The Constitution of the Faculty Association requires us to hold at least a fall and a spring general meeting. It is the tradition to have reports from our various committees and observers at this spring meeting. Because we need to have time to engage in whatever discussion you wish about the reports, I intend to keep my remarks fairly short.
1. Introduction of Executive Committee:
The Executive Committee for 2002-03 includes: Debbie Haines (Veterinary Microbiology), Glenis Joyce (Extension Division), Cheryle Kelm (Physical Therapy), Dan Pennock (Soil Science), Martin Phillipson (Law), Kurt Wetzel (Industrial Relations and Organizational Behaviour), Tracy Marchant (Biology), Bob Gander (Electrical Engineering), all of whom are carrying over from last year and two new members, MaryLynn Gagn (Library) and Richard Julien (Education Curriculum Studies). I, also from Law, will be continuing with the Executive during the upcoming year.
The table officers and grievance officers for this year were decided
upon yesterday and are as follows:
Chair:
Tim Quigley
Vice-Chair:
Debbie Haines
Secretary-Treasurer:
Cheryle Kelm
Grievance
Officers: Tracy Marchant and Martin Phillipson
2. Retiring Executive Members:
Two members of the Executive Committee will be retiring from the Executive when their terms expire June 30, 2002: Nurul Chowdhury (Electrical Engineering) and Deb Cottreau (Drama). I would like to make a presentation to each of them.
Nurul has been Vice-Chair for the past year and a half. His role has included co-chairing the meetings of the Joint Committee for the Management of the Agreement (JCMA), acting as observer on the Appointments Committees, and filling in for me as Chair on occasion. Nurul also was a member of our Negotiating Team during the last round of negotiations.
Deb has been Secretary for the Executive during this past year. She has also participated on occasion at JCMA and on last year's Negotiating Team.
We will miss the contributions that both of you have made and wish you the best in your return as regular faculty members. We hope, however, that you will continue to have involvement with the Association. Indeed, Nurul has offered to participate in JCMA for us and that is very much appreciated.
3. Canadian Association of University Teachers:
As you know, at a special general meeting on April 2, members of the Association voted overwhelmingly to apply to rejoin CAUT. I attended the CAUT Council meetings later in April, at which time our application was approved unanimously. I am pleased that we are once again a member of the community of universities and colleges in this country. We have already taken advantage of the services of CAUT in a variety of ways: a negotiating workshop last year and again this year, obtaining financial information about our university, informal advice, etc. In the fall, we have asked CAUT to conduct another workshop for us, this one for Faculty Association Representatives (FARS) in order that we can continue our efforts to improve member involvement in the affairs of the union. We also will be obtaining assistance from CAUT as we seek to hasten the process of implementing both pay equity and employment equity on this campus.
A very attractive feature of our membership in CAUT is that workshops such as these are conducted on site here so that more of our members are able to participate. Moreover, there are free of charge in that they are part of the services that we receive for our membership dues.
4. Collective Bargaining:
Our present collective agreement will expire on June 30, 2002. Please remember that, effective that date, we will receive a family vision care plan, a small increase in the Professional Expense Allowance, and a reduction in faculty member premiums under the dental plan.
We have given notice to the University to negotiate a new Collective Agreement. Indeed, we have already had a preliminary meeting of the Collective Negotiating Committee and another meeting is scheduled for June 7. The members of our Negotiating Team are: Bob Gander, Kurt Wetzel, Johanne Brassard, and one additional person who we have yet to name.
We have heard a great deal from our members, especially department heads, about the palpable increase in workload that has occurred over the past several years. This is not surprising, given that we have lost between 100 and 200 faculty members through attrition, while student numbers have increased. We intend to try to address workload issues at the bargaining table, perhaps through seeking an increase in the total faculty complement.
Other issues that will undoubtedly surface include: changes to Article 18 which deals with Librarians, salary and perhaps some reform to the salary grid, tuition scholarships, steps to address the workload of department heads and to make those positions more attractive, advancing both pay equity and employment equity, and increasing the number of releases available to Executive members. We would anticipate a longer term agreement on this occasion, although that will be determined as negotiations unfold. You can expect to hear more about the collective bargaining process as we seek your views about what the priorities should be.
I must also mention a separate negotiating table at which we are attempting to negotiate the terms and conditions of approximately 85 without term members in the College of Medicine. They became our members last summer as a result of a Labour Relations Board decision. I can advise that our negotiations have proceeded fairly smoothly and that we anticipate a tentative agreement quite soon. The major sticking point is job security. Until now, such employees have been subject to a 90 day termination notice. The University resists them receiving the same notice and severance benefits available to other in-scope faculty because the funding for these positions comes from other than the operating money provided by the provincial government. On the other hand, we are trying to obtain as close to the same notice and severance benefits as we can. In other respects, we are pleased to say that these members will be entitled to the same benefits as other members and that they will now be able to participate in collegial processes and obtain leaves in the same manner as other members.
I am also pleased to say that we are in the process of completing yet another set of negotiations at another side table. This process involves some members of the College of Agriculture who have previously been in part-year, usually 6 month, positions; our negotiations have led them to be part-time on a full year basis. This will allow them to have fringe benefits throughout the year, to participate in collegial decisions more readily, and to take vacations in a more flexible way. This process was addressed through the Joint Committee for the Management of the Agreement (JCMA).
5. Staffing and Membership Involvement:
For some years, the Association has faced a problem of too much work and too few members to do that work. In spite of considerable efforts to involve the membership more in the activities of the union, the problem persists. For example, in this spring's election, there were not enough nominations to fill all of the positions: one vacancy remains on the Executive Committee. Moreover, although we are able to designate four of our number to receive a reduction in teaching and other duties, this is far from sufficient. We will be seeking to increase this number in the upcoming negotiations. At the same time, we also intend to use the services of CAUT as much as we can to reduce the burden on Executive members and the staff; CAUT's assistance in research and advice is particularly helpful.
That said, we also believe we may need to have more staff and that we need to use existing staff more efficiently. We currently have three staff, without whom the Association could not function at all: Carol McGibney, Ardyss Johnston, and Johanne Brassard. We have decided that we will give them more responsibility than has been the practice in the past. For instance, there is no reason why they cannot on occasion act as observers for certain committees if we are unable to find a member to undertake that role.
We expect that member involvement or lack thereof will become an even bigger problem in the future. First, we are experiencing the retirement of some of our more experienced members. It is projected that approximately another 500 members will retire within the next decade. Unfortunately, because newer faculty are both unfamiliar with the collective agreement and more often preoccupied with renewal of probation, tenure, and promotion decisions, there may well be a lack of volunteers to serve on the Executive or to act as observers or committee members.