President’s Report to the
OCUFA Collective Bargaining Committee
February 15, 2013
www.ocufa.on.ca
The months since the last CBC meeting have continued to be a busy time for OCUFA. Glen Murray’s
resignation as Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities to run for the Liberal leadership made the
future of government initiatives in our sector even more uncertain. Despite the uncertainty, OCUFA has
continued to forge ahead to protect the interests of our members, defend collective bargaining, and
build a high-quality higher education sector.
Liberal Leadership
The Liberal leadership contest was held January 26, 2013 and Don Valley West MPP Kathleen Wynne
emerged victorious. Wynne defeated the perceived frontrunner, Sandra Pupatello by securing the
support of fellow candidates Eric Hoskins (St. Paul’s), Charles Sousa (Mississauga South) and Gerrard
Kennedy (no seat). The only leadership contender to support Pupatello at the convention was Harinder
Takhar (Mississauga-Erindale); Glen Murray withdrew from the leadership race before the convention
and declared his support for Wynne.
Glen Murray, who had been Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, resigned his cabinet position
in order to run for the Liberal leadership, in keeping with the requirements of the leadership contest.
Following his resignation from Cabinet, Minister Murray was replaced by former Minister of TCU John
Milloy.
Kathleen Wynne presented herself throughout the leadership campaign as the candidate who was best
positioned to bring the legislature back as soon as possible and to work collaboratively with the
opposition parties. Wynne is likely to bring the legislature back on February 19, 2013 and to try to make
this parliament work for as long as possible by securing the support of one of the opposition parties
(most likely the NDP, given Wynne’s more progressive leanings).
OCUFA met with Wynne during the Liberal leadership campaign and she responded to the questionnaire
that was distributed to all of the leadership candidates. We hope to maintain an open working
relationship with Kathleen Wynne and her government moving forward.
Kathleen Wynne was sworn in as Premier on February 11 along with a new Cabinet. Brad Duguid
(previously Minister of Labour, Aboriginal Affairs, Energy and Economic Development) will take over as
Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. OCUFA will try to meet with Minister Duguid as soon as
possible.
Government Push for Transformational Change
With the appointment of a new Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities under the leadership of
Kathleen Wynne, it remains unclear what will become of the reform agenda that was initiated by
Minister Murray in the summer of 2012. Over the course of the Liberal leadership campaign when the
Ministry was under the direction of a caretaker Minister, the initiative appeared no longer to be a
priority.
Many in the sector had anticipated a report summarizing the content of the summer consultations, but
nothing has been released.
Once OCUFA has had an opportunity to meet with the new Minister of Training, Colleges and
Universities, we will be better able to determine the status of the “transformational change” initiatives
that began in the summer.
Pensions
At the October Board meeting, a motion was passed authorizing OCUFA to explore options for the
future of Ontario university pension plans following a member consultation process assisted by Eckler
Consultants and Actuaries throughout the Fall.
At the same Board meeting, then-Minister Glen Murray announced that the Ministry of Training
Colleges and Universities (MTCU) had approved the University Union Pension Coalition’s request for
funding to support a research project exploring options for sector-made reforms to university pension
plans. This research project will enable OCUFA and our pension policy group to explore options for
Ontario university pension plans as approved by the Board. The work for this project will be carried out
in large part by Eckler Consultants and Actuaries and Murray Gold from Koskie Minsky. The details of the
transfer payment agreement are being finalized and we hope the agreement will be signed in the
coming weeks.
The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) was also given funding from MTCU to explore university
pension issues. OCUFA will be meeting with COU to discuss information sharing in order to facilitate
both research projects. The University Union Pension Coalition and the OCUFA pension group will be
meeting on February 21, 2013 to discuss the terms of reference for the research project.
In parallel with our efforts with the pension research project, the Ministry of Finance appears to be
moving forward with the recommendations of the Morneau report. The report called for the inclusion of
all defined benefit university pension funds in a large pooled asset manager (the Ontario Investment
Management Corporation) that would manage at least $50 billion in assets. The report specified that
individual plans would retain control over asset allocation decisions and the government would assume
the costs associated with establishing the OIMC.
OCUFA sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance on November 19, 2012 outlining some of our concerns
with the report’s recommendations. For example, the report recommends a particular governance
model for the OIMC but does not provide justification for the selection of this model. OCUFA believes
that something as centrally important as the governance model must be more thoroughly explored with
stakeholder input prior to being established. OCUFA is also concerned that the rationale for the $50
billion threshold is not clear and that the scope of the fund should flow exclusively from best practices in
pension plan investment and management, rather than the assumption that bigger is better. The letter
emphasized that overall, participation in the pooled asset manager should be determined according to
whether participation is in the best interest of a particular plan.
OCUFA met with staff from the Ministry of Finance on December 19, 2012 to discuss some of our
concerns with the Morneau report, highlighting in particular that we felt that the Pension Coalition’s
research project should conclude before moving forward with any decisions on asset pooling or any
other government initiatives that would affect university pension plans. The Ministry of Finance
provided OCUFA with a further set of questions for consultation in response to the Morneau proposals
and offered greater detail about the proposed governance structure of the OIMC.
We expect that even with a new Liberal leader, pensions are likely to remain an important issue.
Collective Bargaining
Following a series of one-day rotating strikes throughout the province, the McGuinty government
imposed contracts on elementary and secondary school teachers on January 3, 2013 using the powers
created by Bill 115, the “Putting Students First Act.” The government has since repealed Bill 115 and
Kathleen Wynne has indicated that she will not open up the teacher contracts that were imposed under
the bill.
The government had drafted, but not introduced, similar anti-labour legislation for the broader public
sector – the “Protecting Public Services Act” – that would have affected universities if implemented.
When OCUFA met with Kathleen Wynne, however, she indicated that she did not intend to introduce
this legislation. She did, however, maintain the McGuinty government’s position that the current fiscal
situation in the province is such that all broader public sector employees must accept zero per cent
wage increases. There was some indication, both in our meeting and in her responses to our
questionnaire, that under a Wynne government, the process for achieving this goal would necessarily be
different from that of her predecessor, although no details have been provided.
Education and Mobilization
In response to the broader austerity narrative that continues to prevail, OCUFA has developed an
extensive education and mobilization strategy to push back against the government’s attack on
collective bargaining rights, pensions and the agenda for transformational change. On all fronts, our
ultimate concern is to protect local bargaining and ensure that these issues are dealt with at the local
level between faculty associations and administrations.
As part of the education and mobilization strategy we have identified faculty association contacts at
most member associations who will be responsible for local campus and community initiatives. In
collaboration with the Ontario University and College Coalition (OUCC) we are working to build a
network of campus allies who will be able to work with OCUFA and our member associations on local
initiatives. A more detailed overview of the work that has been accomplished as part of the education
and mobilization plan can be found in the table at the end of this report.
Working with Andre Turcotte, we have released regional results of our polling on austerity and higher
education in Hamilton, Ottawa and London. We will be releasing northern Ontario results at Laurentian
University on February 28. These visits also include town hall meetings designed to engage local faculty,
students and staff in a conversation about the impact of and alternatives to austerity.
Member-led activity at the campus and community level will continue to be key to the successful
implementation of the plan.
Visits with OCUFA member associations
The Executive Director and I have been visiting as many of the member associations as possible to speak
about OCUFA’s education and mobilization campaign, and the pressing issues we face as faculty and
academic librarians in Ontario universities. These visits also provide an excellent opportunity to learn
about the particular concerns of local campuses. Since the beginning of this academic year we have
attended meetings with the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association, the University of Toronto
Faculty Association, Trent University Faculty Association, Ryerson Faculty Association, Algoma University
Faculty Association, Laurentian University Faculty Association and Lakehead University Faculty
Association, with more visits planned.
These are indeed challenging times – but I am also encouraged by the creativity, dedication, and
determination our members bring to meeting those challenges, and promoting the high quality,
affordable and accessible public university system to which we are all committed.