RAAS Report
RAAS REPORT
A biweekly newsletter from your
Association of Academic Staff
Thursday, April 18, 2019
SAVE THE DATE!
RAAS will hold its final general membership meeting on Monday, April 29th from 10-12 in the Dunker Family Lounge. This meeting will include critical updates from the Executive, including our Lead Negotiator's Update.
Please make every effort to attend the meeting. Refreshments will be provided. If you have not already responded, please indicate your attendance by accepting the Outlook invitation that Kristina sent to Members last week.
RAAS PRESIDENT’S UPDATE
Faculty were notified by President Fletcher in a Spring update email that compensation increases would be on average 3.8%.
RAAS has been in communication with the President for greater clarification, as for some faculty this would have been lower compensation than expected based on current policy and practice. We were initially notified that a cut in the budget would
translate to half of the SIU ($3,920) as of May 1, 2019 for all faculty. Current policy is the full SIU (dependent on thresholds).
The result would have been approximately $2,000 less for each faculty member, including definite-term lecturers.
RAAS engaged in positive and productive conversation with President Fletcher on this issue. Our position was as follows:
Changing compensation rates less than a month before salary changes are anticipated is a harmful working condition. Once we have an MoA ratified, faculty will be able to predict their salaries for the life of the agreement. Knowing your salary year over year is a right of workers.
It is not good faith bargaining to change compensation rates during MoA negotiations. If we were certified or if we had an MoA already in place such last minute changes to compensation would not be illegal or impossible.
The Employer and RAAS agreed to follow current policy or past practice in the absence of policy, unless there is mutual agreement to do otherwise. Again this is a principle that is followed for all workplace negotiations and would be mandated by the government if we were certified. We need to follow that principle so that we do not undermine the careful negotiation process of the MoA.
We requested financial information in June 2018, but only began to receive limited information at the end of February 2019. RAAS has not received to date enough financial information to discern for our membership whether a decrease or this decrease in compensation is fair and equitable. We will not set a new precedent for our members regarding compensation outside of negotiations and without the will of our membership.
The administration has become far more open to providing the necessary financial information for us to develop compensation proposals. We have repeatedly indicated to the administration that we are committed to offering compensation proposals for the MoA that are equitable, fair, and sustainable for faculty and the institution.
This week we were notified by President Fletcher that she agrees with our position. She will be forwarding a budget to the Board of Governors that includes the full SIU for faculty.
FAUW News
We are grateful to the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW) for providing support to RAAS and its members in accordance with our service agreement.
Indigenization Workshop
Get Uncomfortable, Do the Work: The Role of Faculty Associations Post-TRC
April 23, 12pm to 4pm in MC 2017. Lunch is provided.
In this interactive workshop, participants will discuss what they and FAUW know about and are doing in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action and develop individual and faculty association action plans.
Shannon Dea (FAUW’s vice president), Laura McDonald (FAUW staff), and Lori Campbell (Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre) developed and delivered this workshop for other faculty associations and are now bringing it home to FAUW.
Who should attend?
We are inviting all FAUW “volunteers” but only have room for 25 people. We are looking for registration by faculty members who are interested in seeing FAUW play a role in Indigenization and who might be interested in taking part in that work.
Update on UCOI class sizes memo
FAUW Blog (April 18, 2019)
On February 20, the Provost issued a memo to various administrators about increasing class sizes from 25 to 40 for Undergraduate Communications Outcomes Initiative (UCOI) courses taught by English or Communication Arts as stand-alone courses, effective as soon as possible. That’s a 60% increase. We’re concerned about unilateral changes to faculty terms and conditions of employment. Read more about the UCOI issue on our blog.
SATIRE
Americans stunned to learn schools that charge $50,000 per year favour rich people
The Beaverton (March 31, 2019)
In the wake of revelations that dozens of wealthy individuals have used fraudulent schemes to gain their children admission to top universities, Americans are reporting utter shock at the discovery that a number of top schools with yearly tuition costs of approximately $50,000 have been made more accessible to wealthy students than middle- or working-class ones.
OCUFA News
[with thanks to Ben Lewis at OCUFA]
RAAS is a member of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), a province-wide association of our peers. OCUFA fees are included in RAAS dues each month.
Hundreds of former youth in provincial care take advantage of B.C. government’s tuition waiverRichard Zussman, Global News (April 16, 2019)
Holding back tears, Premier John Horgan announced on Tuesday that hundreds of former youth in provincial care have received a provincial tuition waiver for post-secondary education and skills training.
Post-secondary campuses greet PC funding plan with mix of acceptance and fear
CBC News (April 15, 2019)
As the Progressive Conservatives unveil their plan to significantly tie university and college funding to performance, Ottawa's post-secondary campuses are reacting to the provincial budget with a mixture of acceptance and fear.
Ontario faculty alarmed by proposal to overhaul university funding in provincial budget
OCUFA (April 11, 2019)
Ontario’s faculty are alarmed by the Doug Ford government’s budget proposal to allocate 60 per cent of university funding based on institutional performance.
Funding for Ontario colleges and universities to be tied to 'performance outcomes'
CBC News (April 11, 2019)
The Ontario government is putting more conditions on post-secondary funding, saying money for the province's public colleges and universities will increasingly be tied to performance outcomes.
Universities spend big on recruiters in scramble for foreign students
CBC News (April 15, 2019)
As universities in Atlantic Canada scramble for international students as an antidote to dwindling enrolments, many are now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on third-party recruiters in a highly competitive market.
FEATURE:
RAAS Member Profiles
In this issue, we are very pleased to feature Tony Tin, Director of Library and Information Services
What brought you to Renison?
In 2013, I was hired as the Director of Library and Information Services. Before that, I was the Head of Digital Initiatives and Electronic Resources at Athabasca University for many years. Renison appealed to me because I was looking for greater responsibilities and a more challenging role.
I hold a BA and MA in East Asian Studies, in addition to my librarianship training. Coming to Renison to build a special East Asian collection allowed me to make good use of my academic background and training.
On a personal note, it had been almost thirteen years since I was in the same province as my extended family. Moving to Waterloo gave me an opportunity to reunite with my siblings.
What do you like about Renison?
I enjoy working at Renison because it is a vibrant learning community (dedicated faculty, small classes and friendly staff) with innovation and diversity, offering a good liberal arts education. I have been able to achieve success here, including an enhanced East Asian special collection, multiple scholarly publications (co-authored with Renison faculty members), and several prestigious e-learning awards. The opportunity to work with faculty and staff to create an open access digital repository is a great thrill for me as well.
What do you like about RAAS?
I am proud to be a Librarian member of RAAS. It makes me feel I have a “place at the table.” In some institutions, librarians were not always viewed as faculty members. We are equal partners in teaching, research and scholarship, along with the general welfare of our institution. Through RAAS membership, we can work together toward our common goals.
What are you passionate about in your work?
I am very passionate about harnessing the power of mobile devices for education, training and research. The mobile learning projects that I have spearheaded at Renison and UW can help to close the gap between education and the mobile demands of students that want to access ‘just in time’ information and learn anytime, anywhere. I am the technical leader of the University of Waterloo's mobile learning project, Foundations of Academic Success: Innovative Mobile Learning to Enhance Academic Integrity, which received theInternational Association of E-Learning (IELA) award in 2018.
Could you tell us a 'fun fact' about yourself?
For the past three years, I have been a competitive player in an indoor soccer league. I am a goalkeeper — a very good one!
Do you have any pets?
I have a toy puppy called Lassie that looks very lifelike. I plan to adopt a digital pet soon. It is as close as you can get to a real puppy. It eats — and even poops!