UWO GTA Union. Report of the Executive Officers, GTA Union (PSAC Local 610) Submitted to the Annual General Meeting, 26 April 2006

Transcription

1 Report of the President Selvakumar Kandasamy Report of the Executive Officers, GTA Union (PSAC Local 610) Submitted to the Annual General Meeting, 26 April 2006 I thank you for taking your time out from your graduate activities and commitments. I take this opportunity to briefly outline few of the activities that have undertaken in the past few months and those that will be taking place in the near future. The information about the union is generally sought from the website; a more comprehensive website was created in November 2005 for general membership. Moreover, the monthly newsletter was also sent out to the members with updates on the union activities along with a contest question for a prize of $21 in people peso to increase the readership. We received several grievances this year some of them included: harassment, lump sum/one time payment issues, issues raised from contract letter, unspecified TA duties and overtime crisis. These time sensitive issues were brought to management s attention at the Labour/Management meetings and were resolved successfully. Management has been very cooperative and both groups maintain a congenial atmosphere. We are going into negotiations this year and the negotiation committee met several times to discuss and analyze the issues and strategies to rectify them. The committee ran a survey questionnaire in February 2006 and received an overwhelming response. Currently, the committee is working on bringing all the issues raised from the survey and grievances to the negotiating table. In Mid May the negotiating team will be undergoing training sessions prior to the negotiation. The issues of the international TAs were dealt by forming the international TA committee and this committee met several times since December The committee has done its study and is in the process of preparing the report. The recommendations from this committee will be submitted to the negotiating committee. GTA Union is optimistic and positive in its approach to get fair and equitable collective agreement. Members will be kept updated on negotiation and bargaining! Union was also contacted frequently regarding representation at their employment by the Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) and the GTAs who also serve as a GRA; since our collective agreement (CA) only protects a portion of job (i.e. as a GTA) and the other part (i.e. GRA) is vulnerable to exploitation. These graduate students realized that in order to have a beneficial CA, GRAs should also be organised under GTA Union - PSAC 610 and should receive the same benefits as GTAs. This lead to the organising of GRAs at UWO and now the drive is underway with the support of PSAC, SOGS, Faculty Association, and Staff Association. More information on RA organising campaign is available online at: Also, please bring forth the issues that we might have overlooked or failed to address and I encourage you to take part in GTA union activities. Should you have any questions or concerns please don t hesitate to contact me at (skandasa@uwo.ca). Respectfully submitted, Selvakumar Kandasamy, President, UWO-GTA Union.

2 Report of the Secretary Tara Kachroo The GTA Union has undergone considerable changes in the past year, evolving into a more administratively complex organization. I put considerable effort into the move to our new and much larger office in Somerville house in January this year and was involved in much organization. With the addition of part time administrative staff it was and still is necessary to develop many new policies and strategies in order to make efficient use of this resource. This is an ongoing process and will continue into the coming years. The positions of the Executive officers of the GTA Union are up for election every year during the Annual General Meeting. This means that there is always the potential for a complete turn-over of the entire Executive Committee as there was last year. With the problems that new a new Executive Committee can face in mind I have proposed what I call the GTA Union Calendar Project. Drawing on the considerable experience working with the executive committee this past year, this project would provide the Union with a digital project-calendar, offering a revisable outline of Union activities day to day and month by month both for the Union as a whole, for individual committees, and for each elected officer. The initial stage of this project would outline those activities required by the bylaws, such as getting the budget audited, sending out these reports to the stewards, or holding departmental meetings. Further stages of the project would outline activates related to the collective agreement, to providing the information to the membership, or to bargaining strategies offering links to letters and posters drafted by past executives as a resource to current executives. While based on the bylaws, the calendar would not establish Union activities, but rather would provide a flexible guideline. Once the initial calendar was finished the coming executive committees could revise it based on their experiences, or changes to the Bylaws and Collective Agreement. This project will require considerable effort and resources, currently it has been proposed as a summer project. I feel that this digital calendar would be an invaluable resource to the Union. Please feel free to comment on this proposal, and to make suggestions or comments about it. In Solidarity, Tara Kachroo, Executive Secretary, UWO-GTA Union.

3 Report of the Treasurer Prasanna Mohan Please find the proposed general budget and the proposed budget for the Extended Health Plan below. Proposed General Budget: Notes Receipts: Dues 68,637 **refer to Appendix 1 UWO Grant 38,856 *based on contract Interest 3,950 **refer to Appendix 2 TANB Funds 20,000 *based on contract Other Revenue 0 Health Plan Funds 18,780 15% Administrative Charges Total Receipts 150,223 Expenses: Stipends 60,983 **refer to Appendix 3 GSTA 3,700 *based on previous years Printing/Copying 1,000 *based on previous years TA Needs & Bursaries Fund 25,000 *based on contract + $5000 Accountant Fees 1,610 *based on previous years *based on previous years+ TA Conferences/Conventions 4,000 Conference Special Events 1,500 *based on previous years Telephone 1,600 *based on previous years Staff Salary 16,224 $52 weeks, 5 days/week, 4 hr/day at $15/hr + 4% vacation pay Bargaining Expenses 6,000 *based on previous years Office Supplies 1,000 *based on previous years Sponsorships 1,500 *based on previous years Committee Honoraria 2,000 *based on previous years Staff Honoraria 2,000 * for web and IT admin Education/Training 1,000 *based on previous years Bank Charges 250 *based on previous years Affiliations 1,800 *based on previous years Office Cleaning 400 *arbitrary estimate Equipment 4,000 *arbitrary estimate Miscellaneous Expenses 500 *based on previous years TA Scholarships 6,000 New Scholarships $500 each New budget item, rules will be created in may Other TA Bursaries 6,000 Total Expenses 146,067

4 Income - Expenses 2,156 Reserves, beginning of year 145,328 **refer to Appendix 4 Reserves, end of period 147,484 Proposed Health Plan Budget: Receipts: Health Plan Receipts 125,205 Interest Income 6,750 Total Receipts 131,955 Disbursements: Health Plan Disbursements 104,420 Stipends 18,780 Professional Fees 1,605 Interest and bank charges 400 Total Disbursements 125,205 Receipts- Disbursements 6,750 General Reserve 177,525 Reserves, end of period 184, Committee work. We Need Volunteers for the Finance, the TANB committee and the Ad-hoc bursaries and scholarships committee. Work Load: Finance committee: 1-2 hours in a year TANB committee: 2-3 hours per term Ad-hoc scholarships and bursaries committee for creating new bursaries and scholarships. Your energy and time would be greatly appreciated. Respectfully, Prasanna Mohan, Treasurer, UWO-GTA Union.

5 Report of the Community Alliance Chair Elana Geller In February I sat on PSAC National Triennial pre-convention Constitutional Committee. This was very informative and useful. I was able to make contacts with other university locals and other directly chartered locals. It is important to note that there will probably be a dues increase after the convention in May. This would not start until the following year and would be slight. If this is a concern for anyone please talk to the president or myself as we will both be attending the week long convention next week (April 30 th - May 5 th ). If you would like more information on the resolutions that were submitted to the convention (including resolutions that would have a direct impact on this local and the university) please look at the convention website at As the Directly Chartered Locals (DCL) Representative on the PSAC Ontario Regional Council I bring concerns to the regional council meetings regarding DCLs. These take place approximately every four months. If you have any concerns regarding the PSAC please let me know and I can bring these up there. I also sit on the Equity Committee at the council. I can use this venue to bring up specific problems that arise for members with disabilities, racially visible members, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer members, aboriginal members as well as female members. If you are interested in some of the projects that take place, either at the council or the committee, please contact me for more information. Hopefully the food bank will be up and running before the end of the summer. In the mean time if you need food please contact USC or me. If you are worried about contacting an undergrad I can be a gobetween and get the food for you. You can contact me at egeller@uwo.ca or gtaunion@uwo.ca. Shannon Dea (Community Alliance Committee member) and myself will be getting some of the food requested from the mail out this week. These foods will be available at the USC food bank. Please encourage females in your department to look into RAD training. This is a very good educational and defensive training program. The cost is $25 and the GTA union will reimburse up to twenty members who partake. The member can register at the Campus Police and bring her receipt to the union office for reimbursement. Seeing as how there have been recent events on campus of a violent nature this is a perfect time to get defensive training. If you know any graduate females who are interested in women s issues please recommend that she join Western s Caucus on Women s Issues. The caucus is open to all female staff, faculty and graduate students. The graduate cost of membership is $5 a year ( If you have any questions, or comments, please get in touch with me. In solidarity, Elana Geller, Community Alliance Chair, UWO-GTA Union.

6 Report of the Information Committee Chair Ruchi Bhalla On March 8 th, an opening ceremony for our new office took place and Presidents, Dr. Davenport and Nycole Turmel (Public Service Alliance of Canada) were also part of this ceremony. Overall, this event was very successful and we were able to strengthen the ties between the leaders of Western and PSAC for the purpose of negotiations. Since we are undergoing negotiations this year, the survey was launched to understand the economic, work and study situations of the current TAs. At the ceremony, a lucky draw was held to announce the winner of an ipod from each division (Biosciences, Arts, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences). Congratulations to Julie Walsh, Anil Jhawar, Graeme Thomas and Jennifer Martin for becoming the lucky winner and thank you for your participation in this survey. A copy of April newsletter is now available on our Please don t forget to answer this month s competition question for your chance to win $21 in people s pesos that can be honored at the Grad Club. This month s question is: Based on the number of hours worked, how much is the coverage for the Extended Health Plan. You can your answers at gtaunion@uwo.ca by May 17 th. Also, GTA Union has decided to provide subsidy for child care costs to $10/hr for the duration of attending the meetings such as stewards and Annual General Meeting plus half hour of traveling time. Just a reminder, as a GTA Union member, you are entitled to apply for -TA needs and Bursary (three times a year) -Extended health plan, which covers for: - Co-insurance - Eye exam/glasses/contact lenses - Prescribed drugs/therapies Respectfully, Ruchi Bhalla Information Committee Chair, UWO-GTA Union.