Grad Research Assistants Unionisation Vote

[Gaps]

Hi grads,

One last follow-up on the union vote. Our last email on opting-in to the union vote was a touch unclear about who should email the Labour Board. The current unionization drive is for UBC GRA's. So if you are not a UBC grad student, then you are probably not eligible. As our first email touched on, exactly who is eligible is still up for debate. There's no harm in emailing the Labour Board and asking to vote as they will decide after the fact who is eligible. So if you are unsure, feel free ask for a voting link. But if you are not a UBC student, our understanding is that it is fairly unlikely you will be included in this initial union drive.

Of course, whether UBC GRAs form a union will have a big impact on us at TRIUMF. But GAPS hopes to asses that landscape after the vote has been settled.

Apologies for all the spam, all this legal nuance is important but painful.
Cheers,
Your GAPS
________________________________
From: Gaps <gaps at triumf.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, May 9, 2023 15:02
To: Gaps <gaps at triumf.ca>
Subject: Re: Grad Research Assistants Unionisation Vote

Hi GAPS,

Looks like someone forgot to include us in the list of GRAs so most of us haven't recieved ballots yet -- sorry about that!

The labour board folks have been in touch. If you're a Graduate Research Assistant and would like to vote but didn't get an email yet, you need to email returning.officer at lrb.bc.ca<mailto:returning.officer at lrb.bc.ca> with your first and, last name and the email address you would like the ballot email sent to.

Feel free to forward this email, filling in this template below.

Cheers,
Your GAPS


Hi there,

I'm a Graduate Research Assistant at UBC (more specifically TRIUMF, which is on UBC campus and has an integrated payroll system with UBC). I believe I'm missing a ballot for the UBC GRA unionization vote which closes tomorrow at noon. Could you help me out?

Best regards,
FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME, EMAIL_ADDRESS



________________________________
From: Gaps <gaps at triumf.ca>
Sent: Monday, May 8, 2023 16:31
To: Gaps <gaps at triumf.ca>
Subject: Grad Research Assistants Unionisation Vote

Hey grads,

TL;DR - check all your email inboxes for a union vote email and vote, even if you aren't a UBC student!

Hopefully you've heard about the fact that the local CUPE chapter that represents UBC TAs (CUPE 2278) filed for all Graduate Research Assistants at UBC to join the union so that CUPE can bargain for actually livable wages for the work we do for the university. For complicated reasons that I won't bore you with, the Labor Board was unable to determine threshold (ie unable to count the total number of GRAs to see if we had 55% of cards signed), so the Labor Board is administering a vote as to whether UBC GRAs want to join CUPE 2278. That vote started today and runs to noon Wednesday May 10th.

TRIUMF has a complicated relationship here because UBC administers our payroll, which is one of the main ways the Labor Board determines if you are an employee and thus eligible. CUPE believes that because we are paid by UBC, all grads paid by TRIUMF are eligible. TRIUMF's legal opinion is more sensible, and claims that only UBC students at TRIUMF are eligible. To make it even more complicated though, eligibility for the vote is determined by your title in UBC workday, which for many TRIUMF grads is just "TRIUMF Employee", but for some may be "Graduate Research Assistant", depending on how your position was set up.

Regardless of who is ultimately determined eligible, if you received an email CUPE needs you to vote! This vote is the last step towards unionisation, and if we vote yes, we'll actually have some bargaining power to demand above-poverty stipends. So, in conclusion, even if you think you're not eligible, please check all your inboxes + spam for an email titled:
Union Variance of Certification Application CUPE Local 2278 and University of British Columbia (LRB Case No. 2023-000544E)
and vote yes!

Cheers,
Your GAPS
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