Each year, dozens of faculty from universities across Ontario travel to Toronto to participate in OCUFA’s Advocacy Day. The event provides an opportunity for faculty to meet with their local Members of Provincial Parliament and brief them about faculty priorities for Ontario’s universities. In addition to local MPPs, OCUFA representatives also met with Minister of […]
Today, the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations and the Centre for the Study of Canadian and International Higher Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto are hosting the fourth annual Worldviews Lecture on Media and Higher Education. Professor Sigal Ben-Porath will deliver a lecture title “Free speech on campus: […]
LONDON – According to a recent poll commissioned by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), 68 per cent of those who live in Southwestern Ontario want professors with job security and benefits teaching university courses. Among Ontario youth considering a postsecondary education, support was even higher, with 71 per cent stating this as […]
TORONTO – Ontario’s faculty and academic librarians are concerned that the 2018 Ontario Budget continues to underfund the province’s universities. Ontario’s universities receive the lowest per-student funding in Canada and the government’s decision not to meaningfully invest in core operating grants threatens the quality of education. The lack of increased funding to support the government’s […]
KINGSTON – According to a recent poll commissioned by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), 65 per cent of those who live in Eastern Ontario want professors with job security and benefits teaching university courses. Among Ontario youth considering a postsecondary education, support was even higher, with 71 per cent stating this as […]
On Saturday, February 3 and Sunday, February 4, OCUFA held its second Board of Directors meeting of the 2017-18 academic year. Over the weekend, board members discussed the organization’s current priorities – good jobs and vibrant universities, university funding, and capacity building – with a focus on the postsecondary issues that will be receiving the […]
On February 28, faculty, staff, and students from across Ontario will participate in OCUFA’s annual social media day of action in support of fairness for contract faculty and other precariously employed campus workers. In the lead-up to the provincial election in June, it will be an exciting opportunity to build upon the momentum generated by […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The government is currently considering changes to employment and labour law that could bring more fairness to workplaces across the province. More than ten faculty associations presented at the recent hearings on Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act about how the bill can deliver fairness for contract faculty, including equal pay for equal work, fair scheduling, and more secure and stable jobs. Faculty also […]
The government’s announcement of its intention to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2019 is a victory for workers across Ontario and for faculty who have been active members of the Fight for $15 & Fairness , a provincial campaign calling on the provincial government to take decisive action to address precarious work. Faculty still have a role to […]
University professors and academic librarians are pleased that the government is taking steps to bring more fairness to workplaces across Ontario. Today’s announcement by the Ontario Government includes positive measures to ensure equal pay for part-time and casual workers, more reasonable scheduling, and better rules for joining unions in some sectors. It also includes a welcome plan […]
On Tuesday, May 23, the Ontario Government released the final report of the Changing Workplaces Review. The review was initiated in 2015 to consider the province’s existing employment and labour law and how it might be improved to address the growth of precarious work and create better conditions for workers. The rise of precarious work […]
The 2017 Ontario Budget failed to make much-needed investments in the province’s universities. This continued underfunding threatens the quality of education and will cause Ontario to fall even further behind other provinces in public per-student funding. The budget includes no new university operating funding for the next three years. Adjusted for inflation, this will amount […]
