On June 28, 2017, UTFA Council ratified a one-year agreement with the University administration.
The UTFA Negotiating Team for Salary, Benefit, Pension and Workload reached tentative agreement with the University administration on Tuesday, June 13, 2017.
The agreement provides for an increase in salary for the 2017-18 year, effective July 1, 2017. The negotiated salary increase will be 1.75%, comprised of a 1% across-the-board increase to existing salaries, together with an additional $1150 per member (representing a .75% increase on average salary). This increase compares favourably with increases negotiated in the university sector in Ontario, including among peer institutions, for 2017-18, and with other broader public sector settlements.
The agreement also provides for the formal inclusion of bereavement leave in the existing Compassionate Care and Emergency Leave policy, as well as some modest administrative reporting improvements to the Workload Policy and extending the previous agreement on ensuring the maximum pensionable income is as high as the Income Tax Act permits for this upcoming year.
Download and read the agreement here.
UTFA will return to the bargaining table in the early Fall, to resume negotiations for the next agreement. Significantly, UTFA has obtained the administration’s agreement that, if mediation/arbitration is required for the next agreement, the mediation/arbitration will be concluded prior to its July 1, 2018 commencement date, and the agreement will be at least two years in duration.
In those upcoming negotiations, the UTFA Negotiating Team will, of course, vigorously pursue both salary and non-salary improvements (including to benefits and workload).
However, for this next year, the Team concluded that the emphasis should be placed on negotiating a reasonable salary increase, and having it in place as soon as possible. This was particularly the case given the ongoing discussions around a Jointly Sponsored Pension Plan, (or JSPP).
UTFA’s Negotiating Team was able to secure the administration’s agreement that, in the context of a one-year agreement focused only on salary increases, the parties would defer the question of potential future pension contribution increases (and any corresponding offsets) to the next round of bargaining (More information on the JSPP).
Negotiations over various policy issues will commence October 1, 2017, including over Policies for Librarians, the Policy on the Appointment of Part-time Faculty, and privacy issues. Negotiations over policy matters are now subject to the mediator/fact-finder process under the revised Memorandum of Agreement.