Bargaining Update – March 25, 2026

Dear Members,

I hope that all is well with you.

I’m pleased to report that bargaining has been proceeding in a positive and constructive manner over our last four bargaining sessions. Thus far we have been focusing on issues of language. Since we have already exchanged all articles at least once, we have moved to a more in depth focus on specific articles, in an effort to get closer to agreement on most or all elements of each article. Most recently, we have been able to come to agreement on a clarified and expanded definition of scholarly activity, more inclusive definitions of research outputs, improved timelines for grievances, and clearer language regarding timelines for peer reviews. While there is still a fair bit of contested language to get through, our progress on this front is promising.

This Monday we presented our “monetary proposals.” As you may be aware, improvements to your wages and working conditions are funded out of the provincial financial mandate. Since the government funds this mandate, the monetary implications of these proposals do not create pressure on the current University budget, but rather bring new provincial funding to the University to pay for improvements agreed to between the University and the Faculty Association.

I remind you that the nature of this provincial mandate remains contested. At this time, most public sector unions have, through strength at the bargaining table and in some cases through moving to strike action, or strike votes, gained what the provincial government is calling the “enhanced mandate.” This “enhanced mandate” includes both standard across the board wage increases and .5 percent per year “flex” funding over four year agreements.

In previous years, once the mandate is set by other large public sector unions, that is the financial mandate for all public sector employees. This time, however, the provincial government is thus far not including the postsecondary sector in this “enhanced mandate” and it is expecting all unions in the postsecondary sector to accept a substandard mandate. For the UVic FA, this means, in concrete terms, a difference of over eleven million dollars over a four year agreement.

The UVic FA is meeting regularly with all of the other UVic unions (CUPE and PEA), and with the FAs of the other BC research universities. We are in agreement that none of us will accept this substandard mandate. By standing together and fully supporting any UVic and other postsecondary unions that move to job action on this unfair mandate, we will work to ensure that our members are treated fairly, receiving the same gains achieved by most other public sector employees.

Below is an overview of what we can achieve for our members with the “enhanced mandate” gained by other public sector employees outside of the postsecondary sector. The monetary proposals we tabled yesterday are subject both to provincial government agreement, and agreement by our administration with the specific proposals.

Monetary Proposals

Workload

We have heard clearly from our members that increasing workload, due to increased class sizes, growing numbers of accommodations, reduced supports, and the challenges of AI have not only increased your workload, but may be forcing you to reduce the quality of education many of you are able to offer our students. The government claims to care about the quality of education in the postsecondary sector. We are therefore calling for significant investments that will both reduce excessive workloads and allow our members to focus on the quality of education they can offer. Our proposals at the bargaining table include:

• A fund of over a million dollars a year that can be used to provide course releases for those Members undertaking teaching work that exceeds Normal Workload, as well as TA support to assist with a range of tasks, from running tutorials, to invigilating accommodated exams, assisting with other student accommodation needs or supporting new pedagogical strategies that are not realistic with your current workload and lack of support
• The reduction of teaching stream courseloads from 7 to 6, while ensuring that research stream courseloads remain below teaching stream courseloads
• The conversion of several sessional instructors to teaching stream, to increase stable teaching capacity in units under stress, and to increase service capacity, thus reducing service demands on current faculty
• Providing increased support to Chairs, whose workloads have become increasingly onerous

Improved Benefits and Leaves

We are proposing significantly improved benefits, to improve our members’ health and wellness in the context of stress and overwork. Proposed improvements include a new Health Spending account, improvements to benefits members have prioritized such as vision care, counselling, and massage, as well as improvements to parental leave top-up funding and top-up funding for compassionate care leave.

BPoC and Indigenous Member supports

We have heard the concerns of Indigenous and BPoC Members and are proposing supports that they have told us will help to address the particular challenges they face at UVic. To date, your bargaining team has tabled proposals aimed at supporting the success of BPoC members and addressing their real equity and anti-racism concerns. For example, we have proposed BPoC academic leadership/mentorship positions within the bargaining unit that align with the UVic Equity Plan. In addition, we have expressed our support for improving the working conditions of Indigenous Members, such as re-examining the important roles that Associate Deans Indigenous may serve in supporting our Indigenous colleagues.

Salary

In addition to 3 percent per year across the board increases that are part of mandate, we are proposing an increase to CPI, CPI parity for librarians, as well as a one-year extension of the CPI drop-off for associate professors, and an extension of CPI drop-off from 28 years to 32 years for full professors. We are also proposing a fund to cover costs of professional licenses required by Members in order to teach at UVic.

I reiterate that these are the Association’s proposals. They have not been accepted by the administration at this time and they also require the government to extend the “enhanced mandate” that they have offered to most public sector employees to postsecondary employees.

We will continue to work in solidarity with other postsecondary unions, both at UVic and across the province, to achieve what most other public sector workers now have. Over the coming weeks, we will be calling on you to show your active support for other employees at UVic who are fighting for these improvements. If we faculty and librarians do nothing, we risk accepting a substandard mandate and missing out on the improvements that we know you want and need.

Thanks very much to those of you who have expressed your support for the work of our bargaining team. Many of you have asked when the bargaining will be concluded. I wish I had a clear answer for you. We would all love for bargaining to come to a successful conclusion very soon. While we are currently making progress at the table with the administration’s team, I hope you now understand that there are bigger forces at work here. If we can work together with other postsecondary unions, we can push the government to extend the same financial mandate to the postsecondary sector that has been offered to the rest of the public sector, and thus bring bargaining to a successful conclusion.

To hear more about current bargaining, and to have your questions answered, you’re invited to bargaining Townhalls, held this Friday, March 27th, from noon to 1 pm, and Tuesday, March 31st, from 10 to 11 am. Zoom links for these Townhalls are below.

Hope to see you there!

In solidarity and all the very best,

Lynne

Lynne Marks, FA President and Lead Negotiator, on behalf of your bargaining team

Christine O’Bonsawin

Moustapha Fall

Travis Martin

Michelle Miranda

Jane Morrison

Bruce Ravelli

Caterina Valeo

Nathan Todd