Details about the recently-signed tentative agreement reached by faculty and administration at Acadia University will not be publicized after ratification. The Acadia University Faculty Association (AUFA) had been dealing for months with snail’s pace ‘negotiations’, and little interest from the employer in addressing concerns of frontline academics. As ‘talks’ dragged on, AUFA leadership sought and […]
Read More »2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the 1997 UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of higher education teaching personnel which expressed concern about the vulnerability of the academic community to untoward political pressures that could undermine academic freedom, and declared member states to have an obligation to protect higher education institutions from threats to their autonomy. […]
Read More »University of Manitoba One year ago today, members of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association ratified an agreement after being on strike for three weeks. Seeking provisions on performance indicators, workload, and powers of Deans, UMFA members had voted 86% in favour of strike action. A further issue of deep concern was that the Pallister […]
Read More »The university is moving to semi-monthly pay for all faculty and staff starting January 1, 2018. This move is for compliance with provincial labour legislation. Every month will be divided into two pay periods. First period will be from the 1st – 15th with salary payment on the 15th for salaried employees and on the […]
Read More »At the recent AGM, after Senior Grievance Office Patricia Farnese reported despite unprecedented numbers of arbitrations, some members asked whether this is an attempt to strain the resources of the Association. Secretary-Treasurer Susan Fowler-Kerry reported that USFA remains in a good financial decision. Almost thirty years ago, the membership of USFA voted to establish a […]
Read More »At our Annual General Meeting, Senior Grievance Office Patricia Farnese reporting on behalf of the Association Grievance Committee (AGC) said that the number of grievances the Association is dealing with has been unprecedented. Some highlights from her report: For the second time, a member of Senior Administration was found to have discriminated or retaliated against […]
Read More »If you are required to maintain a certification or license in order to perform your academic duties, you may be eligible for reimbursement of some or all of your licensing or certification fees (Article 22.12.2). Claims for reimbursement must be submitted between November 1 and December 1, 2017. What you need to know: Claim forms […]
Read More »Our collective agreement expired June 30, 2017 and we have begun negotiations with the employer. We do not anticipate this being an easy, or a quick, round of negotiations. While our theme for negotiations planning has been “equity and stability” including issues of scope and rank for academic clinicians in the College of Medicine (see […]
Read More »The Association has filed a grievance with respect to the recommendation for tenure and rank after a decanal level appointment. This is not a personal attack on the qualifications of the unit leader, but a matter of upholding the integrity of the collegial processes defined in our Collective Agreement and protecting the jurisdiction of the […]
Read More »An Arbitrator recently ruled that the actions of a Dean in removing the responsibility for a University exchange program from a faculty member’s assigned duties for the 2015-2016 academic year was a violation of the collective agreement, and that the Dean’s action was discriminatory and retaliatory in nature because the member had expressed her intention […]
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