Your collective bargaining roundup – Vol. 7, No. 1

THE CURRENT PROCESS

UWOFA has been working for several months on preparations to negotiate a new faculty collective agreement. The current agreement expires on June 30, 2018.

A Collective Bargaining Committee and Negotiating Team have been formed (see below) and in early September they participated with the Board of Directors in a day-long meeting to discuss the process and goals for negotiations.

While we do not know exactly when negotiations will start, in previous rounds of bargaining they have begun in mid-May.

UWOFA’s role at the bargaining table is to represent the interests of our membership. To that end, we will continue to consult you in various ways in the coming months as we prepare to negotiate.

Please complete our current survey by January 19, 2018 (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XLGB5FY). This survey includes questions about demographics, salary, benefits, evaluation/APE, appointments, workload and equity. There will be other opportunities for input, such as meetings, but the survey is a very important tool for your Negotiating Team. Please take the time to complete it. It will help us be truly representative of our membership when we engage in the bargaining process.

We plan to submit goals to the membership for approval in March 2018.

Your input is essential to allow us to negotiate the best collective agreement possible for you!

OCTOBER SURVEY

We were very pleased with the high level of participation in the short survey on bargaining priorities we asked members to complete in October 2017. The results of that survey not only informed the early stages of our goal development by letting us know what issues were of importance to you, they also helped us identify issues on which to focus more specifically in the survey you are currently being asked to complete.

INTRODUCING THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING COMMITTEE (CBC)

The CBC, which includes all members of the Negotiating Team plus six additional members, is responsible for developing bargaining goals in consultation with the membership, drafting proposed contract language, supporting the Negotiating Team during bargaining (with research, for example) and, after an agreement is reached, final drafting and checking of contract language.

Members of both the 2018 Negotiating Team and the CBC:

Jeff Tennant – Chief Negotiator (French Studies)

Johanna Weststar – Deputy Chief Negotiator (DAN Management & Organizational Studies)

Ann Bigelow (DAN Management & Organizational Studies)

Cindy Cossar-Jones (UWOFA Professional Officer)

Kristin Hoffmann (Western Libraries)

Jamie Johnston (English and Writing Studies)

Steve Lupker (Pychology)

Beth MacDougall-Shackleton (Biology)

Warren Steele (Information & Media Studies)

Additional members of the CBC:

Paul Charpentier (Engineering)

John Ciriello (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry)

Darren Meister (Ivey School of Business)

Barbara Murison (History)

Stephen Pitel – UWOFA president (Faculty of Law)

Nina Zitani (Biology)