Agenda Item 7
General Report of the Collective Bargaining Committee
December 5, 2014
OCUFA Priorities
a) Pensions
The work on the sustainability of Ontario university pension plans continues. For a detailed
update on the Jointly Sponsored Pension Plan project, please refer to the appended OCUFA
Pension Working Group report to Board, from the October 25th meeting, and the summary of the
Plenary Body meeting of October 17th (referred to in the report to Board). If you have any
questions specifically on local pension bargaining strategy, please contact Donna at
dgray@ocufa.on.ca
b) Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement
OCUFA has a new ad hoc committee on contract faculty and faculty complement – composed
of both contract faculty and tenured faculty. In the short term, the committee aims to educate
and increase solidarity. In the longer term, we aim to work together across universities to
increase wages, benefits and job security for contract faculty and address workload issues for
tenured faculty.
The second initiative on contract faculty is the Contract Faculty Caucus of this Committee. The
Caucus met last night with several CUPE locals. The goal is for OCUFA members and CUPE
locals to learn about priorities in contract faculty bargaining as well as compare collective
agreement language to ensure that we are all aware of the best collective agreement language
available.
Andrea can report on these two initiatives.
c) Online learning
The E-Learning Workshop will be held on Friday March 20th here at the Westin Harbour Castle.
This workshop will consist of four interactive sessions, and a plenary at the end of the day. The
first two sessions will set the context of E-Learning in the province (and focus on the
government’s agenda for Online Ontario), and on campuses. The third session will focus on
Pedagogical and Professional concerns. The fourth session – Terms and Conditions;
Developing a Bargaining Strategy – will be of most relevance to the Collective Bargaining
Committee. The goals of the fourth session are:
a)
b)
c)
d)
to identify three priority areas for focusing our bargaining efforts;
to identify effective collective agreement language currently in our agreements,
to identify gaps and weaknesses in the language, and
to generate new ideas and solutions.
Registration is now open via the OCUFA website: ocufa.on.ca. Please contact OCUFA staff
Karen Wheeler at kwheeler@ocufa.on.ca for further information about this workshop. You
should have received a flyer for the workshop with your package for this meeting.
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Other OCUFA Initiatives
i)
Finance Committee Workshop report
The OCUFA Finance Committee workshop, held in November, guided participants through
assessing the financial situation of local universities, communicating with members about the
analysis, and engaging members in pursuit of association goals. Bill Salatka has provided a
detailed report, which is attached to this document.
ii) After Bill 168: Occupational Health and Safety in the Academy workshop, Thursday April 9th
2015, Westin Harbour Castle.
Registration for this workshop is now open. Note the change of date to Thursday April 9th, 2015.
This workshop is intended for a cross-section of faculty association representatives and staff
responsible for the association’s role in these overlapping issues. Grievance officers,
representatives on joint occupational health and safety committees, equity and human rights
officers, negotiating committee members, and members of the executive are invited to
participate.
The principal objectives of this workshop are to:
 Provide up-to-date information on legal issues, and rights and responsibilities;
 Facilitate a practical discussion about what exists now at the association level;
 Identify steps faculty associations may take to close existing gaps and provide better
protection for their members’ rights to a healthy and safe workplace;
 Propose issues for further discussion;
 Foster a community of practice sharing experience and knowledge about effective
means of ensuring healthy and safe workplaces in the academy.
iii) Faculty Salary Data
The 2013 OCAV (Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents) report is currently delayed.
Data from Ryerson have not yet been finalized. As soon as it is available, you will receive a
copy.
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