Grants & Bursaries

The next deadline for applications to the CUPE Unit 2 Professional Development and Employee Assistance (PDEA) Fund is MARCH 15. All forms and receipts must be received in the CUPE office by this date. You can pick up an application form from the table outside the CUPE office (top floor of Stewart House, Traill College) or you can download one from the CUPE 3908 website: http://cupe3908.org/index.php?id=163

A bit of information about the PDEA fund: to help members deal with the many costs incurred in relation to being a student at Trent University, your union’s bargaining team successfully negotiated for the creation of the PDEA Fund in 2008. Each year, CUPE provides $15,000 to CUPE 2 members to offset the costs of professional development and, for international student members, the cost of the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP). Given that the Unit 2 PDEA Fund is relatively new, it is important that you apply to the fund whenever you are eligible (NOTE: under the new collective agreement, members with a GTA contract for only 120 hours are now eligible to apply to the PDEA fund). This way, your bargaining team can demonstrate that the fund is being used and negotiate for an increase to the fund next time your union bargains with the employer. For more information about the fund, please see your collective agreement or check out the CUPE 3908 website: http://cupe3908.org/index.php?id=163

If you have any questions about the PDEA fund or about your work as a CUPE member in general, please feel free to email your Unit 2 Vice-President, Julia Smith (vp2@cupe3908.org), or your Unit 2 Chief Steward, Sean Carleton (steward2@cupe3908.org).