Collective bargaining continues at Ontario’s universities, with seven faculty associations currently at the table. Two of these associations (Brescia and UOIT Teaching Stream faculty) are negotiating their first contract. Two more associations are preparing to begin bargaining soon. At UOIT, appropriate permanency/continuing employment provisions for teaching stream faculty remains an issue. At Ottawa, the faculty association [Read More…]
bargaining
The McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) has ratified a new, four-year agreement with their administration. The new deal includes a 1% pension offset in year one; a lump sum of $1250 and a 1% pension offset in year two; and 1.5% increases in year three and four, with lump sums of $1850 and $1925 respectively. [Read More…]
A comprehensive summary and analysis of the Ontario government’s draft anti-labour legislation has been prepared for OCUFA by the legal team at Sack, Goldblatt, Mitchell. It focuses in particular on Schedule 2, titled Respecting Collective Bargaining Act (Public Sector), 2012. According to the legal analysis, the proposed legislation as currently drafted “goes far beyond simply implementing [Read More…]
Those who claim that faculty compensation is eating up university funding just don’t know the facts – or are trying to prevent Ontarians from learning the truth. Right now, as a proportion of total expenses, province-wide full-time and part-time faculty represent barely 19 per cent of Ontario universities’ annual expenditures. When looking only at operating expenses, [Read More…]
As we reported last week, the Liberal government has unveiled anti-labour legislation that strips public sector employees of their bargaining rights – including professors and academic librarians. OCUFA is moving aggressively to fight back against this legislation. Since the announcement, we have: Attended a meeting a senior public sector union leaders to coordinate strategy, and [Read More…]
The following message is an urgent call for assistance from Scott Prudham, President of the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA). Dear colleagues, I am writing to alert you concerning the breakdown in negotiations for a first contract for faculty and librarians at the University of St. Michael’s College (USMC), a certified unit of the [Read More…]
In the wake of the McGuinty government’s imposition of a salary freeze on Ontario’s elementary and secondary teachers, the government has now indicated that it will extend this freeze to the broader public sector. Such a freeze would apply to university sector, including professors and academic librarians. Yesterday, the Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan announced a freeze of executive salaries in the broader public sector . During [Read More…]
The 2012 Ontario Budget introduced several measures that will affect Ontario’s public sector pension plans, including those in the university sector. These include: Consultations on a new legislative framework for jointly sponsored public sector pension plans (“JSPP’s”); The introduction of framework legislation in fall 2012 to pool investment management of smaller public sector plans; The [Read More…]
On June 3, 2012, the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) reached a tentative agreement with the administration. The three-year deal includes across-the-board increases and temporary enhancements to progress-through-the-ranks worth 7.14 per cent over the course of the agreement. It also contain improvements to health benefits and increases sabbatical pay to 90 percent for people taking first sabbatical after [Read More…]
On May 23, 2012, OCUFA held a member mobilization workshop at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto. Attended by over 60 faculty association representatives from across Ontario, the goal of the workshop was to develop the skills needed to effectively communicate with and engage faculty association members. The workshop was led by Rob Fairley and [Read More…]
The University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) is heading to mediation with mediator-arbitrator William Kaplan. Two days are scheduled, on June 2nd and 3rd. Brescia reports that the parties continue to meet regularly and progress toward a first collective agreement. Their next bargaining session is June 14th. At Nipissing, the parties have met [Read More…]
Bargaining is heating up around the province in May, with multiple days of bargaining scheduled at Carleton, Nipissing and Brescia. York anticipates having days scheduled by mid-May. Complex negotiations are also underway at the Canadian Military Colleges Faculty Association (CMCFA), which represents faculty at the Royal Military College, to deal with Federal Budget’s demand that [Read More…]
Some progress was made recently in the first collective agreement negotiations at Brescia with the parties signing off on three articles. The same cannot be said for St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto; the pace of first contract negotiations there is best described as glacial. The parties have met eight times over four [Read More…]
On March 19th the Chairs of the OCUFA Collective Bargaining and Status of Women committees co-hosted a conference call on the campus climate for female chief negotiators in our member associations. This initiative is part of a broader listening tour undertaken by the Status of Women Committee to hear current concerns associated with gender and [Read More…]
On March 16, 2012, the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) approved their new agreement with the university administration. The Laurier Board of Governors approved the deal on March 8, 2012. The new contract includes a two per cent salary increase a year for three years, as well as a targeted Ontario system adjustment [Read More…]