Secret ballot
On April 3rd, CREW-CSN submitted union cards to the Quebec labour board (the Tribunal Administratif du Travail; or TAT) so it could be formally recognized as the union that represents Concordia TAs and RAs. The judge presiding over our affiliation case affirmed that CREW-CSN had support from a clear majority of the 2100 TAs and RAs working on April 3rd, with PSAC-TRAC in a minority. The dossier verifying this result can be found here on page 17 (French only).
Why do we need to go to a ballot?
During the labour board (TAT) hearings it was revealed that PSAC officers had failed to file TRAC’s previous collective agreement with the government. Their negligence left us without legal protections for over two years and placed our union in grave danger. However, it also opened a legal loophole for PSAC-TRAC to secretly re-file for certification on May 26th.
We are confident that we have a strong legal basis to be fully certified. However, unravelling the legal mess that PSAC-TRAC has made by re-filing would take years in court. During this time, they would collect all our dues and prevent us from bargaining for a better deal with Concordia. But due to our strong majority on April 3rd, we are eligible to settle this once and for all through a court-administered vote. We agreed to this secret ballot because we cannot accept any more delays by PSAC-TRAC to stop us from bargaining – we need a better collective agreement for better pay and conditions now.
Am I on the ballot? What will it look like? When will it happen?
The exact details of the ballot are still being established. At the moment we believe that it will be an email ballot sent via an official third party to your student email address sometime in September or October.
We will write to you if you are on the ballot and explain how to vote for CREW-CSN once the details have been finalized by the labour board.
What will happen after the ballot?
The judge will examine the results and will certify CREW-CSN as the official union of Concordia TAs and RAs if we receive a majority of the votes with no further delays. PSAC will be prevented from bargaining or collecting dues even if they seek to further challenge this result.
Why vote for CREW-CSN?
We cannot make the gains that we so desperately need and deserve under our current parent union, PSAC. After PSAC was unwilling to support our draft bargaining demands such as a pay raise above inflation, the former TRAC Executive, Bargaining team, Delegates Council, and General Assembly voted to endorse the campaign to switch our affiliation to CSN.
We did this because we need a stronger union to build a stronger collective agreement. CSN represents McGill TAs (AGSEM) who get $33/hour with far better working conditions. With CSN, this is possible for us. For more detail on what we stand for, see our website and the resignation statement from the former TRAC executives.
Who’s campaigning for PSAC if the former TRAC Executives and Delegates Council voted to support CREW-CSN?
PSAC has hired and trained James Newman from the McGill PSAC union AMUSE to run their campaign. Unlike CREW-CSN, PSAC-TRAC does not have the support of Concordia students and workers. Newman is currently hiring a team of external organizers to prevent the switch to CREW-CSN.
PSAC-TRAC will say anything to prolong or stop the recertification process. They will:
Argue that we do not deserve the same pay as McGill TAs ($33/hour), despite doing the same job.
Pretend that CREW is run by officials from CSN, rather than it being started and led by Concordia TAs and RAs.
Try to cast doubt on the legality or safety of the court-administered ballot.
Pretend that changing to CSN will mean an increase in our dues.
PSAC-TRAC will not campaign on their record at Concordia or their vision for what our union can win in the next round of bargaining. We are campaigning on the need for a better agreement because we are your fellow students and workers.