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The Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) has ratified a new three-year agreement ending June 2025. The agreement was reached following a strong strike mandate.

QUFA is the first faculty association to fully avoid wage restraint under Bill 124. Annual across-the-board (ATB) increases of 3.5 per cent, three per cent, and three per cent were achieved. Even more significant compensation gains were attained for contract faculty (Term Adjuncts), whose base stipends increase prior to the ATB rates being applied, and who will receive a two per cent increase to pay in lieu of benefits (from six to eight per cent).

The faculty association’s QUFA Disrespected campaign highlighted key priority areas which members organized around to achieve impressive bargaining outcomes. Faculty and academic librarians and archivists demonstrated their commitment to their bargaining demands through one-on-one outreach, displaying demand specific posters, an email campaign, and stepping into leadership roles as picket captains as conciliation moved forward.

As a result, the profile of equity-related work has been raised by including activities that advance Indigenization, equity, diversity, inclusion, anti- racism, and accessibility in several areas, including:

• administrative and professional service
• evaluation
• contract faculty appointments
• renewal, tenure, and promotion

The value of the diverse range of scholarly methodologies and ways of measuring research impact is now acknowledged with respect to appointments, evaluation, renewal, tenure, and promotion.

On the key priority of increased job security and respect for contract faculty members, the new agreement has many notable improvements. Right of first refusal provisions now provide more time for contract faculty members to teach specified courses to gain eligibility. A course taught as a Postdoctoral Fellow also now counts towards eligibility. In another change, contract faculty will now be able to include the following work in appointment reports:

• professional and administrative service
• contributions in pedagogical development
• innovation related to teaching

Adjunct faculty scholarly and creative work, and professional development, will now receive greater support through an increase to an annual fund that provides resources in the form of a salary stipend and/or grant. For Continuing Adjunct faculty, the timeframe to apply for the Full Professor rank has decreased, with eligibility for sabbatical leave in the first year of their promotion to Full.

An annual course release for the purposes of research support is now available for Continuing Adjunct faculty members who have obtained a multi-year grant as a principal investigator; this is a significant expansion of this right. The pay structure for Continuing Adjunct faculty now provides an option for the Adjunct to take on a service load comparable to the departmental norm with an increase in their full time equivalent salary. This, in turn, allows the departmental service load to be shared more widely among full-responsibility and continuing adjunct faculty members.

On workload, the workload standard will now include mechanisms for dealing with extraordinary tasks related to teaching, including deferred grading that extends into sabbatical or nonteaching terms.

Librarians and Archivists’ terms and conditions are now more aligned with faculty, specifically in the areas of sabbatical leave and renewal, promotion, and continuance.

Last fall, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice declared the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act (formerly Bill 124) violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, on the grounds that the legislation interfered with collective bargaining rights. OCUFA member organizations have called for changes to their collective agreements, now that the restrictions placed on wages and other bargaining rights have been struck down. Following are some recent successes:

Trent University

TUFA was the first association to reach a deal after Justice Koehnen’s decision to strike down Bill 124, after having already served the bulk of its moderation period under the previous agreement. Salary increases included an immediate increase of 1.75 per cent for January 1, 2023, cutting short the union’s moderation period by six months. Three per cent increases were achieved for the second and third years, applied on July 1.

Wilfrid Laurier University

The WLUFA full-time unit was successful in recapturing a $900 lump sum that was precluded while Bill 124 was in force. The university has now provided eligible members with the Ontario System Adjustment amount.

Nipissing University

Congratulations to the members of the Nipissing University Faculty Association Contract Academic Staff Bargaining Unit (NUFA-CASBU), who ratified a three-year collective agreement in early January 2023 following a protracted round of negotiations. This was the unit’s first agreement post-Bill 124 moderation. On compensation, members received across-the-board (ATB) increases of one per cent in the first year, and two per cent in the second and third years. There were also increases to professional development fund, and research related activities were added to the list of eligible activities. The conference fund was also increased, and a new tuition subsidy fund worth $10,000 was negotiated.

On job security, several gains were made on right of first refusal (RFR), including the protection of RFR during emergencies, in cases of Ontario Human Rights Code-based accommodations, and when pursuing educational opportunities related to their discipline for a maximum of 24 months. The RFR review committee has been eliminated. The length of membership in the bargaining unit now extends 12 months after the start of the most recent contract for the specific purpose of being able to vote for strike mandates and ratification.

Other gains include a new clause on leave that acknowledges members’ right to take Human Rights Code leaves, particularly creed-based leaves, as well as an agreement on mode of delivery. The latter stipulates that the mode of delivery of a course cannot be changed after the contract for the course has been signed without the written consent of the member, except in case of an emergency.

Trent University

Congratulations to members of the Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA) who ratified a new three-year collective agreement in mid-December 2022. The hard work of the bargaining team over 12 days of compressed bargaining resulted in significant gains in the priority areas of remuneration, equity, employment security for members in teaching-intensive positions, and workload.

On benefits, improvements were negotiated for paramedical coverage, including a more than doubling of the maximum for psychological care, as well as expansion of coverage to include psychotherapists and social workers. There were also improvements to vision care and hearing aids. On dental there is new coverage for major restorative dental work, as well as an increase to orthodontic coverage. An additional transgender benefit was secured through Sun Life in the amount of $10,000/year to a lifetime maximum of $50,000.

On equity, TUFA made a number of gains, including a new definition of “Underrepresented Groups” aligning Trent with Tri-Agency standards; data collection and sharing; appropriate training for members dealing with personnel matters; five targeted searches at senior academic ranks; and agreement that all TUFA positions would be posted as preferring candidates from underrepresented groups until internal targets were met. Service by members from underrepresented groups has been recognized both for its extent and its particularities and such contributions and community leadership roles can now be considered the equivalent of a major university committee for purposes of service work, and in the normal allocation of duties.

Specifically on Indigenization, evaluation standards for tenure and promotion now include a recognition of “different knowledge traditions, including the traditions associated with conventional academic scholarship as well as traditional or Indigenous knowledge, and differences in the ways knowledge is acquired, generated, and transmitted.” There is also a process to consider questions related to Indigenous identity whereby senior administration will directly work with Indigenous stakeholders (particularly the Indigenous Knowledge Keepers Council and the Indigenous Education Council) to make recommendations that—if pertinent to faculty/librarian employment—are then considered at Joint Committee prior to implementation.

With respect to job security, there is a one-time conversion process for limited term appointments (LTAs) with a minimum amount of continuous service into probationary teaching-intensive positions. Teaching-intensive faculty will now receive tenure rather than permanency, their titles will be consistent with other faculty members, they will be eligible for promotion to Full Professor, and the restriction on their academic freedom that required them to focus on “discipline-related pedagogical research” has been eliminated.

On workload, there is now an explicit requirement to factor graduate teaching and supervision into members’ assignments and to ensure that the data necessary to do this are made available to department chairs in a timely way. For members in teaching-intensive and LTAs, who also serve in leadership roles (e.g., program coordinators, department chairs), various course releases were negotiated, including an extra course release for such members when they are new to the leadership roles. As well, program coordinators may receive additional course release when their workload is anticipated to be exceptional (program start-up, cyclical reviews, etc.). Teaching support provisions have also been substantially revised to increase the base allocation to the Marking Fund, as well as to ensure such supports are announced to members to facilitate planning, course design and hiring. A committee will also be struck to consult with the Joint Committee on potential improvements to a variety of administrative processes, particularly those that are particularly time-consuming for members.

Opting for a two-year agreement to cover the remaining period under Bill 124 wage restraint, members of the University of Guelph Faculty Association (UGFA) received a one per cent cost of living increase for each year of the agreement. They also received increases in the Annual Career Increment in each year, as well as a lump sum performance increment of $1,100 each year. 

UGFA members saw an increase in their psychological services cap and expansion of the list of eligible providers to include occupational therapists. Coverage for paramedical services (Chiropractor, Osteopath, Chiropodist/Podiatrist, Acupuncture, Naturopath, Speech Therapist, Massage Therapist) is now pooled and per-visit maximums have increased. Vision care coverage also increased.

Members can now claim Professional Development Reimbursement (PDR) for two new expenses: open access publication fees and domain hosting fees. In a first of its kind, a new Letter of Understanding (LOU) provides for up to $20,000 in scholarship support to members on pregnancy or parental leave. While members on such leaves are not expected to work and there is no requirement to apply for such support, the scholarship is recognition of the fact that some members may need help maintaining their work while on leave.

On equity, a new joint self-identification survey will be conducted no later than June 30, 2024, to be used along with other data. Tenure and promotion results will be reviewed for members who self-identify as equity-seeking, compared to those who do not; and/or for those who have a Teaching Distribution of Effort (DOE) of at least 60 per cent compared to those who do not. A demographic analysis of membership is to be considered. All resigning members will be offered an exit interview with the Provost’s Office and may invite an Association representative to attend.

Another gain was the commitment (initially achieved through UPP consent bargaining) to set targets to increase faculty complement by 2024, with two-thirds of the target to be achieved by July 1, 2023 and the remaining third by January 1, 2024. Growth hiring is for tenure-stream and continuing-appointment stream members, and precarious contractually limited hires do not count towards the target. UGFA will be updated quarterly on the progress toward the target, with an arbitrator named if either target is missed.

In changes to performance evaluation, tenured members with an overall “Good” or better evaluation may opt out of the next biennial review. While opting out means no merit pay, this is a workload gain, as it saves members the work that goes into preparing for the evaluation.

The new agreement also saw several improvements in other areas including on workload, tenure and promotion processes, the re-designation of course evaluation surveys as student feedback questionnaires (SFQs) and information sharing (on partner accommodation appointments, credit courses taught by members and non-members, and Chair stipends). 

Wilfrid Laurier University

Coming out of Bill 124 imposed wage restraint, the Contract Faculty and Part-Time Librarians unit of the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA PT) signed a three-year agreement containing significant gains on all their bargaining priorities, including compensation and benefits, job security, and improvements to the hiring process.

On compensation and benefits, in 2022 members received a front-loaded 3.0 per cent inflation adjustment added to their salary base, followed by a 2.0 per cent across-the-board (ATB) increase and a 0.1 per cent increase to pay in lieu of benefits. There will be a 2.0 per cent ATB increase plus a 1.0 per cent experience grid for those with 10 or more seniority points in 2023 and a 2.0 per cent ATB increase and 2.0 percent experience grid for those with 20 or more seniority points in 2024. This means that in year three, about 50 per cent of members would have benefitted from the experience grid raises. Members also saw increases in compensation for deferred exams, non-teaching duties, and student supervision. A new LOU establishes a bilateral committee to review online learning that will review the compensation model for Contract Faculty. In benefits, paid sick days were increased from 7 to 10 days per term.

Music faculty, who already had an experience grid, received a 3.0 per cent inflation adjustment at the outset, a 2.0 per cent ATB per year, and a 0.1 per cent increase in pay in lieu of benefits, as well increases to compensation for additional duties. An LOU was signed regarding compensation for ensemble teaching, and improvements were made to language on studio instructor and coach accompanist pay categories to allow for faster progression.

On equity, a new Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigeneity Fund has been established worth $20,000 annually—$10,000 for Indigenous Knowledge endeavours, and $10,000 for other EDI work. The maximum grant is $2,000, and the minimum amount is $500.

Members have made major gains on job security. They may now teach a maximum of 10 courses per academic year, and maximum of four courses per term. A new Senior Lecturer appointment has been created. These will be automatically renewable five-year appointments and will be guaranteed to have six, seven, or eight courses per year. The new category of Lecturer replaces Standing Appointments. Lecturers will receive automatically renewable three-year appointments, and are guaranteed three, four, or five courses per year.

The appointments process has been streamlined through a one-year trial of a new course application process. Members will fill out a Statement of Intent Form listing the courses in which the member has seniority status and is interested in teaching. No teaching dossier, CV, or cover letter will be required. Courses not assigned through this process will be posted, and members will use a single Candidate Application Form for all courses they are interested in teaching.

University teaching evaluations have been renamed as Student Course Surveys to more accurately convey that they reflect student experience and are not an evaluation of an instructor’s teaching performance or ability. No evaluation of teaching performance may rely exclusively or primarily on Student Course Surveys or student opinions.

In their new four-year agreement, faculty members of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) made gains on each of their six priorities: 

• Support, recognize, and reward faculty effort
• Support faculty health and wellbeing
• Achieve fair and equitable workloads
• Protect collegial governance and due process
• Enhance job security for contract faculty
• Achieve equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization

Full-time members saw a scale increase of one per cent in each of the first three years (under Bill 124 imposed moderation) and a $1,750 lump sum increase to base along with a three per cent scale increase in the fourth year. Year four also saw an allocation of $1,023 per full-time member to the Career Trajectory Fund, with all full-time members eligible for adjustments. The comparison to similar faculty at comparator universities was removed and replaced with internal comparison only, based on gender first, and the threshold for claw-back of adjustment amount was increased.

Part-time members received a one per cent increase to scale in each of the first three years of the agreement, and a three per cent increase in the fourth year, along with a 1.2 per cent Seniority Premium per year. Payment for employer-mandated training and course-based work outside of the contract dates was added effective year one, and the course cancellation stipend was increased effective year three.

Music studio instructors will see an increase in the base hourly rate of three per cent in year four of the agreement, with a new rate for Standing Appointments at  5.17 per cent more than the base rate. A Seniority Premium of 1.2 per cent will be added to both base hourly rate and Standing Appointment hourly rate, and the Full Course Equivalent (FCE) for conducting designated ensembles has been adjusted.

Finally on compensation, a reopener clause was negotiated, committing the parties to renegotiate compensation if Bill 124 ceased to be in force in the life of the agreement.

Improvements were made to the mental health benefits co-pay arrangement and the mental health providers list was expanded to include psychotherapists, nurses, occupation therapists, social workers, clinical counsellors, and marriage and family therapists. Vision care coverage was also increased. Members also saw improvements in provisions related to pregnancy, parental and adoption leave, compassionate leave, caregiving leave, and LTD leave. The agreement contains a Promotion Bonus, effective year four, upon promotion to Associate Professor and Professor and upon receipt of tenure for those hired as Probationary Associate Professor.

On benefits for part-time members, a Joint Working Group will examine the feasibility of benefit options to replace pay in lieu of benefits, with agreed-upon recommendations to be implemented within the life of the agreement. Part-Time faculty also gained an increase in Professional Expense Reimbursement (PER).

Contract faculty made significant gains on job security. The time required for Limited Term Appointments (LTAs) to become eligible for consideration for permanent Limited-Term No End Date (LT NED) status has been shortened from 12 to 10 years of continuous Limited Term Appointment. The criterion for eligibility for a half-course Standing Appointment has also been expanded. Twelve LTAs will be created for the conversion of Limited Duties Appointments for eligible Part-Time members, with efforts made to ensure that 50 percent of these positions are in the faculties of Arts & Humanities, Music, Information and Media Studies and Education, and at least half of these in Arts & Humanities and Music. The term of these LTA conversions is now three years, as against two previously, and is renewable.

Under a new LOU, a minimum of six Teaching Scholar positions are to be created in the period of the collective agreement, with a requirement to recruit at least six of those positions internally from among current Limited-Term and Part-Time members. The workload balance for Teaching Scholars has been specified to make service and scholarship activities approximately equal (formalizing a 60-20-20 balance)

The frequency of performance evaluations has been changed to once every three years. However, members who are assessed below the acceptable level in at least one of Research, Teaching, Scholarship Activity or Service, are required to undergo evaluation annually. The agreement stipulates that Performance Evaluation is optional for Part-Time members, adds a provision for a member on LTD to receive the same assessment as in the previous evaluation prior to the leave, and provides for a review of the workload of members from equity-deserving groups.

The Workload Committee has been expanded to ensure representation of the range of teaching done in the Unit and training prescribed for Committee members. The agreement significantly expands the aspects of workload that must be addressed in the workload document which establishes the “normal workload” for the Unit. It requires the Workload Committee to determine the (normally greater) weighting of experiential learning courses and stipulates that members will be provided appropriate recognition (course release, workload adjustment, or compensation) for the work involved in creating a new experiential learning course.

The agreement contains a new clause tying workload to complement, stating that the retirement or resignation of a member should not result in an increase in the workload of full-time members in the Unit.

Also noteworthy in the new agreement is language: granting members who have held a Limited-Term Appointment for at least five years at the rank of Lecturer or Assistant Professor at the time of retirement Professor Emerita/Emeritus status upon recommendation of the Dean; requiring Members who employ students whom they teach, advise or supervise, or in the evaluation of whose academic work they have responsibilities, to provide the Dean certain specified information about the employment and requiring the Employer to remind such members of their legal responsibilities associated with the employment relationship; clarifying the discipline process; forming a Joint Working Group on Members with Disabilities; and extending the terms of LOUs on COVID-19 Pandemic Provisions to consider the impact of COVID in the Performance Evaluation, and note probationary term extensions and postponement of sabbatical leaves due to the pandemic. 

A dedicated Indigenous Faculty Members Side Table continues its work in a commitment to amend the collective agreement to appropriately recognize the work of Indigenous Scholars, and to take into account specific aspects or Indigenous Scholars’ working conditions. 

At the end of September 2022, the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) and the University of Toronto Administration reached an agreement on benefits improvements for the third year of their 2020-2023 agreement. As noted in the OCUFA Report of February 25th, 2022. when UTFA and the University of Toronto Administration reached their three-year agreement on January 25th, 2022, salary, benefits, and workload terms for the third year were to be subject to arbitration.

On September 15th, 2022, Arbitrator Eli Gedalof issued an interim award ordering a one per cent Across-The-Board salary increase (in keeping with Bill 124) effective July 1st, 2022, and an increase to the minimum per-course stipend and overload rate from $18,255 to $18,438.

UTFA members made significant gains on benefits in the third year. Importantly, the Association was successful in maintaining equal access to health benefits for active and retired members. Improvements to paramedical, mental health, and vision care benefits were made, as well as the Dependent Scholarship Program.

Other issues, especially those related to fair and equitable workloads, remain subject to arbitration.