Members who are recipients of a provostial or dissertation scholarship are still eligible for the Union’s EHB Fund!

If you are a member holding one of these scholarships, you can apply to the Extended Health Benefits Fund as usual, and please include:

1. The following sentences in your statement: “I am a recipient of a provostial or dissertation scholarship, so I will not appear on the most recent dues list supplied to the EHB Committee. If the EHB Committee would like to confirm my eligibility for the EHB Fund, please contact the Secretary-Treasurer (sectreasurer3903@gmail.com).”
2. Your award letter in the “Other Documents” field along with a note that you are still eligible for the EHB Fund.

How This Eligibility Was Fought For and Won

In the past, members who were receiving dissertation scholarships from York that prevented them, as a condition of receiving the scholarship, from accepting TA or GA contracts, were removed from CUPE 3903 health benefits after the 5 month grace period following the contract end date expired. These members only had the option of opting into the YUGSA health benefits.

This denial of access to Sun Life health benefits had major equity impacts! It especially disadvantaged members with disabilities, health conditions, chronic illnesses, and international students, for whom these health benefits were a necessity.  Members were often put in the position of having to calculate whether they could afford to accept the scholarship and cover their health expenses on their own, or they would have to decline the scholarship.

To change this, members engaged in a letter writing campaign, directing communications to the FGS Dean of Students and Director of Faculty Relations. This was not an open letter writing campaign due to confidentiality around these human rights code based grounds.

The member letters allowed the union to place additional pressure on these offices and we were successful in persuading them to maintain continued access to benefits for scholarship recipients for the following list:

• Provost Dissertation Scholarship
• Susan Mann Dissertation Scholarship

Scholarship recipient eligibility for benefits and EHB is a clear example of how when we speak up for what matters, we can win!