Members of CUPE 4600 have ratified a tentative settlement, bringing them closer to a collective agreement with Carleton.
Two settlements were ratified on March 20, one for teaching assistants and one for contract instructors.
The union will now move forward to signing the collective agreement with the university, CUPE 4600 bargaining team member Tabatha Armstrong said.
Carleton approved the tentative settlement on the same day, meaning the two groups can now sign the agreement.
Armstrong said she is happy the process is moving forward.
“It looks like we’re going to have a new collective agreement, and obviously that’s what we wanted. You go into bargaining hoping to get a new collective agreement that’s going to benefit your members,” she said.
The settlement includes a salary increase for graduate TAs, starting with a two per cent increase in the second year of the agreement and 1.5 per cent in the third year, according to documents provided by Armstrong.
Undergraduate TAs will receive a similar salary increase in the second year, but a two per cent increase in the third year. TAs will also receive $191 for completing “online compliance training.”
Other highlights include a provision that will require employers to notify TAs on how many students they are expected to work with.
The agreement for contract instructors has them receiving a two per cent increase in both the second and third year of the agreement, as well as $200 for completing the online training, according to the documents.
The agreement also created an “extended” health and dental insurance plan, which contract instructors will automatically be enrolled in.
The new agreement, if signed, will expire on Aug. 31, 2016.
