. Unfortunately, the U2WG’s bylaws draft was ignored by the Administrator and not forwarded to the Bylaw Committee.

On January 21st, 2011, 3903 Administrator Lynn McDougall tabled new bylaws prepared by the Bylaw Committee for the Local. The original draft of these bylaws was developed absent any consultation with Unit 2 members or the U2WG.  Although the U2WG submitted a lengthy and detailed commentary on the drafted bylaws on January 9th (these documents can be viewed at:  http://cupe3903unit2.cupe.ca/. ) few of the recommended changes were incorporated into the bylaws tabled on January 21st.  These bylaws will be voted on at an all-units GMM on February 3rd,; the bylaws and amendments approved at that meeting will govern our Local after administration ends on March 18th.

As they currently stand, these new bylaws pose numerous difficulties for Unit 2.  Contrary to every assurance given to the U2WG by the Administrator, the most important Unit 2 issues and concerns – reflecting months of careful prior work by the U2WG – have been relegated to mere amendment suggestions.

Unit 2 issues and concerns should have been addressed and included in the bylaws ratification process from start to finish.  This would have been in keeping with the prior work of the U2WG and the assurances of the Administrator.  But instead?  There has been no consultation.  There has been no negotiation.  The Administrator has effectively shut critical Unit 2 issues and concerns out of the bylaws ratification process.

Unit 2 cannot and will not continue to be shut out in the future.  The U2WG has designed the Unit 2 Proposal in order that Unit 2 issues and concerns be addressed.

Action Item: Please attend the February 3rd GMM when the bylaws ratification vote will take place.  At this critical juncture every U2 member in attendance will make a tangible difference to us all.  There will be no opportunity to vote on these bylaws other than at this critical February 3rd meeting.

The Unit 2 Proposal

Response to the Unit 2  email campaign which called for the Unit 2 Proposal to be mailed out has proven tremendous with 100% of those responding in support of a mail-in vote on the proposal.

At the January 21st GMM, U2WG and other Unit 2 members demanded to know why the Unit 2 Proposal had not yet been mailed out.  Following spirited and only occasionally acrimonious debate, the Administrator once again promised it would be.  So long, that is, as the U2WG does the actual mailing.

An individual member inquired from the floor how, after so long, after so many promises and reassurances, could the Unit 2 membership trust the administrator to hold a Unit 2 vote?  Was the Administrator prepared to offer any surety?  In reply, the Administrator made it quite clear there can be no surety – but reiterated her support for a Unit 2 vote.

The U2WG will do everything in our power to ensure that the Unit 2 membership has the opportunity to vote on the Unit 2 Proposal. If all goes as planned (we’ve got all our fingers, toes and eyes crossed) you will shortly receive your Unit 2 Proposal and ballot in the mail.  The return envelope is already postage paid.  Please: vote! If ever there was an instance where your vote can make a real impact and tangible differencethis is it!

January 31st GMM

IMPORTANT: Please note the change in time and venue for the Monday January 31st GMM:

102 Accolade East, 5:30 PM-8:30 PM

CUPE National President Paul Moist will chair, and the auditor, David Burkes, will be there to present the results and take questions.

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May 27 2010

Students Sow Seeds of Dissent

Category: NewsBob Hanke @ 12:26 pm

Canada’s New Dissenting Academy
by Matthew Brett
(excerpted from The Bullet, May 25, 2010)

As the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences prepares for its annual Congress this May in Montreal, now is the time to create a new dissenting academy. A radical, anti-capitalist reorientation of academia – created for the explicit purpose of addressing urgent issues that stand before us – is necessary.

Theodore Roszak wrote in a collection of essays titled The Dissenting Academy (1967) that the university is rarely “anything better than the handmaiden of official society: the social club of ruling elites, the training school of whatever functionaries the status quo required.”

In the same collection of essays, Marshall Windmiller wrote a remarkable piece on political scientists in the U.S. and their direct involvement in the CIA and the war in Vietnam. Noam Chomsky’s infamous The Responsibility of Intellectuals closed the essay collection.

All authors agreed that the line between universities, the corporate world and government has blurred to irrelevancy. Social scientists were likewise active in planning some of the worst atrocities in recent history, and dissent within the academic community was shunned. The parallels with today are compelling.

Corporatization and the University

Concordia University will be hosting the 2010 Humanities and Social Science Congress this May, so parallels with the 1960s can be drawn with Concordia. However, most universities in Canada share similar characteristics, and this critique should be applied in equal measure to all post-secondary institutions.

Concordia President Judith Woodsworth recently returned from a mission to India with Quebec Premier Jean Charest and a number of business leaders. There can be no doubt that some of the 130 trade delegation members that joined the trade mission are part of Canada’s massive mining and finance sectors that trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and are busy exploiting India’s natural resources while gross human rights violations take place. This is representative of the intertwining of universities and Canadian imperialism.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

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May 13 2010

Mute Says, “Don’t Panic, Organise!”

Category: News,Online PublicationBob Hanke @ 10:22 am

Mute Special on Struggle in Education Today: ‘Don’t Panic, Organise!’

(excerpted from Mute, May 4, 2010).

The cuts, lay-offs and tuition-fee hikes that are besetting higher and further education internationally are naturally a direct response to the drama of the financial crisis and its ricocheting bomb of personal, commercial and national debt. But they also have deeper roots. They should be understood as part of the more gradual process of what George Caffentzis, in his analysis of the international situation, calls the ‘breakdown of the edu-deal’; the inability for capital, and therefore the state, to pay for the costs of producing a well educated workforce or to guarantee that investment in education will result in a more vigorous economy and increased living standards for those with qualifications.

This breakdown, and the dogmatism of free market economics which seeks to alleviate it, has seen the imposition of a business rationale onto what previously had been regarded as the provision of a public service, sometimes even a public good. From the investment of endowment funds on the market, to the conversion of students into (badly ripped off) consumers, to the no-frills fixed-term contracts being doled out to staff, to the speculative purchase of the future IP generated by scientific and technical departments, to the intended exchangeability of all qualifications under the Bologna Process, education has been infested by the value form.

With the ground changing this fast under staff and students’ feet, the ability for collective action to fight the savage rounds of cuts has itself suffered as a result of a generalised precarity and fragmentation. Despite the hostile conditions, we are nevertheless seeing an intermittent but persistent wave of strikes, actions and occupations, both wildcat and union co-ordinated, breaking out around the world. Other initiatives such as cross-institutional teach-ins, blogs, power-mapping exercises, conferences and demonstrations are also creating a steady hum of background pressure and preparation. All of this begs the question, will it be enough to save any residual quality and equality within education and its institutions? With the state of struggle in education our principal question, Mute has created a mini-dossier of reports, questionnaires and analyses on the education crisis as it unfolds in the UK and beyond.

Table of Contents

University Struggles at the End of the Edu-Deal by George Caffentzis
‘Dignity at Work and Study’, or: Oxymoron 101 Mute talks to a Unison Rep and employee at a London University institution
Painting the Glass House Black Evan Calder Williams on struggles at the University of California
Struggle as a Second Language Two of the organisers of last year’s Tower Hamlets College strike assess the successes and failures of the campaign
Grim Down South: Managing (in) London South Bank University by Raoul Paled
We Don’t Need No Education? The Case of the London Met Mute speaks to an anonymous member of staff about responses to the recent blood-letting

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Mar 03 2010

March 4th Strike and Day of Action in California

Category: NewsBob Hanke @ 11:04 am

From: The California Coordinating Committee
Date: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 9:42 PM
Subject:  March 4th Strike and Day of Action
To:  CUPE 3903 and YUFA
Via: Bob Hanke

March 4th is before us! This Thursday thousands of students, teachers, staff, parents and workers from all over California, the nation and the world will come together in a show of solidarity that will embody the will and strength of a people ready to take a stand against the attacks on public education and demand their right to a fully-funded, quality education and an end to the layoffs and re-segregation in public education and social services.

Throughout the state of California and beyond tens of thousands of people are organizing for the Strike and Day of Action on March 4th indefense of public education. To get involved and participate in the struggle please join us in the events planned for March 4th — below is an updated list of events that will be happening on March 4th in California. We welcome all to participate in this historic day!

Form San Diego to Eureka, from California to New York, from the Mexico to Brazil, from England to Germany, from Portugal to Greece, from Russia to Japan the March 4th Strike and Day of Action will mark the moment when students, teachers, staff, parents and workers began turning the tide against the attacks on our right to education. March 4th is just the beginning of this monumental movement.

We would like to thank our brothers and sisters from New York, Mexico, Brazil, England, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Russia, and Japan for their words and actions of solidarity.

The updated version of the March 4th list of events and more information on March 4th Strike and Day of Action can be found on our website.  If you have any questions about March 4th, please email march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com.

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