Before you sign your contract…

Posted on | January 3, 2012 | No Comments

As we enter into a new year, hundreds of new TA and RA contracts will be signed.  Before signing yours, you should familiarize yourself with your rights as an employee and as a union member.  All TAs and RAs are members of TRAC by default and covered by the TRAC Collective Agreement.

1. Read the Collective Agreement

 
Collective Agreement – Teaching Assistants [PDF]
Collective Agreement – Research Assistants [PDF]

2. Know Your Rights

You can look under the “Information for Members” section of the TRAC web site for more information about various issues that may affect you.  Here are a few things that you should know before you sign your contract:

• Your contract must specify a number of hours, and you do not need to work any more than those hours.

You are only required to work the number of hours in your contract.  If your department wants you to work more than that they will need to provide you with another contract that specifies how many more hours they want you to work.

• Your contract must specify starting and ending dates, and you do not need to work outside of those dates.

You are only required to work for the period that your contract covers, whether or not you have worked the number of hours specified.  For example, if you have a contract for 130 hours that ends on 6 December 2010, but as of 6 December 2010 you have only worked 120 hours, you cannot be asked to put in the 10 missing hours over the Winter break, or in the Winter term.  Once the contract ends, so does your obligation.

• Your contract must contain a job description – i.e., specify what the job entails, your duties and responsibilities, and you do not need to do work not covered in your job description.

If your contract does not specify a job, you need not do it.  For example, if you are hired to do marking and nothing else, you need not answer emails, hold office hours, or attend classes.  Everything you are expected to do must be specified.  As well, you cannot be asked to put something in the contract that is not in keeping with the normal duties of Teaching Assistants or Research Assistants – you are not a personal assistant.

• TA’s hired for eConcordia courses work for Concordia University, not for eConcordia, and all TAs hired for eConcordia courses are members of TRAC.

As of Fall 2011 there is absolutely no difference between TAs hired for “regular” Concordia classes and TAs hired for eConcordia classes.  All TAs are covered by the same Collective Agreement, and all TAs have exactly the same rights.

3. Put Everything on Paper

• All agreements or arrangements with your supervisor should be put on paper or in email.

In order to protect yourself, all arrangements made with your supervisor should be in writing.  Although verbal agreements are legally binding, they are very hard to prove.  So, if you make any special arrangements regarding scheduling, working conditions, details about how work is to be done, or anything else, make sure that you either receive an account of it on paper or in email, or write down an account of it on your own and email it to your supervisor.

• Keep track of the hours you work and email them to you immediate supervisor regularly.

In order to know whether you have worked all the hours in your contract you need to know how many hours you have worked.  We suggest that TAs and RAs keep track of all hours worked, including preparation time (if you review the material for a conference, attend classes, look up articles, or go over what will be presented in a lab –  it all counts as work).  Email a weekly report of those hours to your immediate supervisor, and if you like to your department: this will provide a written record of how many hours you have worked.

It may be useful to put your duties and an estimate of the hours they will require on paper before you start working.  We have prepared a form for TAs based on one from the Political Science department.

Teaching Assistant Duties and Timetable

Please note that such a document is only a guide, and should not be regarded as an enforceable part of your contract.

Questions and Complaints

If you have any questions about the Collective Agreement or complaints about how it is being applied contact TRAC at info@trac-union.ca.  Someone should be in touch with you within 24 hours.  In your message please tell us what position you were hired for, what grade (if applicable), the department that hired you (not necessarily your own), a copy of your contract if possible, and if it is a complaint a detailed description of the problem.  It is very important that you document what you do: keep emails, take notes with names, dates, and places, etc.  Most problems can be taken care of by discussion, but you do have recourse to a more formal grievance process.

 

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