PREPARING FOR NEGOTIATIONS
As was announced at the September
general membership meeting, four pre-negotiating committees have been
established to draft proposals for the next round of collective bargaining and
their work is already underway. The four
committees and their members are: the Financial Benefits Committee (FBC): Brian van Blarcom, Pat Corkum, Anna Kiefte, Vernon
Provencal, and Paul Hobson (as
liaison with the Financial Information Committee); the Appointments, Renewal, Tenure, and Promotion Committee (ARTPC): Andrew Biro, Mike Corbett, Richard
Cunningham, Randy Newman, David Reid, Ann Smith, Romira Worvill; the Working Conditions Committee (WCC): Zelda Abramson, Eric Alcorn, John
Eustace, Erin Patterson, Geoff Whitehall; and the ad-hoc Committee on part-time issues: Mark Adam, Claire
Jewell, and Pat O’Neill. Since our
membership meeting, Pat Corkum has resigned from the FBC and has been replaced
by Shelley MacDougall. The AUFA president is an ex officio member of all these committees.
The
mandates of the first three committees are established by the AUFA
constitution, and have been revised since our last round of collective
bargaining. The mandate of the ad-hoc
Committee on part-time issues was established by the AUFA executive to ensure
that the interests of our part-time members receive attention. In general, each
committee is responsible for reviewing a specific set of articles in the
Collective Agreement and for proposing changes to improve wages and working
conditions for all AUFA members. The names of the committees have changed, as
well as the articles in the Collective Agreement for which they are
responsible, but the basic procedures they follow are the same as in previous
rounds of negotiation.
Each committee will receive copies of the membership survey you recently completed (and thanks to all of you who filled in the survey!). Based on results of the survey, committee members will draft changes to articles in the Collective Agreement. Once these draft changes have been completed, each committee will host a series of open round-table style meetings to discuss the proposed changes and receive feedback on them from the members. Following the open meetings, each committee will finalize its proposals and submit them to the Proposal Review Committee (PRC). This committee will check the proposals for consistency (of both language and intent) and submit the entire package to the membership for approval, normally no later than April 1. A final survey will then be conducted to establish which proposals have top priority and the results of this survey will be communicated to the Chief Negotiator and to the President of the Association.
We should be in a good position to begin negotiating our 13th Collective Agreement on May 1, 2010. This is indeed a fitting date for the start of contract negotiations as May 1 is Labour Day in most countries in Europe.
AUFA has long been recognized as a leader among Canadian faculty associations for the democratic approach we take to developing our bargaining positions. The leadership we provide in our tradition of a deeply involved membership with a strong commitment to providing our students with the best education possible has done much to maintain Acadia’s reputation for excellence and to keep our institution strong. There are many opportunities for you to become involved in this process and to shape our university together. We look forward to working with you and we look forward to seeing you at the many AUFA meetings we have planned over the course of this coming year!
Janice Best, AUFA President
Vernon Provencal, Chief Negotiator