By CAUT Staff

CAUT held its first in-person Collective Bargaining and Organizing Forum in March after a three-year pandemic hiatus. More than 70 academic staff from 36 faculty associations and nine provinces attended.

In a keynote address, Robert Hickey, an associate professor of industrial relations at Queen’s University, spoke about how academic unions can shift beyond protecting against concessions towards emphasizing gains, bargaining for the common good, and promoting wins for the most disadvantaged in our unions.

Academic staff took part in discussion groups and panels on collective bargaining and organizing, with conversations on how unions address the erosion of collegial decision-making, health and safety, equity, workload, and wage gains in the context of high inflation.

Kevin MacKay, vice president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO) Local 240, presented the findings of OPSEU/SEFPO’s survey on work to rule as a job action strategy in Ontario colleges.