CAUT | ACPPU
Canadian Association of University Teachers
Services
Model Clause on Successor Rights
1
General Principles
1.1
This clause shall apply in the event of the sale, expansion, extension, amalgamation, consolidation, merger or transfer of academic units1 or institutions hereafter referred to as “succession”.
1.2
There shall be no layoffs in the event of a succession and all existing contracts will be honoured.
2
Membership
2.1
In the event of a succession, the employees who are eligible for membership in the bargaining unit of their current employer shall immediately become members of the successor bargaining unit.2
2.2
In those cases where there is no successor bargaining unit under the Labour Relations Act, there shall be no succession unless the successor employer agrees to recognize the continuation of the existing bargaining unit.
3
Changes to Legislation
3.1
The employer shall not make any request to enact or amend relevant legislation, nor take any action, whether or not authorized by legislation, to implement a succession until the joint committee in article 3.2 has tabled its report and the employer has the association’s response to the proposed changes as provided in article 3.7.
3.2
A joint committee (the committee) consisting of no more than six (6) members shall be established to review and make recommendations concerning the employer’s proposed legislative changes or proposed action, whether or not authorized by legislation, to implement a succession. One half of the committee’s members shall be appointed by the association and the remaining half by the employer. The committee shall be chaired by a non-voting chairperson who is chosen by the mutual agreement of the association and the employer3 and who does not hold an administrative appointment.
3.3
The committee shall ensure that member collective agreement rights are protected.
3.4
The employer shall provide the committee with all the documentation the committee requests.
3.5
The committee shall, within one hundred and twenty (120) days of its first meeting, submit simultaneously to the association and the employer a report with written recommendations for the due consideration of the association and the employer in the implementation of the proposed legislative change.
3.6
In the event that the committee does not agree on a common submission to the parties, a minority report shall be simultaneously submitted to both the association and the employer.
Following receipt of the report of the committee, the association shall, within 90 days, submit to the employer the response mentioned in article 3.1.
4
Duty to Consider
5
Transition
6
Rights Retained
6.1
At the commencement of employment with a successor employer, all affected members shall retain all of their rights held with the original employer, including, but not limited to:
a) academic rank;
b) tenure status or accrued job security;
c) all rights accrued sabbatical entitlement;
d) an initial salary no less than the last salary paid by the original employer;
e) accrued rights with respect to sick leave, seniority, vacation, pension and other benefits;
f) accrued years of service or seniority calculations from the original employer in respect of reappointment, tenure or promotion; and
g) any other rights included in the present collective agreement, institutional policies and by-laws.
6.2
A member may elect to defer consideration for tenure and promotion until:
a) the end of the first complete academic year following the commencement of employment with the successor unit or employer, or;
b) the end of the first academic year in which the decision not to implement the change has been made.
7
Relocation Costs
The successor employer agrees to pay in advance all relocation costs for each member. Such costs shall include but are not limited to: relocation of office and lab furniture, equipment and contents; travel costs for the employee and members of the employee’s immediate family; transportation of personal and family effects; and any other expenses incurred in the move.
Approved by the CAUT Council, November 2010.
1. For greater clarity, libraries are included in the definition of “academic units”.
2. Negotiators may wish to set out readily distinguishable terms or phrases in a separate definition section. For example, defining terms like original bargaining unit, successor bargaining unit, original academic unit, successor academic unit, current employer, successor employer.
3. There may be a need in certain collective agreements to specify a dispute mechanism to address the situation where the committee members are unable to agree on a chair. For example, should the parties fail to agree on a chair they may agree to refer the decision to an arbitrator or the Chief Justice of Provincial Court.
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