LONDON, September 6th, 2023 – The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) negotiating team is returning to the bargaining table tomorrow, after an extended summer break, to continue to fight for a fair deal for Western’s Librarians and Archivists.  

This return to the table will be facilitated by Paul Pooler who was appointed as a conciliator by the Ontario government, upon request from UWOFA in July.

UWOFA-LA, the Bargaining Unit representing Librarians and Archivists, has been in negotiations with Western University since May. The parties have reached agreement on many things, but key outstanding issues remain. They are:

• Increasing and maintaining the number of Librarians and Archivists at Western
• Proper recognition of the professional status and expertise of Librarians and Archivists at Western
• A fair monetary package

If conciliation is unsuccessful, next steps would involve holding a strike vote, and then filing a “No Board” Report followed by a 17-day cooling off period, after which UWOFA-LA would be in a legal strike position.

The UWOFA-LA negotiating team remains committed to reaching a fair deal at the table and is hopeful that the university administration will make an offer that addresses their concerns and avoids a strike.

UWOFA-LA is supported by other members of the campus community, including the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, which hung a solidarity banner today in the FIMS and Nursing Building. 

To show your support, please visit the UWOFA website to send a pre-written letter to senior Western administrators: https://www.uwofa.ca/take-action/.

UWOFA-LA represents 44 Full-Time Librarians and Archivists and is part of UWOFA, the union which also represents over 1600 full-time and part-time faculty.

For more information contact: Maram Hijazi, UWOFA Communications Officer, uwofaco@uwo.ca.

With the fall term beginning soon, many Librarians and Archivists are preparing materials for teaching or in support of faculty teaching. Please read on for UWOFA’s advice for how to manage this work in the event of a potential labour disruption. This bulletin also includes some reminders about upcoming events we would really like to see you come out for.

UWOFA-LA Members

Please continue to prepare your materials but we encourage you to avoid sharing your materials with colleagues outside of UWOFA-LA in case we end up in a labour disruption. We also encourage you to inform faculty partners about your decision to wait until immediately before an affected class to share any materials and ask that they share this rationale with the students. You can find helpful presentation slides and more here.  

You can additionally share your rationale with UWOSA colleagues who might be supporting your teaching work. Please let them know that they are not expected to teach in your absence. If, however, they are directed to do so by managers outside of UWOFA-LA, they should comply and communicate the request to UWOSA. By avoiding pre-sharing of materials, we can help our UWOSA colleagues to better navigate such a request.  

In the specific case of pulling physical materials, you may want to consider protecting such materials with a code that only you know, making it more challenging for these materials to be used in your absence. 

If you have questions or would like support, please reach out to Kim Carson (kim.carson@uwo.ca) from Teaching & Learning.

UWOFA Faculty Members

As you can see above, we are advising UWOFA-LA members to avoid sharing teaching materials with faculty and students until immediately before they are required. In this way, they are protecting their intellectual property and also reducing the need for others to decide whether to teach a class in their absence. Please support our UWOFA-LA colleagues by communicating with your students about the current state of negotiations with the UWOFA-LA Bargaining Unit.  

If you have concerns about the impact of potential labour disruption on you or your students, please share them with UWO President Alan Shepard (president@uwo.ca) and Board of Governors Chair Keith Gibbons (kgibbon5@uwo.ca) and copy UWOFA. 

See below and visit our Take Action page for more ways to support our Librarian and Archivist colleagues in their fight for a fair contract. You can also find past bargaining bulletins here if you are unclear about the current state of bargaining and the remaining issues. 

Upcoming Events: Please come!

We return to negotiations next week, as our first day of conciliation coincides with the first day of undergrad classes on September 7th. As we gear up to return to the table, we would like to invite you again to the following events:

• • Friday, September 1st – L&A Social at the Grad Club, 2pm start
    • This is an opportunity for colleagues to reconnect as we head into the fall
  • Monday, September 4th (Labour Day) – London and District Labour Council picnic, 12-4pm at East Lion’s Park
    • Join UWOFA at East Lions Park (1731 Churchill Avenue) to celebrate the achievements of workers. Look for the UWOFA flags and table! Bring the whole family! Labour Day is a day to celebrate the accomplishments of the labour movement and the benefits of having a union at work.
    • We will be sharing material with the public about Librarian and Archivist bargaining. 

• O-Week info pickets – beginning September 7th and 8th

• • UWOFA’s Librarians and Archivists are fighting for fair compensation, adequate staffing and recognition for their professional status.  These things are necessary for a high class library system at Western. 
  • Help us spread the word to faculty, staff and students on campus. Please reach out to David Heap (djheap@uwo.ca) to sign up for a short shift.

We will be holding a Bargaining Information Meeting for L&A Members and the UWOFA Board on September 13th, from 2:00 – 3:00 pm in Taylor Library (there will be an option to attend remotely, Zoom link to come next week).

Please read through this bulletin carefully as it contains important updates. 

Conciliation News

Paul Pooler has been appointed as conciliator for our negotiations by the Ministry of Labour. Conciliators are third party neutrals to the bargaining process with a focus on getting the parties to a settlement. UWOFA and the Employer have experience working with Mr. Pooler, who acted as a conciliator in the last round of faculty bargaining in 2022 and in the 2019 round of L&A bargaining. The parties have confirmed four conciliation dates for September: 

• Full days on September 7, 12 and 15 
• Half day on September 21

UWOFA looks forward to working with Mr. Pooler as we continue to seek a fair monetary settlement, adequate staffing levels and proper recognition of the professional status and expertise of Librarians and Archivists at Western. 

The Gap Widens for L&As

We must be particularly vigilant in fighting for a fair collective agreement in light of the recent gains of other institutions, some of which we already reported on last week. The gap continues to widen for Librarians and Archivists as more settlements are reached correcting the legislative injustice of Bill 124.

OPSEU members in the college sector now have a Bill 124 reopener deal which  adds 6.5% to their three-year deal. Instead of 1%, 1%, 1% over 2021-2024 they will receive 3%, 3%, and 3.5%, with additional improvements to their benefits. This means that the college sector effectively did not serve a moderation period. 

Support Resources

In addition to the resources we have already shared (Zoom backgrounds, social media profile pictures, lecture slides) we have now created a customizable email signature you can use, which invites readers to support Western Librarians and Archivists, while also including clickable links to UWOFA social media pages. This signature is available in a Word document – you will need to copy it and paste and save it into your e-signature using the Outlook settings for your UWO email account. 

Upcoming Events: We need you!

These events are an opportunity for members to spend time together in solidarity and to mobilize campus and community support for current bargaining efforts. Every voice matters as we try to convince our Employer to do the right thing. 

Please save the date for an L&A end of summer gathering at the Grad Club on Friday September 1st, at 2pm. All are welcome!

Please come! UWOFA will have a table at the London and District Labour Council Labour Day picnic which will be held on Monday September 4th from 12 noon-4pm at East Lion’s Park. Bring the whole family for food, drink and scheduled programming!

Strike Action Preparation 

Calling all Volunteers! The Strike Action Committee (SAC) is still recruiting. Contact co-chairs Christy Sich (csich@uwo.ca) or Laura Cayen (lcayen2@uwo.ca) if you are interested in being part of these important preparations.

We are also looking for people to hand out flyers during O-Week. Please contact Mobilization Chair David Heap (djheap@uwo.ca) if you can help with a shift.

UWOFA is pleased to report our recent success in a policy grievance we filed regarding parental leave entitlements. 

Since 2002, a clause in the Faculty Collective Agreement (Article 4.2 in the 2018-2022 CA) has prevented co-parents who both work at Western from being able to each access the full 26 weeks of parental leave afforded to other Members. UWOFA asserts that this provision discriminates on the basis of family status while the Employer’s position has been that this provision creates a lawful distinction that is based solely on employment status.

Following a hearing conducted on May 4th, arbitrator Paula Knopf concluded that Article 4.2 has a discriminatory effect on the basis of family status. It thus violates the Human Rights Code and is therefore unenforceable. 

While this grievance referred specifically to the Faculty CA, this same clause has also been part of the Librarian and Archivist CA (Article 4.2 in the 2019-2023 CA). Following UWOFA’s success in the grievance, the Employer agreed to remove the discriminatory provision  as part of our ongoing contract negotiations.

If you have additional questions about this or other matters please contact UWOFA’s Member Services Officer, at uwofamso@uwo.ca. Helpful information is always available on the UWOFA website under the Know Your Rights tab and the Collective Agreements tab.

The faculty associations at Brock, Wilfred Laurier and Ontario Tech have all recently negotiated settlements that offer more than what is currently on the table for Librarians and Archivists at Western.

Our Employer proposed a 4 year deal with scale increases of 3%, 2%, 2% and 1.75% and a flat amount to base salary of $500 per Member in the first and second years. This proposal is particularly egregious given that this unit has served a moderation period which capped their salary and benefits increases to 1% a year for three years. Further, our employer refuses to negotiate over the hiring of additional librarians and archivists or even to maintain the existing complement. This is completely unsatisfactory given that the ratio of students to librarians and archivists has increased from 478:1 to 751:1 between 2010 and 2019 and has not improved since. 

• UOITFA has negotiated a post-Bill 124 reopener settlement for the next two years with a scale increase of 3% in each year. 
• BUFA has negotiated a 3 year deal with scale increases of 3.5%, 3.5%, and 3%, with a flat amount to base salary of $2000 per Member in the first year.
  • They have also established an LOU to increase the number of members (by at least 5 in the first year of the agreement), with the stipulation that 1 new professional librarian will be hired within the life of the agreement
• WLUFA negotiated a 3 year deal with scale increases of 3% in each year

UWOSA, the staff association at Western, also just negotiated a post-Bill 124 reopener settlement for the current year which provides a scale increase of 3% and a flat amount to base salary of $1200 per Member.

The Career Trajectory Fund report we shared last month already reflected disparities between Western and other comparator institutions in terms of the systemic underpayment of Librarians and Archivists at Western. Now, however, we must fight to ensure that the gap does not become even wider. 

Western has made clear that it wants to be a world-class university. World-class research and teaching are founded on well-supported Librarians and Archivists. 

TAKE ACTION

As autumn approaches, we ask you all – Librarians, Archivists and Faculty Members – to keep voicing your concerns where the Employer can see and hear them. We need you to play your part to keep the conversation going and build momentum for the next phase of negotiations.

Get loud on social media by making your own posts or sharing ours:

• Make sure to tag us! 
  • Twitter: @westernu @westernuProvost @uwofa1
  • Facebook: @UWOFA, @Western University 
  • Instagram: @uwofaco, @westernuniversity 
• You can also find videos of Librarians & Archivists discussing bargaining goals on our YouTube channel: @uwofacultyassociation6710  

Use resources like social media profile pics and Zoom backgrounds provided to librarians and archivists in the shared Sync folder (and available for everyone here on the website). 

Get in touch with UWOFA’s Communications Officer (uwofaco@uwo.ca) to make a short video recording expressing a message of support, which would then be posted to social media.

You may have already been contacted personally about ways you can help with building support for our UWOFA bargaining goals and we appreciate those of you who have already responded to those messages. If you have not been contacted, but would like to get involved, please reach out to our Mobilization Chair, David Heap: djheap@uwo.ca.

If you would like to get involved with strike preparations (this is a normal bargaining contingency, NOT an indication that negotiations have reached an impasse or that a strike is imminent) please contact Christy Sich (csich@uwo.ca) or Laura Cayen (lcayen2@uwo.ca) – the co-chairs of the Strike Action Committee. 

It has come to UWOFA’s attention that Part-Time Faculty Members are uncertain about how compensation for extra work outside of their contracts will be administered. 

Unfortunately, there is a disagreement between UWOFA and the Employer about what was agreed to at the negotiating table on this matter and so there is currently no agreed-upon Collective Agreement language that might help resolve this uncertainty. 

To seek resolution of this disagreement and to defend the right of Part-Time Members to be fairly compensated for their work, UWOFA has filed a policy grievance – read on to learn more about what you can do to help. 

Context

In the 2022 round of collective bargaining for the Faculty Bargaining Unit, UWOFA sought to negotiate pay for work done by Part-Time Members outside the dates of their contract, as a component of the bargaining goal: “To provide fair and equitable compensation for Part-Time Members including payment for Service.”

UWOFA’s understanding was that we reached agreement on language which was then summarized as follows in our report to Members on the tentative settlement in advance of the ratification vote: 

• Pay for Employer-mandated training and course-based work outside of contract dates
  • Effective Year 1: $400 for a full day (8 hours) or $50 per hour for periods less than a full day

However, we later discovered (in April 2023) that the Employer had a different understanding of what had been agreed to.

Differences in understanding between UWOFA and the Employer

UWOFA’s understanding is that Part-Time Members are to be paid for Employer-mandated training and required course-based work that takes place outside of contract dates.

The Employer’s understanding is that Part-Time Members are to be paid for Employer-mandated training and required course-based work that is outside of the duties specified in the contract, for example in “unforeseen circumstances”. As Part-Time Members will know, Limited Duties contracts are written in such a way that work outside of contract dates is a typical expectation and thus UWOFA thought our proposal should have been clear.

UWOFA’s position is that the Employer is withdrawing its assent to an important provision that was agreed upon in the Memorandum of Settlement signed on November 14 2022 and subsequently ratified by UWOFA and by the Employer. In order to seek a resolution to this matter, on June 29th, UWOFA filed a policy grievance. It may take some time before the grievance is resolved and we will keep Members apprised of any updates.

Take Action

As we continue to work towards a resolution, this is what UWOFA would like Part-Time Faculty Members to do: 

• If you haven’t done so already, start tracking your hours for work outside of the required contract dates
• Submit your claims in writing to your Dean (and cc UWOFA) with the following information:
  • Description of the nature of the work done (i.e., the course, the task)
  • Hours being claimed with the dates over which the work was done
  • Dates of the LD contract held
  • Any accompanying documentation which shows this work was required (i.e., emails from Chairs, Deans, Administrative staff) 

Conciliation: Explainer

UWOFA has now filed a request with the Ministry of Labour to appoint a conciliation officer to assist us with negotiations. The UWOFA Board of Directors and the Negotiating Team hope that this will help to ensure that a fair and equitable collective agreement can be negotiated, particularly as we have now reached an impasse with the Employer regarding any commitment to maintain or increase complement and they have signalled that they have no mandate to increase the monetary offer currently on the table.    

Conciliation is the next step in the collective bargaining process, whereby a third party can help the two sides reach an agreement. 

What is Conciliation?

Conciliation is a necessary step in the legal labour relations framework in Ontario before either party can engage in labour action.The Ontario Ministry of Labour appoints a third party who acts as a facilitator between the two parties in order to try to reach a negotiated settlement. Your Negotiating Team believes that the request for conciliation will help focus discussions and support efforts to bring about a fair contract.

What is the role of a conciliator? 

The role of the conciliator is to confer with both parties and endeavour to reach a collective agreement. The conciliator has no authority to impose a settlement.

The appointment of a conciliator does not signal an unwillingness to negotiate. In recent years, conciliation has been a normal part of collective bargaining. It is a service provided by the Ontario Ministry of Labour at no cost and it is aimed at facilitating an agreement.

What’s next?

There are three paths to a collective agreement using conciliation services:

1. The two parties could come to an agreement through conciliation.

2. The parties could agree to continue with negotiations without third-party assistance after some conciliation sessions with the possibility of returning to conciliation at a later time.

3. The conciliator could file a “no board” report if it’s determined that the two sides are unable to reach an agreement.

   • 17 days after the conciliator files a “no board” report with the Ministry of Labour, a lockout or strike is legally possible.

In all cases, your Negotiating Team will continue to work hard at the table to achieve a fair and equitable collective agreement and defend the university’s core mission of quality teaching and research.

TAKE ACTION

While your team encourages everyone to enjoy their summer, we ask that everyone – librarians, archivists and faculty members – start voicing your concerns where the Employer can see and hear them. We need you to play your part to keep the conversation going and build momentum for the next phase of negotiations.

Get loud on social media by making your own posts or sharing ours:

• Make sure to tag us! 

  • Twitter: @westernu @westernuProvost @uwofa1

  • Facebook: @UWOFA, @Western University

  • Instagram: @uwofaco, @westernuniversity

• You can also find videos of Librarians & Archivists discussing bargaining goals on our YouTube channel: @uwofacultyassociation6710

Utilise resources like social media profile pics and Zoom backgrounds provided in the shared Sync folder (also available here on the website). 

Get in touch with UWOFA’s Communications Officer (uwofaco@uwo.ca) to make a short video recording expressing a message of support, which would then be posted to social media.

If you want to get more involved in building support for our UWOFA bargaining goals, please contact our Mobilization Chair, David Heap: djheap@uwo.ca  

**Please Note: There will be a pause in Bargaining Bulletins until next month when negotiations resume. Look for our next update in late August.

Today (July 6) the Employer returned two articles: 

• Promotion and Continuing Appointment – almost ready for sign-off

• Appointments – the Employer has withdrawn their proposal to extend Term Appointments from 2 to 4 years in response to our focus on ensuring that vacancies be filled

UWOFA signed off on Pregnancy and Parental/Adoption Leave and presented our response to the Employer’s monetary proposal. Here are the highlights:

• UWOFA reiterated that we do not have a mandate from the Membership to accept any of the monetary options currently on the table and we conveyed the displeasure of the membership with these options. 

• L&A Members deserve to be respected and valued and the size of this Bargaining Unit means that the amount of money we are asking for is well within what the Employer can afford. Workloads and student to Librarian and Archivist ratios are at an all time high which actually saves the Employer money. 

• UWOFA does not agree that a one-time enrollment decline is a justifiable reason to take a position of austerity in these negotiations, especially when this has been a common practice at the table for many years and rounds of bargaining. 

• UWOFA asserts that Western is in a very strong financial position and came through the pandemic in a much better state than many other institutions.  

• UWOFA asserts that the specifics of the monetary offer currently on the table is particularly untenable if the Employer wants a 4-year deal. We have no incentive to accept an unsatisfactory offer and lock ourselves in for any longer than absolutely necessary in this inflationary environment. For this reason we are proposing that the duration of the agreement be only three years. 

The Employer does not agree with our characterisation of their monetary offer and said they will need some time to respond to our proposal. The Employer continues to reject any commitments to maintain let alone increase the complement of Librarians and Archivists. 

Neither party has anything further to bring to the table at this time, so we will now be breaking for the summer. Stay tuned for further updates about UWOFA’s next steps in the bargaining process.

It is time for each Member to take action to get the Employer to do the right thing. If you are interested in working on a mobilization campaign, get in touch with David Heap – djheap@uwo.ca.

But you don’t need to wait. You can start helping to get a fair deal right now! Over the summer, discuss bargaining goals in each and every interaction you have with students, faculty and the broader community. Make your voice and your concerns heard. It’s time to get loud.

Starting tomorrow there will be resources available in the shared Sync folder. These are for you to use and share. They will be updated regularly.

Much appreciation to everyone who attended the information session yesterday (either in person or online) and for all of your feedback. Your engagement with and support for the Negotiating Team is invaluable in helping us to effectively advocate for a fair and equitable agreement. 

The three bargaining sessions this week are the last ones we have scheduled before we will take a break for the summer. 

 In yesterday’s session the Parties signed off on three articles (please note that there is a separate “Articles Signed Off” folder in Sync):

• Biennial Report and Review (no longer annual) 

• Education Leave – acceptance of Leave paid at 100% of salary

• Income Security 

 UWOFA returned two articles and one LOU:

• Pregnancy and Parental/Adoption Leave – ready for sign-off

• Promotion and Continuing Appointment – the Parties continue to move toward agreement regarding meetings for Probationary Members

• LOU (NEW) – Promotion of Members with Continuing Appointment at Assistant Rank

  • We are proposing to streamline this process for the 12 members of the Bargaining Unit impacted

  • Members can choose to be considered for promotion to the Associate Rank according to the existing process followed for external appointments, following particular timelines set out in the LOU 

  • UWOFA asserts that these are long-serving Members whose performance and achievements can be readily and fairly assessed through a streamlined process. The Employer needs to take responsibility for creating a robust and supportive career development system.

UWOFA informed the Employer that we don’t have a mandate to accept the current monetary options on the table, particularly in the context of a 4-year deal. We are formulating our response to the Employer’s Compensation and Benefits proposal presented last week, and expect to be able to return this today. 

This afternoon (June 28) we received the Employer’s monetary proposals, which include the Compensation and Benefits article as well as a number of other important articles. I joined the team at the table. Here is what we have to report:

The Employer presented three options for our consideration. The full proposals, including summary tables of the three options, can be found in the shared Member space. We will circulate an additional summary table tomorrow that compares the three options to the existing collective agreement and to UWOFA’s initial proposals.

Here are the highlights: 

• The Employer has agreed to UWOFA’s proposal to receive the same mental health benefits and vision care benefits as negotiated in the faculty round of bargaining. 
• They have also proposed some improvements to the stipends for directors and heads, the Academic Activity Support Fund, and the Career Trajectory Fund. 
• They have proposed a one-time promotion incentive of $2,500, which is half the amount negotiated for faculty. 
• However, they rejected our proposals to increase flex credits, pension contributions, and to improve the vacation accrual rate. 
• They have proposed a four-year deal with scale increases below projected inflation and have offered a lump sum to base amount that is much less than UWOFA’s proposal. 

The Employer’s representatives said that their offer represents their total mandate from Senior Leadership and they recognized that Members may be disappointed. They urged us toward consideration of their financial positioning, creative solutions, and compromise.

Our team has begun a fulsome review of the proposals and we look forward to discussion at the Member Information Session next week. Following the session we will be at the table for another three days, after which we will break for the summer. 

Librarians and Archivists have endured the full three-year moderation period under the unconstitutional Bill 124. They have also endured a very high inflationary environment over the past two years which is projected to continue. At the same time, Western has failed to systematically invest in a sufficient number of Librarians and Archivists to provide the high-level services expected and required at a research intensive university. 

You may have noticed that Western recently promoted its improved position in the international QS rankings; it is not our buildings that achieved this, but your hard work together with that of faculty, staff, and students. 

Bargaining Proposals in Members-Only Space

Remember that you can access the full proposals the parties are bringing to the table to read at your convenience.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to to read any proposals in greater detail, please contact a member of the Collective Bargaining Committee (CBC – see below) who can facilitate your access to this Members-only Sync folder:

• Samuel Cassady
• Kristin Hoffmann
• Denise Horoky
• Erin Johnson
• Liz Mantz
• Brian McMillan
• Katya Pereyaslavska
• Stephen Spong
• Leslie Thomas
• Courtney Waugh
• Johanna Weststar