As you know, UTFA’s last settlement with the University administration expired on June 30, 2014. Your negotiating team has been engaged in bilateral negotiations with the Administration over the past twelve months in an attempt to reach a fair and reasonable agreement on monetary and non-monetary issues covered under Article 6 of the Memorandum of Agreement.
The two parties met with the mediator, Mr. Kevin Burkett, on May 5th, exchanged mediation briefs on May 22nd and participated in two full days of mediation on the weekend of May 30th and 31st. The UTFA team felt that some progress was made, and we agreed to Mr. Burkett’s suggestion that the two sides meet again at the end of June. In the meantime, we plan to continue refining our positions and formulating a considered response to the Administration’s proposals in a sincere effort to reach a mediated settlement, while at the same time scheduling arbitration dates should mediation be unsuccessful.
I remind all members of UTFA that at the start of this round of bargaining the Administration repeatedly invoked government pressure to resist any net compensation increases. We continue to reject that position in the strongest possible terms, and to press for real improvements to salary, benefits, and workload.
Thank you for your patience and support. For more information on this round of negotiations, please see my report in the AGM Newsletter and Bargaining Reports #1, #2, and #3. As always, please feel free to contact the bargaining team with comments or questions at bargaining@utfa.org.
Paul Downes
UTFA Vice-President, Salary, Benefits, Pensions and Workload
Associate Professor, Department of English
Members of the negotiating team are:
Katharine Rankin – Professor, Department of Geography; UTFA Council member
Cynthia Messenger – Senior Lecturer, Director of the Writing and Rhetoric Program, Innis College; UTFA Vice-President, Grievances
Bobby Glushko – Scholarly Communications and Copyright Librarian
Paul Hamel – Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology; UTFA Executive Member
Linda Kohn – Professor, UTM Biology; UTFA Vice-President, University and External Affairs
George Milbrandt – Retired Professor, Faculty of Education
Scott Prudham – Professor, Department of Geography and School of the Environment; UTFA President