Highlights from the President's Report to the Annual General Meeting

By Dr. Kristine Hansen, UWFA President

Pictured (left to right): Dr. David Burley, Dr. Tracy Whalen and Dr. Alexander Freund

This has been a year of considerable UWFA activity. All three bargaining units have been in the process of negotiations, there has been an ongoing need for advocacy on a variety of issues, there have been an unusual number of Member-to-Member dispute situations, and we have experienced staffing changes and other internal issues.

Bargaining

A new contract has just been ratified for the Contract Faculty Unit. Collegiate Unit negotiations are in progress. The Main Unit Collective Bargaining Committee has held extensive membership consultations, and will soon propose membership ratification of a bargaining mandate for negotiations, which are scheduled to begin in May. Thanks to CF Chief Negotiator Hugh Grant and team; Collegiate Negotiator Karen Zoppa and team; and MU Collective Bargaining Committee Chair Dave Burley, members of that committee, and MU Chief Negotiator Wendy Josephson.

Advocacy

This has been the second year of operations of the Main Unit Labour-Management Committee (LMC). Despite some problems of delays in considering and/or implementing solutions to some issues, the LMC has provided a useful forum for resolution of problems in administering the Collective Agreement, and we are attempting to extend the LMC model to the other bargaining units. Among the many issues the LMC has addressed have been concerns of fairness in allocating teaching load in the context of this year’s move to a 2.5 FCE course load. Last year, the LMC agreed that no Member should be teaching more students under the 2.5 FCE system than he/she had taught previously under the 3.0 FCE system, and that uneven teaching loads across department members need to be balanced over time.

Recently, we have been discussing increases to course caps, which created some inequities this past year. Members should be vigilant in questioning any cap increases that would negate the principle of balance over time.

We also have been active in advocacy in venues in addition to the LMC. In particular, we have opposed attempts to implement outside of the Collective Agreement new or revised University policies that affect our terms and conditions of employment, given that the Collective Agreement provides that such policies shall only be implemented with UWFA’s agreement. Examples of these activities include opposition to President Axworthy’s Community Learning paper, as well as to policies such as Senior Scholars (which raised academic freedom concerns) and the draft policy on graduate programs (which proposed allowing  persons who are not bargaining unit members to supervise students, and made no provision for teaching credit for graduate supervising).  We will continue to insist that all policies that affect our employment conditions be negotiated.

Finally, the need for UWFA advocacy regarding DB pension plan issues has ended, with the recent payout of the “DB surplus” money and the implementation of the Board of Pension Trustees. We remain concerned about the contribution levels in both DB and DC plans, and will address these in bargaining.

Member-to-Member Disputes

For some time now, there have been an unusually high number of Member-to-Member disputes in several Departments. These involve UWFA when the possibility of Employer discipline and/or a UWFA  grievance arises. They are time-consuming and expensive for the Association, in that they often necessitate substantial legal advice and the simultaneous representation of people with opposing interests. UWFA’s role is to uphold the Collective Agreement in such situations, which often is complicated. We are considering exploring the negotiation of means of reducing the likelihood of such disputes, including confidential trained-peer mediation and the provision of confidential consultation for Department Chairs.

Personnel Changes

Daniel Draper is now employed on an ongoing basis as UWFA’s Administrative Assistant. His and Lisa McGifford’s competence are considerable assets to the Association. Both employees have made solid contributions over the past year.

Thanks

I would like to thank outgoing UWFA Executive members for their contributions.  Particular appreciation is due to Alex Freund as outgoing Grievance Officer, Hugh Grant as outgoing Main Unit Chief Negotiator, Steven Kohm as outgoing Treasurer, Pauline Pearson as outgoing Chair of the Membership Committee, and Tracy Whalen (who remains as Secretary) and the Communications Committee for getting the Newsletter out regularly. In addition, a large and personally heartfelt thank you is due to David Burley as outgoing Vice-President. Dave is also soon to retire from the University, and I thank him not only for his hard work as the current V-P, but also for his contributions to UWFA over time. Finally, thanks to all of those Members who have served on UWFA committees or as UWFA appointees, and to all of you who have helped to support your union.

Did you miss the AGM? The annual reports (including the full President’s report) distributed at the meeting are available from the UWFA Office.