THE
AUFA PRESIDENT COMMUNICATES
It has been a somewhat tumultuous time since I wrote my last article for the Communicator in June. At that time negotiations had just gotten under way. I think that most of us are familiar with the rest of that story. I want to thank each and every member of the Association for all of the support, patience and solidarity that ultimately produced the 12th Collective Agreement.
In addition to attending to contract negotiations, the usual work of the Association has been progressing. Last time I wrote to you, I indicated that we had filed two grievances, one related to complement and the other dealing with the prompt resolution of difficulties and the subsequent honouring of any resolutions. I am very pleased to report that we have been able to resolve both of these issues.
We had very useful discussions with the employer around complement and ultimately determined that there were 182.5 tenure or tenure stream appointments and that there were 33 persons holding CLT appointments that did not replace professors on leave who held between them 29 full time appointments. The 11th Collective Agreement requires that the sum of tenured, tenure stream and non-replacement CLT positions make up 214 and that the number of persons holding non-replacement CLT positions at no time exceed 32. Clearly there was a failure to meet the terms and conditions of the Collective Agreement in this case. However, the agreement does not specify any penalties to the employer for a failure in this regard.
The resolution we arrived at requires the employer to comply with the Collective Agreement with respect to complement and to freely exchange information on complement to ensure compliance. These discussions shall take place in November and March of each year. We are very happy to have these mechanisms in place to allow future complement discussions to go smoothly.
With respect to the second grievance dealing with the prompt resolution of difficulties, we were unable to come to a resolution either informally or at the level of the Joint Grievance Committee and we have filed for arbitration. One of the key issues at stake was a refusal on the part of the employer to honour an existing resolution that had been arrived at by informal means. We have recently been able to settle this informally as well, with the parties reaffirming their commitment to prompt, amicable and informal resolutions and an agreement to honour the existing resolution.
We seem to have entered into a new phase of significantly improved relations with the employer with respect to the resolution of these difficulties and I think much of this can be attributed to the arrival in the VP-Academic office of Dr. Tom Herman.
The Association now has liability
insurance for its officers. This is an item that
We still have not heard back from the Labour Board with respect to the Duty of Fair Representation complaint filed by Eileen Hogan. AUFA filed its response to the complaint on November 19th. We recently received a fax from the Board informing us that Dr. Hogan was to provide her response to our response by December 3, 2007. At the time of this writing, we have not been informed if that response has been filed.
I think we have all had an incredibly busy fall term and getting the rest of the term finished has been quite hectic for all of us and the students. I trust that you will all take a well-deserved break over the Holiday Season. On behalf of the Association, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
Peter Williams