An increasing number of teachers at Canada’s colleges and universities are trapped in precarious contract and part-time work. Contract and part-time work has quietly gone from a short-term stepping stone to a career-long condition where many earn less than a living wage. This week, faculty associations across the country are organizing events to recognize the […]
This year’s Educated Solutions, the annual magazine published by the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, features a thought-provoking article by OCUFA President Gyllian Phillips on the need to invest in faculty renewal at Ontario’s universities. The article explains how Ontario’s universities are underfunded, and the dangers associated with increasing student tuition fees, even when they are […]
The Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) has reached a collective agreement with the University of Sudbury on behalf of the university’s tenure-stream and sessional faculty. LUFA achieved competitive across-the-board salary increases and adjustments to compensation that have narrowed the pay gap between faculty at the University of Sudbury and Laurentian University’s other federated institutions. Significantly, […]
People across Ontario are planning to show their support for a $15 minimum wage and decent work on October 15. On university and college campuses, all faculty, students, and staff are encouraged to join in. In recent announcements, the Conservative government has indicated their intention to freeze the minimum wage at $14 an hour and […]
Ontario’s universities and colleges are vital spaces where a culture of rich academic debate and free expression should be fostered. Core to the mandate of our postsecondary institutions is the advancement of knowledge, and that requires our campuses to be places where all community members have the right to speak their minds and respectfully challenge […]
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) has launched a Charter challenge to contest the government’s cancellation of the Colleges Task Force. Following five weeks of picket lines, the task force was established as part the arbitration award that ended last fall’s college faculty strike. The task force was meant to address many of the major outstanding issues in […]
A new survey by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has found that most academic staff working on contract at Canadian universities aren’t employed that way by choice. According to the survey: Over half of respondents want a tenure-track university or full-time, permanent college job. Women and racialized contract academic staff work more hours per course, per […]
Last year saw the biggest reforms to labour laws for workers in forty years. Working with the Fight for $15 & Fairness , faculty are part of the movement that won these gains in Ontario. Now, employers and the big business community are pressuring Ford’s government to roll back decent work laws. Send an email to your MPP and Premier Doug Ford today to show your support for decent work laws. Faculty associations are already putting the new decent […]
Fair Employment Week is an annual event organized by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), which provides a great opportunity to raise awareness about precarious contract working conditions on university campuses. Across Canada, faculty associations will be showing their support for fairness for contract faculty and advocating for universities to provide good jobs that […]
On August 7th, the Ontario Labour Relations Board agreed to consolidate the three bargaining units represented by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Faculty Association (UOITFA) into a single unit, covered by one collective agreement. The UOITFA is the first union in Ontario to apply for and win a consolidation of units under the new labour relations provisions enacted in 2017 by […]
Carleton University Academic Staff Association The Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA) has reached a four-year agreement with their university administration. CUASA achieved across-the-board salary and career development increases competitive with other faculty associations, along with a lump sum payment upon ratifying the agreement. A territorial acknowledgment will also be placed at the front of […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) strongly condemns the tabling of back-to-work legislation by the new Ontario government aimed at the striking members of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 (CUPE 3903). We firmly support the rights of all academic workers to fair negotiations and good-faith collective bargaining, and are concerned with […]
On Saturday, June 16, 2018, a contingent from faculty associations across Ontario joined thousands who gathered in front of the Ministry of Labour at 400 University Ave . in downtown Toronto and marched to Queen’s Park. Themed as “WE the people”, the rally delivered a strong message to the incoming Doug Ford government to keep its hands off […]
OCUFA was pleased to join the College CAAT-A contract faculty and Fight for $15 & Fairness on June 12, 2018, for an event entitled “Equal Pay for Equal Work Now: Equal Pay for Contract Faculty under Bill 148”. Approximately 100 Ontario contract faculty and college faculty union representatives attended this event to discuss the new […]
Ontario’s public postsecondary education system has been evolving for over a century. Core to its development has been a foundation of robust public funding delivered primarily through the provincial government. The government’s approach to university funding has profound implications for the student experience and research contributions. A government that makes university funding a priority and […]
