Anti-Tuition Hikes Demonstration

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Dear members of AMUSE,

The following are updates for this week:

  1. Bargaining Updates
  2. Anti-Tuition Hikes Demonstration (Free Lunch for AMUSE members!)
  3. Board of Representatives Meeting (November 14, 5:00 PM)
  4. First time hearing about AMUSE? Contact us!

Bargaining Updates

We’ve managed to arrive at an agreement in principle on the issues of Probationary Period, Job Posting and Priority Rehiring. The latter point is one of our main economic demands. The agreement reached is that AMUSE members who have passed their probationary period will have their length of service recognized for priority rehiring. This along with the closed shop system are two of our main economic demands, as decided by the membership, that we’ve managed to acquire during negotiations. The other four priority demands are paid sick leave, paid overtime, fair wage increase, and written contracts. The parties will now discuss the issues of leaves (social leaves, sick leaves, etc) during the next round of bargaining. We will begin discussing economic demands (wages, benefits, vacation, etc) at the end of November.

We have thus drafted and agreed to articles pertaining to

1) the scope and nature of the bargaining unit (who and what is a casual worker?)

2) union recognition, information sharing, union dues, the relationship between McGill and AMUSE

3) anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies

4) definitions of terms

5) the rights of management

6) the rights of union, such as office space, “liberation” from work of union members in order to do union work

7) grievance resolution procedures,setting up a Labour Relations Committee to facilitate

8) communication between Management and the Union, and arbitration

9) employee files

10) probationary period

11) job postings (including priority rehiring)

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

In Solidarity,

Fariduddin Attar Rifai
Dave Howden
Sheehan Moore

Anti-Tuition Hikes Demonstration (Free Lunch for AMUSE members!)

Around 60% of AMUSE membership are McGill students, many of whom work part time in order to fund their studies. The Quebec government is planning to increase tuition to almost double the current rate for Quebec residents in the next five years, while increasing by the same dollar amount (or more) for out-of-province and international students, effectively decreasing accessibility to higher education and increasing student debt https://www.tuitiontruth.ca/. Around 140,000 students from across Quebec will go on a one-day strike on November 10, during which a demonstration involving student unions in Quebec will take place. Underfunding of universities is due to the lack of political will to invest more money in public education; this demonstration seeks to show that the politics must change. A number of labour groups will participate in the demonstration, including MUNACA, AGSEM (TAs, invigilators, and course lecturers), AMURE (research assistants and associates), and AMUSE.

Just in: the Faculty of Arts students last night have voted in their GA for a one-day strike on Thursday. There will be picket lines. Join them!

The McGill contingent will gather at 12:30 PM at the Y-intersection.

The labour unions have pitched in to provide lunch for the McGill workers and students who want to participate in the demonstration. Our reps will congregate at the Y-intersection. Look out for our signs!

So to reiterate:

When? Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Where? Y-Intersection, McGill (north of Roddick Gates, south of the Arts Building)

Board of Representatives Meeting

We invite all members of AMUSE to attend the Board of Representatives Meeting at 5pm on Monday, November 14th, held at the AMUSE office (3483 Peel Street). The BoR is the second highest governing body of AMUSE. Its task is to oversee the work of the executive council, and it’s responsible for the constitutional and legal matters of the Union. Although the BoR consists of members of the Executive and Chief Stewards, we would like to extend an open invitation to all members during this very important period, as we are currently negotiating our first Collective Agreement.

Agenda

  1. Call to order, introduction/welcoming of new stewards, and adoption of agenda
  2. Announcements
  3. Approval of last meeting’s minutes
  4. Reports of the executive
  5. Financial report
  6. Bargaining report
  7. Proposal to Amend Bylaws: one-year Executive mandate instead of two-year-Executive mandate
  8. MUNACA Strike Updates
  9. Other business
  10. Setting a date for next meeting
  11. Adjournment

And as always, a pizza dinner.

See you all in a few weeks!

First Time Hearing from AMUSE? Contact us!

Is this the first time you’ve received a newsletter from AMUSE? We’re still working on our new website, but you can visit our temporary blog

Please contact us for further information.We are happy to answer any questions and to hear about any concerns that you may have!

Association of McGill University Support Employees - Public Service Alliance of Canada
3483 Peel Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1W7
tel: 514-398-8896 , fax: 514-398-6892, cell: 514-589-6450

For general questions and comments: [email protected]
For questions about your rights or to file a grievance: [email protected]

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