Join us for the May Day Rally

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Are you free this upcoming Sunday (May 1st)? If so, then come join thousands of workers, union members and activists in Downtown Toronto for the 2022 May Day Rally!

What is May Day?

May 1, or May Day, is the traditional workers’ holiday, a day that working people celebrate the gains they have won over the years and commit to fighting for a better future for everyone. 

It’s time for a $20 minimum wage, decent work, affordable housing, paid sick days, well-funded public services, livable income support for all, climate justice, status for all, and an end to racism and oppression. Join us!

Come meet your executive and other union leaders and activists from across Toronto!

When and Where?

The event is Sunday, May 1st and will take place from 11 AM to 4 PM. 

  • We are first meeting up with other unions and organizations at Grange Park (Beverley & McCaul) at around 11:00 AM.
  • We will then be walking to Nathan Philips Square for a rally at 12 PM.
  • We will then march over to Queen’s Park (South Lawn)  for the main rally, which is taking place from 2 PM to 4 PM. 

Feel free to join anytime!

Majority Petition and Bargaining Update

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We are excited to share that earlier this month, a group of CUPE 3261 FTPT Unit leaders and other campus allies delivered to the University of Toronto a petition demanding an end to the contracting out of cleaning services to for-profit companies. The petition was signed by a total of 440 FTPT members from all three campuses! This is a historic level of involvement for our Local and sends a strong message to the University. 

Click here to see more pictures of the petition, as well as a video of it being delivered to Simcoe Hall.

We hope that every FTPT member had an opportunity to sign this petition. If you or your coworkers did not, please let us know by responding to this email with details of your work location so that we can make sure you don’t miss any future actions or communications going forward.

In other news, your Negotiating Committee also recently had a second meeting with the University. See Bargaining Bulletin #2 below for an important update on our bargaining timeline, and for more details about our majority petition.

If you missed our first Bargaining Bulletin which circulated in March, you can also find it by clicking here.

 

Download (PDF, 837KB)

 

UPP Survey

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Hello FTPT and 89 Chestnut Unit members,

The University Pension Plan (UPP) is currently holding a survey for it’s members to weigh in on how they think the fund’s money should be invested.

The survey is completely anonymous and only takes 6 minutes to complete — we encourage everyone who contributes to the pension plan to use this opportunity to voice their priorities and perspectives on this topic of responsible investment.

You can click here to launch the survey.

General Membership Meeting: February 12, 2022

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Our next General Membership Meeting (GMM) will take place virtually on Saturday, February 12th from 10AM to 12PM. The meeting will be held via Zoom and you can join by clicking here. More details on joining are below.

Topics will include an update on bargaining and the impact of Bill 124, as well as the Treasurer’s report, the approval of expenditures, and much more! You can find the complete agenda at the bottom of this email.

We would like to encourage any and all members who can, to attend this GMM in order to participate in and stay up to date on the issues that affect you and your coworkers.

GMM Agenda:

1. Roll call of officers
2. Reading of the Equality Statement
3. Reading and approval of minutes of previous meeting
4. Matters Arising
5. Treasurer’s report and approving expenditures
6. Executive Board Report (Bargaining and Bill 124)
7. Unfinished Business
8. New Business
9. Adjournment

How to join the meeting from a computer or smartphone:
With Zoom installed on your computer or smartphone you can click this link to join the meeting on Saturday:

Alternatively, you can also join from Zoom using the Meeting ID and Passcode:

  • Meeting ID: 816 8498 4170
  • Passcode: CUPE326

How to join the meeting from a landline or phone without using Zoom:

  • Dial 647 558 0588

Enter the following information when prompted:

  • Meeting ID: 816 8498 4170
  • User ID: (skip this by pressing #)
  • Passcode: 44985967

Article: Essential service workers fight privatization and COVID-19 on leading university campuses

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Universities have a long history of providing quality jobs to workers, with higher wages, benefits and pension plans, and a decent work-life balance.

“U of T has been cutting good caretaking jobs and contracting out their work to for-profit cleaning companies which pay roughly 30 per cent less in wages and benefits. They claim that they are performing COVID-related cleaning work in over 20 buildings now, but in reality, they are replacing jobs that are being cut indefinitely for penny-pinching savings. What is even worse, private industry is exploiting workers – and particularly racialized workers, who are over-represented in lower-paid and precarious positions. It’s unacceptable that our university supports that, while it says it cares about equity and social justice.”

Allan James, President CUPE 3261

https://cupe.ca/essential-service-workers-fight-privatization-and-covid-19-leading-university-campuses 

Bargaining Survey for full-time and part-time members

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To all full-time and part-time members,  

You and your co-workers do important work to create a safe, healthy and accessible campus for the U of T community. Our working conditions are students’ learning conditions. During the pandemic, CUPE 3261 members have continued to serve the campus community through many challenges. Many of our co-workers were laid off, and our work was contracted out by the university. Though we managed to push for strong health and safety on campus, and secure some benefits for our laid off comrades, the threat of contracting out still affects our local’s bargaining power and your future at U of T.
 
This next round of negotiations is an opportunity to fight for important improvements for our future, and together, we can tackle the threat of contracting out.
 
Your Collective Agreement expired on June 30, 2021, but its terms are still in effect until we reach a new agreement with the university. Your Union Negotiating Committee is preparing to negotiate and wants your feedback through this short survey. All personal identifying information will be kept secure and will not be shared with the employer.
 
It is very important that you and your co-workers fill out this survey.

Please spread the word and share the link: https://survey-sondage.cupe.ca/index.php/551586?lang=en
 
If you have any questions about the survey, or if you would like a copy of the survey in a language other than English, please contact Allan James at president@cupe3261.ca

We are also looking for members to join the Bargaining Support Team. The bargaining support team’s task is to help improve engagement with CUPE members and strengthen our bargaining campaign. If you are interested, simply fill out the form here. 
 
In solidarity,
 
Your negotiations committee:
Allan James
Christopher Tavares
Edwin Viteri
Nancy Tomas
Stef Kennedy
Wilson Franco