Faculty across Ontario are pleased that legislation was passed today that will bring more fairness to workplaces. Ontario’s university faculty have long been advocating for improvements to provincial labour laws that would deliver fairness for contract faculty who face job insecurity, low pay, and lack access to benefits. New rules in Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, […]
On Saturday, October 21 and Sunday, October 22, OCUFA held its first Board of Directors meeting of the 2017-18 academic year, and the first with Gyllian Phillips as OCUFA President . The weekend oriented new board members to OCUFA and allowed members to discuss developments in Ontario postsecondary education system and the organization’s revised priorities for the academic year: Good jobs/vibrant universities, university […]
The Canadian Association of University Teachers hosted a conference on achieving fairness for contract academic staff to kickoff Fair Employment Week on October 20 and 21. Participants developed a wide range of strategies and tactics to organize fellow faculty members and confront their administrations about the growing use of contract faculty at Canadian universities and colleges. Faculty associations discussed key ways of addressing […]
The review of Ontario’s labour laws has brought new momentum to addressing unpredictable scheduling, the lack of equal pay for work of equal value, and the fact that many contract faculty do not have access to benefits. As part of the Ontario Federation of Labour’s Make It Fair campaign, they produced a video profile of Wilfrid Laurier University […]
Toronto – Across Ontario, university professors are taking action to educate campus community members about the growing numbers of contract faculty at Ontario universities. A national campaign organized by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Fair Employment Week builds awareness and promotes fairness for contract faculty. “Most students are unaware if their professor is on […]
Members of the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) faced huge challenges in this round of bargaining. The university administration was demanding serious concessions on many issues, including pensions, workload, and core faculty rights. The administration’s inability to provide essential data, delays in bargaining, and the employer’s initial refusal to agree to mediation dates layered procedural […]
On Monday, over 12,000 faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges went on strike. For over three months, they have been working hard at the bargaining table, pushing for a better plan for Ontario’s colleges, including fairness for contract faculty, collegial governance that includes faculty in academic decision-making, and academic freedom. Unfortunately, the College Employer Council rejected a last-minute faculty proposal aimed at averting a strike. The colleges even refused to agree […]
Over 12,000 faculty at all 24 public colleges across the province represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) are currently bargaining for a better plan for Ontario colleges, including fairness for contract faculty, collegial governance, and academic freedom. OCUFA President Gyllian Phillips sent this letter of support to RM Kennedy, Chair of Ontario College […]
The letter below was sent to Premier Kathleen Wynne on September 27 from Dr. Frankie Cachon, a contract faculty member at the University of Windsor and Chair of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement Committee. Dear Premier Wynne, I am a contract faculty member at the University of […]
On September 15 and 16, the first ever Fight for $15 & Fairness Provincial Campus Assembly took place at the University of Toronto. Faculty from universities across Ontario attended and took part in discussions and workshops about how to win stronger labour legislation, as well as how to advance the $15 and Fairness agenda on […]
The Government of Ontario recently announced that in the coming months it will put forward legislation to create a new French-language university, by and for Francophones. The announcement follows the August 28, 2017 release of the French-Language University Planning Board’s report on the feasibility of establishing a new French-language university in Central-Southwestern Ontario. Struck last fall and chaired by Dr. Dyane Adam, a former official languages […]
On Monday, the Windsor Star published an editorial by OCUFA President Gyllian Phillips and Frankie Cachon, Chair of OCUFA’s Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement Committee. The editorial provides background on the growing number of contract faculty being employed in Ontario’s postsecondary education system. Phillips and Cachon present faculty perspectives on Bill 148 and point to exceptions in the […]
OCUFA is part of the Fight for $15 & Fairness, a broad group that is advocating for better labour laws and a $15 minimum wage across Ontario. On September 15 and 16, the first ever $15 & Fairness Provincial Campus Assembly will take place at the University of Toronto. Faculty from universities across the province are invited to attend, and you can […]
In May, OCUFA brought together representatives of its membership to identify the policy issues affecting Ontario’s universities that they view as most critical, and to draft recommendations for addressing them. The final report summarizing these consultations is now available online. OCUFA regularly conducts research, produces papers and briefs, and hosts conversations on targeted policy issues affecting higher education in Ontario. However, the 2017 Policy Exchange […]
Wilfrid Laurier’s full-time faculty and professional librarians have reached a collective agreement with the University that will help protect faculty complement, improve contract faculty representation in governance, and lead to competitive salary increases. The collective agreement ratified by the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) will create a new committee tasked with examining the possibility […]
