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Hey grads,</div>
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TL;DR - check all your email inboxes for a union vote email and vote, even if you aren't a UBC student!</div>
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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
<b>the Labor Board is administering a vote</b> as to whether UBC GRAs want to join CUPE 2278. That vote started today and runs to noon Wednesday May 10th.</div>
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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,
<b>eligibility for the vote is determined by your title in UBC workday</b>, 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.</div>
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Regardless of who is ultimately determined eligible, if you received an email <b>
CUPE needs you to vote!</b> 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,
<b>even if you think you're not eligible, please check all your inboxes + spam for an email titled:</b></div>
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Union Variance of Certification Application CUPE Local 2278 and University of British Columbia (LRB Case No. 2023-000544E)<br>
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<div style="" class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and vote yes!</span><br>
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<div style="" class="elementToProof"><font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Cheers,</font></div>
<div style="" class="elementToProof"><font face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Your GAPS</font></div>
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