Posted on Feb. 7: Teaching assistants collective agreement ratified

McMaster's teaching assistants and the University have ratified a new collective agreement.

The Board of Governors' executive committee ratified the terms of a renewal collective agreement for the teaching assistants (TAs) earlier today. This follows the vote held by Canadian Union of
Public Employees Local 3906 Unit 1 (CUPE) during the last two days that endorsed the new agreement by an 85 per cent margin.

“Teaching assistants play an important role both as employees and students at McMaster,” said President Peter George.

“They help us provide a quality educational experience. As a university, we have been working hard to develop a constructive negotiation process as part of our efforts to continually improve the working environment of McMaster employees. Throughout these negotiations both teams were focused on reaching an agreement that met the needs of everyone concerned.”

The new 28-month collective agreement provides for wage increases to the graduate student rate of 2.5 per cent retroactive to Sept. 1, 2002, a further 2.5 per cent effective Sept. 1, 2003 and a final increase of 1 per cent on Sept. 1, 2004. The last increase covers the final four months of the agreement that runs to Dec. 31, 2004. These increases will bring the graduate rate, now at $31.67 per hour, to $33.60 by the end of the contract.

The parties have also agreed to increase the undergraduate rate so that it reaches 50 per cent of the graduate rate by the end of the agreement. This move will bring it from its current level of $12.50 to $16.80 on Sept. 1, 2004. Other adjustments include equating the fifth and subsequent years doctoral rate to the graduate rate by next September, and increasing the rate for all others covered by the agreement such that it is level with the undergraduate rate by Sept. 1, 2004. There were also increases to the dental benefit and to the benefit fund that is administered by the union.

The new collective agreement incorporates a wide range of other changes and improvements to its non-monetary provisions. Significant amongst these is a new process and form for use in planning the work assignment of each teaching assistant. This process has been designed to ensure that a TA's workload can reasonably be accomplished within the time allotted for the assignment.

While tuition rates and graduate student financial support are not matters covered by the collective agreement, the University has advised CUPE, through letters from the dean of Graduate Studies, that it will not be seeking an increase to most graduate student fees for the 2003-04 academic year and that the University will earmark funding support for fifth year doctoral students through the remaining term of the collective agreement.

The University and CUPE Local 3906 Unit 1 negotiated throughout the fall for a collective agreement to replace the one that expired Aug.31, 2002. A tentative agreement was reached on Jan. 30 with the assistance of a conciliation officer appointed by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.