July FA Bargaining Update
Dear Members,
I hope all is well with all of you. I am writing to provide a brief update on bargaining, on behalf of your Negotiating Team.
We had our final spring/summer bargaining session with the administration’s team last week. We resume bargaining in early September. As I noted in my last email, we hope that by September we will be closer to having received a financial mandate from the BC government, which will allow us to start discussing monetary matters at the bargaining table. Until we have a mandate, we can only discuss questions of language – although such issues are themselves of major significance to the working conditions of our members.
In our bargaining session last week we put forward a number of proposals intended to address issues regarding the overwork of Chairs and Directors, as well as language that eliminates distinctions in the Collective Agreement related to the process for appointing teaching and research stream members as Chairs/Directors, leaving such decisions to collegial departmental decision-making. We also presented proposals regarding improvements to the language regarding probationary status and promotion for librarians. We continue to propose language to the administration that would further strengthen our academic freedom in relation to the methods and content of our teaching.
We were disappointed that the administration rejected our suggested changes to article 3, which would have moved us towards addressing the component of our bargaining mandate to “Eliminate barriers to member representation and communication between the Faculty Association and University leaders to support a more collaborative and productive relationship.” We will continue trying to address this issue with our administration. But we are pleased to report that although the University was not willing to accept any of our proposed language regarding this matter, they indicated a willingness to discuss the possibility of a more informal agreement to set up regular meetings between the FA leadership and the current University leadership. This would begin to address some of our concerns in this regard.
Your negotiating team will be meeting regularly over the summer to work on our bargaining proposals and our responses to the administration’s bargaining proposals, to be presented to the administration’s team when bargaining resumes in early September.
As I mentioned in my last email, for the next six months Adam Con has taken on the role of FA President, while I focus on my role as Chief Negotiator. You can reach me at [email protected], and Adam at [email protected].
Wishing you time over the summer for relaxation, for productive research, creative and scholarly activity, and successful teaching for those teaching over the summer term.
All the very best,
Lynne
Lynne Marks
Chief Negotiator, University of Victoria Faculty Association
