Dear Colleagues!
In this update: UTFA’s Negotiation Team and the Administration continue to engage in mediation while preparing for the commencement of arbitration on Feb 10. Get the details and ask questions at the Bargaining Town Halls on Jan 20 & 21. We want to hear from you about recent administration directives around graduate student funding, academic restructuring, and learning materials. Read more about these issues as well as the Associations’s self-study, responsible investing & the UPP, and more.
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Your UTFA Negotiating Team continues to be engaged in formal, generally productive, mediation with the senior Administration, seeking to reach a new deal on salary, benefits, workload, and some policy issues for faculty and librarians. Our last agreement expired on June 30, 2023.
- Well over a year ago, UTFA’s Team tabled, and Council approved, a slate of detailed proposals consistent with members’ priorities and its bargaining mandate. The Administration's engagement on these proposals varied from collegial cooperation to, in some cases, presumptive dismissal (for more detailed information on this please consider attending the Town Hall meetings).
- Along with an arbitration hearing commencing on Feb 10th, the parties have one more mediation date scheduled on Jan. 23rd. UTFA will continue to update you on our progress at mediation.
- We continue to have a high level of engagement between the parties regarding proposed changes to the grievance and arbitration process.
- We’ve reached an agreement on access to Microsoft Office 365 for Retirees in the form of a Letter of Understanding (LoU), which Council subsequently ratified. This is great news for our recently retired (and soon-to-be-retired) members!
Meet your UTFA Negotiators at our upcoming interactive Bargaining Update Town Hall meetings (via Zoom) - one for active (not-yet-retired) faculty members and librarians January 20th and one for retirees on January 21st. See here for more details.
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The Association is increasing its outreach efforts to better understand your workplace issues.
We want to hear from you! Our membership engagement plan includes more e-blasts, surveys, and updates, department site visits, town hall meetings, department-based “listening sessions,” and outreach to Chairs.
We are actively seeking input around three emerging issues:
Major changes to graduate student funding. We would like to know how the change in funding packages for graduate students will impact your department, recruiting, research, and faculty life. Please send your comments to your Council representative and faculty@utfa.org
UTFA has become aware that various units are undergoing or might potentially undergo academic restructuring. The University’s own policies on Academic restructuring require that potentially affected faculty members and librarians have had a reasonable opportunity to participate in a collegial, inclusive, and deliberative process in which the context of potential Academic restructuring could be explored and during which their input is sought. If you have any experience with this process, we’d like to hear about it. Please send your comments to your Council representative and faculty@utfa.org
Directive to Itemize a List of Learning Materials. Many of you have emailed us with concerns about the work involved in the Administration’s survey in response to the Ministry directive related to the cost of learning materials. We are now engaging the Administration on this issue. Please let us know your specific issues or questions at faculty@utfa.org.
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UTFA is engaging in a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) self-study.
We are working with members, negotiators from other Associations, and legal experts in the field to explore solutions to the short-comings of our MoA, including via empirical investigation of the approaches used by peer institutions’ Faculty Associations (both unionized and non-unionized associations).
If you are interested in learning about and discussing potential certification, please contact us at faculty@utfa.org.
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Request for Responsible Investing in the University Pension Plan (UPP)
Ariel Katz, Vice-President, Salary, Benefits, Pensions & Workload, advised UTFA Council that a Workers Campaign for UPP Divestment hosted an information session on November 13, 2024, for faculty members and librarians titled “Towards Responsible Investing in the University Pension Plan” and have asked that UTFA to pass a UPP divestment motion.
Council was advised that 50 or more UTFA members may be invoking paragraph 10.2 of UTFA’s Constitution and requesting that the UTFA President call for a General Meeting regarding this issue.
On January 14, UTFA hosted a special information session on Responsible Investment for UTFA Council representatives and members of the UTFA Pension Committee following the Worker’s Campaign request to speak to UTFA’s leadership.
Various others have subsequently approached UTFA, wanting to be actively involved in the conversation about Responsible Investment. We will communicate the next steps soon. As always, we are interested in hearing from you via faculty@utfa.org.
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Climate Change Banking Event
UTFA will be holding an informational event including offers from local credit unions as well as Q&A with NEI Investments (a Canadian ethical investment management company) and faculty experts.
Tentative date will be in late February 2025. More to come!
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Have a question about your rights? Contact advice@utfa.org. All emails are confidential.
General questions or comments for UTFA: faculty@utfa.org. All emails are confidential.
Find your UTFA rep: https://www.utfa.org/content/council-members
Committees: https://www.utfa.org/content/standing-committees
Annual AGM: Thursday April 10, 2025, from 3:00pm-5:00pm