Members of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) and Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) part-time unit have given their bargaining teams resounding strike mandates. UWOFA members voted 91 per cent in favour and WLUFA contract faculty voted 95.4 per cent in favour of authorizing their respective bargaining and Executive teams to call […]
Three OCUFA member organizations ratified new agreements in recent months: Lakehead University The Lakehead University Faculty Association (LUFA) ratified a new agreement at the end of July. Still under the shadow of the compensation restraint imposed by Bill 124, the negotiating team focused on bargaining for a one-year deal and made some significant gains on the priorities […]
SUDBURY/TORONTO, September 14, 2022 – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) supports the decision by creditors, including the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) and the Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU), to move forward with the negotiated Plan of Arrangement under the Companies Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA). The implementation of the plan will be […]
SUDBURY, July 18, 2022 – As a new academic year approaches, the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA), Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU), and Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) are demanding accountability and transparency from the Laurentian Senior administration and the Government of Ontario. Faculty, staff, and students at Laurentian University have experienced a […]
There is more to Academic Matters than just the print issue. New articles are being added to the Academic Matters website every week. Here are some recent articles you might find interesting: Gender pay gap: It’s roughly half-a-million dollars for women professors across a lifetime “There are substantial, long-term impacts from the gender pay gap for faculty at Canadian universities. Recent research from our multidisciplinary team, which includes […]
The McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) has made significant gains in their new three-year agreement. On equity, a Working Group on Collecting and Reporting Salary Data for Equity-Deserving Groups has been established that will recommend an approach to gather, analyze, and report on MUFA member salary data to support salary parity. An agreement has also […]
OCUFA is proud to announce that writer Simon Lewsen and photographer Chloë Ellingson have won the Mindset Award for Reporting on the Mental Health of Young People at the Canadian Association of Journalists Awards. Their article, Inside the Mental Health Crisis Facing College and University Students , was financially supported by OCUFA’s Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism and published in the November 2021 issue of […]
OCUFA is proud to announce that Nigmendra Narain has been elected as the organization’s new Vice-President. Since 2000, Nigmendra has been a Lecturer in Political Science at Western University, teaching first-year students and courses in International Relations and TV & Politics. He has been involved with the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association in many […]
On the weekend of May 14–15, the OCUFA Board met for its first hybrid meeting since the beginning of the pandemic and the final meeting of the 2021-22 academic year. Members attended in person and joined virtually from across Ontario to discuss the provincial election, political advocacy, on-campus action, and new postsecondary education developments in […]
The Nipissing University Faculty Association Full-Time Academic Staff Bargaining Unit (NUFA, FASBU) has ratified a one-year rollover of their collective agreement, with a few improvements. In addition to the existing course releases provided to the association, a three-credit course release, or equivalent, for the position of “Indigenous Faculty Representative to the Association Executive” will be […]
OCUFA is pleased to announce that Tahmeed Shafiq and Jadine Ngan are the recipients of the 2022 Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education. Tahmeed and Jadine will be investigating the causes of student suicide and their impacts on campus and in the broader community. Their investigative research will take on a national scope. By consulting […]
On May 6, the OCUFA University Governance Committee held a virtual workshop, entitled “The Erosion of Collegial Governance: Reclaiming Lost Ground.” The workshop was a hands-on, training-focused event aimed at supporting OCUFA member associations and faculty and academic librarian representatives on governing bodies in their advocacy and activism around shared governance. The workshop was introduced […]
OCUFA has released a new video that celebrates the energy, commitment, and dedication of faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals across Ontario. The past year has been challenging, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of Laurentian University, but OCUFA’s members have persevered and shown that they are energized and ready to redouble […]
In a recent segment on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, OCUFA President Sue Wurtele laid out OCUFA’s priorities in this election, joining other panelists for an engaging and informative discussion on the postsecondary education platforms put forward by Ontario’s political parties. Watch the full segment: Which Party Has the Best Post-secondary Plan?
During the Ontario election campaign, OCUFA has been monitoring party platform announcements and asking parties pointed questions about where they stand on important policies that will shape the future of postsecondary education in the province. OCUFA has now completed a comprehensive analysis of each party’s commitments for postsecondary education and evaluated how they measure up […]
