A teaching union at Carleton University in Ottawa has suddenly found itself without health benefits.
Some 4,000 teaching assistants, research assistants and instructors who are a part of the CUPE 4600 union have had their benefits frozen. Members have alleged that the university’s Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs (FGPA) directed Green Shield Canada to stop paying benefits claims.
The university, however, said that it did not direct the insurer to stop paying – instead, it was the money in the benefits that ran out.
CUPE 4600 members were sent an email that explained that the benefits affected by the shutdown include dental, vision, physiotherapy, chiropractic care, child care and University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) reimbursements for international students.
“This is the first time this has ever happened,” union president Wesley Petite told CBC News.
According to Petite, only CUPE 4600 Green Shield benefits are affected; benefits through other organizations were not affected.
“A lot of our members are going to have to make trade-offs between making rent and or being able to get a physio treatment that they need to be able to sleep without pain, or to get a new pair of glasses ... or to get childcare,” he said.
The president explained that the university deposited $170,000 into the Employee Assistance Fund last May. But that money, and whatever surplus from previous deposits, is missing.
Petite argued that the money should have been deposited last fall, but nothing came through.
When Petite recently met with university officials regarding the benefits, the administration offered an additional deposit of $170,000 into the Employment Assistance Fund – but with a catch.
“They think that the way to sustain access to benefits is decreasing the percentage available to each member ... eliminating certain benefits ... and not increasing the amount available,” Petite explained.
“We see it differently. We would like to maintain and increase access to benefits and increase the deposits made into the Employment Assistance Fund.”
