Unit 1 September News
Teaching Assistants: Know your DDAH Rights!
The Fall 2024 term is officially under way, and many Unit 1 members have just begun new Teaching Assistant contracts. Over several rounds of collective bargaining, you and your coworkers have won critical protections against TA overwork, such as the implementation of the Description of Duties and Allocation of Hours (DDAH) form. The DDAH breaks down the duties you’ll be expected to perform in a course (e.g. grading, meetings, training, etc.) and how many hours are allotted to each duty.
Despite tools like the DDAH form and your Collective Agreement, the employer doesn’t always follow the rules — and they rely on you not knowing your rights so they can continue to violate them. That’s why it’s essential to know your rights, and to know how to access the support of your Local when your rights are violated.
If you have not received or have concerns about your DDAH, contact your departmental steward(s). If you don’t know who they are, reach out to the Unit 1 Lead steward, your First Vice President (Unit 1), or the grievance inquiry line.
Here’s what you need to know about your DDAH:
If your TA contract has already started and you haven’t yet received a DDAH form, the Department you’re teaching in is in violation of your Collective Agreement.
Your hiring department must provide you with a DDAH form within 15 working days of receiving your letter of offer. Your supervisor also needs to meet with you to review your duties and allocation of hours before you begin carrying them out.
You are not required to accept a position or perform work prior to receipt of your DDAH form.
Your signature on the description signifies only that you have received and reviewed the duties.
You are not expected to perform tasks not included in the DDAH form.
The initial meeting to review your duties and allocation of hours must be included in the DDAH form and scheduled for at least 1 hour.
The DDAH form must include turnaround times for marking/grading. If it doesn’t, then the minimum turnaround time a supervisor can require is two weeks.
DDAHs can be amended upon mutual agreement by you and your supervisor.
Your TA hours for one course or section cannot be transferred to another course or section.
For additional information, please see Articles 16:07-12 and Appendix A of the Unit 1 Collective Agreement.
Top-Up Health Benefits: Access and Blackout Period
You will have access to you CUPE Top-up Health Benefits after the following:
Your base plan blackout period has ended, which will be no later than October 31st
You have worked 15 hours
You will have access to your benefits for the full year from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025, even if you are only working for one semester. You can make claims retroactively to September 1, 2024.
If you have not opted out of your base plan, you will be automatically enrolled in Plan A. If you opt out of the base plan, you will be automatically enrolled in Plan B when you become eligible.
Unit 1 Equity Funds open year-round
Equity Funds Overview
A reminder that the following Unit 1 Equity Funds have rolling deadlines year-round:
Black and Indigenous Workers Fund
International Workers Legal Fund
Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors Fund
Trans Fund
Read more information about each Equity Fund and examples of eligible expenses on the fund pages linked from the Unit 1 Benefits webpage.
You can apply for Equity Funds via the Member Portal.
Seeking Unit 1 Equity Funds Representatives
We’re seeking Unit 1 members to represent each of the Equity Funds for the Equity Funds Subcommittee, a joint committee between Unit 1 and Unit 7 reps. To qualify, applicants must identify as members of the constituencies represented by the Equity Funds.
To apply to serve on the Equity Funds Subcommittee, submit a brief statement of interest to your Secretary-Treasurer at st@cupe3902.org, indicating which fund(s) you are applying to represent.
The honorarium for each position is 13.13 hours/year at the SGS-II rate (currently $51.93/hour +4% vacation pay). We’llkeep running calls for each position until they’ve been filled.
