Bargaining Newsletter #3 :
Concordia works because WE do. 

CREW’s bargaining team has now had six negotiation sessions with the University, and has made some solid progress on strengthening our Collective Agreement (CA). So far we have:

• Come to an agreement regarding how members submit payment information (Article 21) (Negotiations on this topic are finalized)

• Made progress on clarifying and improving the Intellectual Property rights of TAs and RAs (Article 7) (Negotiations on this topic are ongoing)

• Begun redefining the Purpose (Article 1) of the CA to foreground our position as workers essential to the functioning of Concordia, as well as its core Definitions (Article 2) to make the CA as clear, readable, and accessible as possible (Ongoing)

• Made some improvements to the quality of member contact information we get from University and various related administrative processes (Articles 8 and 9)(Ongoing)

We are happy to report that we are quite close to agreements on Articles 1, 7, and the majority of 2 (definitions will be finalized last at the end of the bargaining process for consistency). Negotiations regarding articles 8 and 9 however, have proven more complicated. We've encountered a handful of sticking points on some larger items, notably: our access to member contract and workload information, so we can better understand the conditions of our workplace; improvements to our process for filling union membership forms; differing views between the Union and management on our use of university spaces for our activities; and our right to represent the union at grad student orientations and department meetings. Nonetheless, we still feel we have made some good progress overall and we will continue to discuss these issues at later dates.

Throughout this process the Bargaining Committee has relied on considerable support from dozens of rank-and-file members who have observed our open bargaining, helped with note-taking, run our hybrid set-up, and shared their views on the sessions.

Session #6: May 29th, 2024

From left to right: Colin (CREW Bargaining Officer), Paisley (RA English), Saskia (RA Communications), Ria (Bargaining Committee Member), Sneha (RA Film Studies), Fabrizio (CREW Mobilization Officer), Abi (Bargaining Committee Member), Sebastien (FNEEQ-CSN Advisor), Althea (RA History), Jason (Bargaining Committee Member)

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Our next session is Thursday, June 13th from 1:30pm-5:00pm, where we will begin discussions on the topic of TA and RA Health and Safety in the workplace. Currently, our CA only has five brief sentences on the subject, and these say little more than indicating the existence of relevant provincial laws. TAs and RAs face many different types of unsafe working conditions, both physically and psychologically; as such, we are ready to do whatever is necessary to fight for our right to safe work. Our goals here are to prevent unsafe conditions through proper paid training and the implementation of stronger safety standards, including appropriate mechanisms in place to report potential risks and refuse unsafe work. 

If you have experienced unsafe work or would like to report potential risks you see in your workplace to the union, please fill out this form, or reach out to us at bargaining@crew-csn.com.

Sign up to attend negotiation sessions using the links below! 

• Session #8: Wednesday, June 19, 9:30 - 12:00

In solidarity, 

The Bargaining Action Team