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Early in November, members of the Huron University College Faculty Association (HUCFA) ratified a new four-year collective agreement containing significant gains on members’ priorities related to improved terms and conditions for Program Sessional (teaching intensive) members, job security for contract faculty, and protections in case of financial exigency or program restructuring.

On compensation, Tenure-stream/Limited-Term Appointment (LTA) and Per Course members received salary scale increases of two percent, 2.5 percent, 3.75 percent, and 3.25 percent over the four years of the agreement. Program Sessional members received significantly greater increases of 7.5 percent, 3.25, 4.5 percent, and five percent. Other monetary gains were made in the areas of health spending and professional development, and pensions.

In workload gains, pre-tenure or LTA members who fulfill the duty of Chair/Director/Coordinator will get extra course release, while pre-tenure members have gained service load protections for committee work. Coordinators will receive an enhanced faculty allowance in recognition of workload, and Chairs/Directors/Coordinators heading up an external review will receive additional administrative and clerical supports in the review year.

Contract faculty saw a significant enhancement of job security, with current practice now enshrined in the collective agreement. New Per Course contracts for which no member already holds Right of First Refusal will be filled from within the academic unit, or then the broader bargaining unit, before being posted externally. New Program Sessional contracts will follow a similar order. When a Program Sessional or LTA position is replaced by a Tenure-stream position, the Program Sessional or LTA member will be considered for a Direct Appointment. An improvement has also been made in how the research and service experience of Per Course members is counted toward their tenure and promotion requirements should they receive a tenure-stream position. The Collective Agreement includes language that outlines more advantageous counting of previous teaching, postdoctoral, or professional experience for the purposes of placement on members’ relevant salary grids.

Of particular note is the inclusion of two new articles on financial exigency and program restructuring. The articles include consultation obligations (both collegial consultation and with the union); recall rights for tenure-stream members who are laid off; severance pay entitlements; and a commitment to redeployment of tenure-stream members.

In mid-November, members of the Nipissing University Faculty Association, Full-Time Academic Staff Bargaining Unit (FASBU) ratified a new four-year collective agreement. In addition to gains on compensation and benefits, and workload, the new collective agreement contains significant language toward Indigenization.

On compensation, members received Across-The-Board (ATB) increases of three percent, 2.25 percent, 2.25 percent and 2.75 percent over the four years, Progress-Through-the-Ranks (PTR) increases in each year, an increase to compensation for supervision at various levels in year one, and annual increases to the overload stipend.

Other monetary gains were made in the areas of health spending, professional development, and pensions. On workload, Librarian and Archivist workload may be adjusted to include research, scholarly, and creative activity. Faculty members who are Principal Investigators and meet certain criteria may receive an additional course release for each year of the grant.

Of particular note is the inclusion of Indigenization language in several areas of the agreement. In terms of rights and responsibilities of members, the teachings of Indigenous Elders and/or Traditional Knowledge Carriers/Keepers must be acknowledged through proper references and where possible, authorship. Indigenous members may demonstrate service through relationships and commitments to communities as well as through mentoring relationships (this latter also applies to members of equity-deserving groups). Indigenous members also now have greater protections in the areas of service and tenure and promotion. Indigenous Elder or Knowledge Carrier/Keepers, for example, may be an external referee for tenure and promotion. Any member can also be accompanied by a support person, who can be an Indigenous Elder and/or Traditional Knowledge Carrier/Keeper, at any stage of the grievance process.

Lakehead University

At the end of October, members of the Lakehead University Faculty Association (LUFA) ratified their new three-year collective agreement following an extended period of negotiations. Regular member communications and the hard work of the negotiating team resulted in gains on members’ top priorities of compensation, pension reform, benefits, contract lecturer equity, and university governance.

The agreement includes salary and benefit improvements for all members, as well as specific adjustments for Contract Lecturers. The salary increases are one and a half per cent for 2023, three per cent for 2024, and three per cent for 2025. These increases apply to salary scales, floors and ceilings, Career Development Increments, overload, distance education and off-campus teaching, and stipends for Chairs and Directors. In addition, Contract Lecturers will receive flat rate increases to their base salary in 2024.

The agreement contains increases to member pension contributions and other changes necessary to pension reform.

Benefits improvements include an expansion in paramedical services coverage to include audiologists and kinesiologists, new coverage for hearing aids, and an automatic entitlement to any benefit enhancements for retired members. Contract lecturers receive an increase in their benefit account, and some members who have held a limited-term appointment for one year are now eligible for maternity and parental leave.

The new agreement marks a significant advancement in university governance. It explicitly acknowledges the role of faculty and librarian participation in selection of senior academic administrators including the Deans and University Librarian. New policies also ensures that faculty and librarians have a clear majority over administrators in search and renewal/review committees, and that the LUFA members elect their own representatives to the committees.

A noteworthy feature of the agreement is its expanded and improved language on academic freedom for librarians.  

NOSM U

In early November, members of the NOSM University Faculty and Staff Association ratified a new three-year agreement, just hours before a strike deadline. Strong member support was reflected in a 100 per cent strike vote, as well as a successful letter-writing and communications campaign that garnered support from the local community and faculty associations across the country. With this backing, the negotiating team won solid wage and benefit increases, improvements to their working conditions and equity provisions, and avoid major concessions.

On compensation, members received a $1,250 increase to base salary from July 1, 2023, followed by a four per cent increase to scale, and scale increases of three per cent each in 2024 and 2025. The scale increases for each year will also apply to Progress Through the Ranks increments, as well as overload and overtime. 

Benefits improvements include the inclusion of psychotherapy coverage, an increase in paramedical coverage as well as major dental coverage. A fund to assist retirees in purchasing fringe benefits will receive an employer contribution of $5,000 per year. 

In gains for professional staff and librarians, the vacation for professional staff was increased to make it equal to that for faculty and librarians and the tuition reimbursement policy was updated to create equity across campuses for librarians and professional staff. A memorandum of agreement on alternative work arrangements for librarians and professional staff allows work off campus for librarians and professional staff, and a flexible work week for librarians (already available to professional staff). 

A noteworthy equity gain was made in the requirement for immediate supervisors to adjust workloads if members from equity-deserving groups are assigned governance and administrative duties. 

The Librarian and Archivist unit of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association ratified a new four-year collective agreement last month, making important gains related to compensation and benefits, career advancement and research support, workload and maintaining the professional status of librarian and archivist work. Each of these contributes to maintaining high-quality library services at Western University. The negotiations saw remarkable member engagement and community outreach, with a 100% vote in favour of a strike mandate.

The high level of member engagement was the result of the negotiating team’s effort to ensure complete transparency with members. Bargaining bulletins were sent to members after the end of each bargaining session. Tabled proposals were shared with members and the UWOFA leadership, with an open invitation to discuss with the negotiating team.

In terms of monetary gains, members received scale increases of 3 per cent in the first year and 2 per cent in each of the remaining three years of the agreement; a flat rate addition to base of $500 in the first year and $1,000 in the third year, adding an approximate 1.5 per cent to the scale increase over the four years; and a one-time amount of $2,000 in the first year. They also saw a new promotion bonus, an increase to the research support fund, and an increase to the stipend for library directors and heads. The new agreement contains improved vision care and mental health coverage, including an expanded list of mental health providers.

Members also made major gains on leaves, with education leave at 100 per cent of salary (up from 85 per cent), a new compassionate leave with pay, a new caregiving leave with SEIB top-up, salaries of members returning from LTD to incorporate increases negotiated during their leave, and improved SEIB eligibility for Pregnancy, Parental, and Adoption leave.

On retirement, improvements to the phased retirement scheme now allow members beyond their normal retirement date to phase their retirement, with group benefit coverage unchanged (except for LTD), and now provide a phased retirement supplement as a percentage (relative to the length of the phase) of base salary immediately before the commencement of the phased retirement.

With respect to equity gains, on the monetary front, members received a significant increase to the career trajectory fund which corrects salary anomalies, and the correction process will occur sooner in the life of the agreement. Improvements included an increase to the maximum anomaly adjustment per member, as well as an agreement to investigate the feasibility of reviewing anomalies based on other equity-oriented demographic parameters, including Indigeneity, disability, membership in a racialized group, sexual orientation, and gender identity. In a non-monetary gain, a new Letter of Understanding (LOU) contains an agreement to enlarge the Members with Disabilities Working Group (negotiated into the faculty collective agreement last year) to include a librarian or archivist, and to expand its mandate to include the librarian and archivist collective agreement and librarian and archivist working conditions.

In other non-monetary areas, members saw an increase in the period of Academic Activity Leave (i.e., sabbatical). Academic activity (i.e., research) may now involve “creative expression” and may be in whatever media are appropriate to the Member’s area of academic expertise, with the requirement removed for Academic Activity to be relevant to librarianship or archival practice. 

Several gains were made on workload including that it be consistent with Member’s qualifications and the responsibilities identified in their job description, and a new LOU was signed requiring the employer to create job descriptions and make them fully accessible to members. In the event of significant changes to their workload, members may work with their direct supervisor to adjust planned activities and contributions or agree upon an Alternative Workload. Permanent significant changes in a member’s role that is not in their job description will require a change in the job description. Vacancies will not increase members’ workload through the redistribution of work within and across units. By ensuring reasonable workloads for members, these changes will help librarians and archivists maintain high quality library services.

Gains were also made to improve the performance review process and better inculcate a culture of recognizing, rewarding and supporting career advancement. Under an important LOU on On-Call work, a Joint Committee will be struck to monitor on-call work and extended work outside of normal working hours. Members can take equivalent lieu time off if required to work on call or given duties beyond normal working hours. Senior leadership will cover Directors and Heads who take time off to compensate for on-call work.

To arrest creeping de-professionalization, a new LOU requires the University to strive to accurately distinguish and identify the roles of librarians and archivists relative to other library staff in relevant documents and public-facing communications. This will help raise visibility and awareness of librarians and archivists and the work they do, thereby highlighting their professional contributions to the academic work of the university.