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Trade unionists around the world are putting pressure on the Turkish government to free jailed CUPE 4600 member Cihan Erdal. Add your voice by signing onto this LabourStart action.

You can read more here.

Thursday May 27, 4-5 pm, we have our first of several monthly Special General Meetings. These will be very important to connect with you as we progress in bargaining. We also need to accomplish some things that need to be decided by the general membership. These meetings should be shorter than the bi-annual general meetings and will only include specified items.

The main goal of this first one will be to establish a mobilization team. We also expect to have a motion to approve audits.

We also have a very special guest at this first meeting – Brenda Austin-Smith, the president of CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers). She will give a short address to help us put our own mobilization and bargaining efforts in a national context and will be happy to answer your questions.

To RSVP for the meeting, contact our Membership Officer, Kim Robinson, by May 26. A link will be sent to those who have RSVP’d prior to the meeting. 

If you have been waiting for momentum to get involved in helping with our member engagement and bargaining support, now is the time! Even if you only have time to participate in these meetings, your support will be very much appreciated.

See you next week!

The Nova Scotia Federation of Labour is asking for help pressuring legislators to provide paid sick days for all:

“We are asking that you send a message to our elected leaders, if you haven’t already, about paid sick days. It’s easy to do, and by doing so you can join hundreds of others here in Nova Scotia who have already signed on.”

You can take action here: http://nslabour.ca/2021/02/paidsickdaysnovascotia/

April 27 is the National Day of Action for Long-Term Care Standards in Canada. It is a day to bring awareness to LTC issues, and to pressure federal and provincial governments to set real standards for long-term care.

Please consider posting with the hashtags #LTCstandardsNow and #10plus3.

You can also download the attached profile picture and poster to take a selfie with, explaining why you support LTC Standards Now.

[gview file=”http://cupe3912.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/146/2021/04/Poster-for-selfie.pdf”]

Thanks to all who attended our AGM on Friday April 16.

Congratulations to our new and returning executive members and officers:

• Allan Thomson — VP, Dalhousie Truro Campus
• Fallen Matthews — VP, Dalhousie Teaching Assistants, Studley Campus
• Larissa Atkison — VP, MSVU
• Rory Leitch — VP, TLC at SMU
• Amal Nabbout — Secretary-Treasurer
• Anas Tahir — Communications Officer
• Kim Robinson — Trustee
• Julie Quinn — Trustee

844 Administrative & Technical Support workers at Dalhousie University and the Agricultural campus in Truro have been trying to bargain a fair contract with their employer for the past seven months.

They may be forced to go out on strike because their employer is refusing to remove a proposal that would strip them of the new Federal Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) enhancement, which is a benefit all working Canadians who contribute to the plan receive.

Follow this link to send a message of support!

Our annual general meeting will be on Friday, April 16, at 2 pm. It will be held virtually.

To RSVP for the meeting, contact our Membership Officer, Kim Robinson (kimrobinson1945@icloud.com), by April 14. A link will be sent to those who have RSVP’d prior to the meeting. 

The meeting will include a bargaining update and the elections for:

• Vice President, Part-time Instructors Dalhousie, Truro Campus
• Vice President, Teaching Assistants, Dalhousie, Studley Campus 
• Secretary-Treasurer
• Vice President, Instructors at TLC, SMU 
• Vice President, Part-time Instructors at MSVU
• Communications Officer 
• Trustee

If you are interested in standing for election for any of these positions please contact us. To be nominated, you must attend the meeting or submit your nomination beforehand to president.cupe3912@gmail.com 

Nominations of members of marginalized groups are encouraged. 

All members are welcome.

• The Alex “Sugarcamp” MacDonald Memorial Bursary:  Awarded to a student attending university, trade school or community college.
• The Glenda Cooper Memorial Bursary: Awarded to a student attending university, trade school or community college.
• The J.K. Bell Memorial Bursary:  This bursary is only open to students who are attending community college or trade school.
• The Joe Gannon Memorial Bursary:  Awarded to a student attending university.
• The Leo F. McKay Memorial Bursary:  Awarded to a student attending university or community college or trade school.

Today marks International Women’s Day. Celebrated each year on March 8, IWD is a day to celebrate and remember women’s achievements. While the UN recognized IWD as March 8 in 1975, it has been celebrated for more than a century, and its origins overlap with trade unions and the struggle for social justice and economic equality.

This year’s IWD theme is ‘Choose to Challenge’ and it urges us to recognize the role women have played in fighting inequality, but also to confront the ongoing reality of inequality and gender discrimination in Canada and around the world.

This theme is particularly relevant for our union, which is made up of part-time, precarious academic workers. Women are overrepresented in these positions, and there remains a gendered pay gap in full-time academic work. These gendered inequalities have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our fall newsletter includes a piece by Shiva Nourpanah and Chantelle Falconer, both members, that considers the gendered impacts of the pandemic on post-docs and emerging graduates.

CUPE Nova Scotia and CUPE National both have recommendations for actions to take to celebrate IWD and to choose to challenge gender inequality. CUPE NS’s Women’s Committee will be sharing IWD stories about choosing to challenge on their Facebook page. The Canadian Labour Congress also has a page on gender equality you can visit.

CUPE 3912 stands alongside all those who choose to challenge sexism, discrimination and inequality in the workplace and beyond.

The CUPE NS website has information for several awards, scholarships, and bursaries for CUPE affiliated members. The deadline to apply is April 15.

The awards are:

• Two $1,000 CUPE Higgins Insurance Scholarships for members or children of members attending university in 2020-2021;
• Two Occupational Health and Safety Awards to an individual and a committee for significant contributions to health and safety;
• $1,000 Rocky Jones Bursary for an African or Indigenous Nova Scotian student;
• Steward of the Year Award;
• Barb Kowlaski Literacy Award for individuals or locals that promote literacy within their union, workplace and or community. There are two awards available annually: one for an individual member and one for a Local Union.