The Executive of USFA met recently with representatives of the University to exchange views on the Living Our Values document, about which we informed you recently. The discussion was lively, but also productive, and we appreciated the opportunity to share thoughts on this matter. The document is a work in progress, but you may wish […]
Read More »At the outset of this round of negotiations, the USFA requested information from the Employer (in August and then in October) for the purposes of negotiating outstanding issues concerning the College of Medicine, including: services considered to be academic services provided by Provincial Academic Clinical Funding Plan (P-ACFP) contractors to the university; a list of […]
Read More »For those who have not yet completed the online questionnaire related to childcare services for faculty on campus, this is a reminder that the closing date for the questionnaire is scheduled for March 12, 2018. Depending on your responses, the questionnaire should take approximately 5 to 15 minutes of your time. Your responses will be anonymous as you will not be asked to provide […]
Read More »The Employer has proposed changes to Article 3 (Management Rights). This seems to arise from a key interest for the Employer in this round of negotiations, that is, to address issues of authority and governance at our institution, articulated as follows in the November Labour Update: Our interest is in ensuring that we are negotiating […]
Read More »Since last June we have met with the Employer on 16 separate dates, and have scheduled 10 more between now and June. Talks have proceeded slowly, due to both scheduling difficulties and some lengthy dialogue concerning issues where our interests are far apart. Coming into negotiations with a mandate themed “Equity and Stability,” we encountered […]
Read More »The Committee on Women’s Issues, chaired by Susan Fowler-Kerry, continues to work actively to raise awareness about women’s issues at the university. Most recently, they have been engaged in a series of discussions related to evaluations of Indigenous Women on this campus. In an effort to promote transparency and fairness as we embrace diversity and Indigenization, […]
Read More »In November 2017, USFA received notice of the drafting of Living our Values, described as a code of conduct. In subsequent weeks, representatives of the Employer met with our grievance officer, and our professional officer to discuss a more detailed draft. We subsequently heard rumours to the effect that the Association had approved the document; […]
Read More »USFA members are invited to submit an application to the Executive Committee for reimbursement of attendance at a conference/workshop/meeting related to the USFA including, but not limited to, labour relations, academic freedom, employment equity, and workplace health and safety. The USFA Conference/Workshop/Meeting Attendance Policy was instituted as a way to ensure that there is an […]
Read More »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. […]
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