Librarians & Archivists: Bargaining Bulletin Vol. 6, No. 3

UWOFA has been hard at work and has much to report to members. Items herein are crucial for the climate and conditions of our workplace. Please read on!

Bargaining Bulletin 

UWOFA Librarians and Archivists are about to begin bargaining. All members will want to be watching closely and are being called on to support a successful process. 

UWOFA LA and the Employer are very close to completing the pre-bargaining Housekeeping process. We are pleased to report that it is going smoothly and quickly. In addition to the correction of typos, institutional name changes and revisions reflecting gender neutral terminology, we made numerous changes to align the Librarian and Archivist Collective Agreement with newly negotiated changes in the Faculty Collective Agreement. This has allowed our Negotiating team to achieve six bargaining goals while also improving additional processes and benefits.

Notable gains include:

• Investigative Reports are required to be supplied to Members (bargaining goal)
• The Employer is required to provide UWOFA with Member contact information (bargaining goal)
• The independent medical review process has been clarified (bargaining goal)
• The six months notice for Reduced Workload applications can be waived
• Access to online services and applications (including uwo.ca email addresses) will be maintained for Emeriti Members
• T2200 forms will be supplied if Members are required to work from home for five or more days a year, or are required to pay for work-related expenses without reimbursement (bargaining goal)

We have posted the signed off Housekeeping articles in a Bargaining Unit Member-only space. UWOFA-LA Members should contact a member of the Collective Bargaining Committee (CBC) to get access to this folder:

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

Bargaining will begin next week with the first meeting scheduled on Monday, May 15 from 2-4pm and subsequent meetings on May 16 from 1-4pm and May 19 from 9am-noon. 

Fund the Front Line

Members will also be wanting to watch what is happening in the post-Bill 124 landscape with collective bargaining in the province and UWOFA’s related Fund the Front Line campaign. 

Ontario hospital nurses were recently awarded additional pay after Bill 124 was struck down. We continue to urge our Employer to do the right thing and return to the bargaining table regarding Faculty compensation. We encourage members to direct their concerns about this to Western leadership. This pressure is effective as it has already resulted in the Provost’s approval of our proposal that the promotion bonus eligibility be extended to all Faculty members whose promotion to Associate or Full Professor takes effect as of July 1, 2023. 

Last week UWOFA members joined Western graduate students on International Workers’ Day for the Nation-wide walkout calling for additional federal research funding. I was inspired by the turn-out and encouraged to see growing intergenerational solidarity amongst various campus groups. 

We are better together and must commit to working together. If you haven’t done so already, please sign and send our letter to Western leadership, calling for them to reopen the negotiation of faculty salaries and to bargain a fair contract for Librarians and Archivists which redresses the wrongs of Bill 124.