RAAS Report
RAAS REPORT
A biweekly newsletter from your
Association of Academic Staff
Friday, June 28, 2019
RAAS PRESIDENT’S UPDATE
We are sad to report that a member of our negotiating team will be going on sabbatical as of July 1. Jason Blokhuis will continue with RAAS work until his travels begin in September. With his departure, we have a vacancy on the negotiation team.
We are requesting expressions of interest from RAAS members to temporarily fill the vacancy. This is yourchance to help shape proposals about faculty working conditions. Plus, the Employer often provides cheese and fruit at bargaining sessions!
The commitment would be from September to December. The work includes bargaining sessions with the Employer (typically every other week but could be more frequent) and meetings with the negotiation team (typically alternate weeks from bargaining sessions).
The major issue in the fall will be compensation proposals. We welcome a RAAS member with confidence in numbers! Currently, two members of the team are from SDS and one is from CLS. We strongly encourage members from CLS and SSW to put their names forward.
If you are interested, please let me (Kristina Llewellyn) know by July 31, 2019 at kristina.llewellyn@uwaterloo.ca.
There are so many RAAS members that we need to thank for doing often invisible work on effective policies for faculty. RAAS is strong because of its members! Thank you all!
LEAD NEGOTIATOR’S UPDATE
We are taking a break from negotiating with the administration team for the summer, but don't assume we're on vacation! During the break in negotiations, the RAAS team will be developing a number of proposals to take to the table when negotiations resume in September, with the hopes of pushing negotiations through to completion before the end of the Fall 2019 term.
The Admin team has consistently signalled their desire to change how compensation works, particularly with regard to the annual "SIU" increase (what we used to call "merit pay") and the related thresholds. A priority for the summer, therefore, is (a) to gather the background information; (b) to do the necessary analyses; and (c) to understand the financial implications of our current system of compensation and the implications of deviating from it, and (d) to develop a solid proposal on Compensation.
As recent negotiation sessions, after getting to agreement on a number of substantive items in May 2019 negotiation sessions, in June (10th and 14th) we returned to discussion of a proposal defining Appointments and one outlining a Discipline process (both proposed by RAAS on April 3). Some differences in perspective have emerged in both of these proposals, but negotiations remain open. The RAAS team will be consulting with advisors at CAUT, FAUW, and St. Jerome's and with some of you, and will respond to administration counter-proposals on these items at our next negotiation session.
At the June 10 negotiation session, RAAS submitted new proposals on Academic Misconduct, terms for Chairs and Directors, and Working Conditions. We received a counter-proposal from the administration team on Working Conditions, which we will respond to at our next negotiation session.
I welcome your feedback and ideas. Send me an email (rob.case@uwaterloo.ca), drop by my office, or stop me in the hallways if you have concerns or perspective to share on anything related to negotiations.
BOARD UPDATE
The June board meeting was cancelled for a lack of business needing board-level attention. At the next meeting, in September, we can expect to see draft by-law changes, a draft annual report, and other items going forward to the Annual General Meeting in October.
SATIRE
Doug Ford to spend 5-month vacation criticizing teachers for their 3-month vacation
Ian MacIntyre, The Beaverton (June 21, 2019)
After shuffling his cabinet and adjourning the provincial legislature, premier Doug Ford announced plans to spend his 5-month break criticizing the 3-month summer break that Ontario’s teachers receive.
NOT SATIRE
Huron University College faculty reach their first collective agreement as a union
Ben Lewis, OCUFA Blog (June 14, 2019)
The Huron University College Faculty Association (HUCFA) has reached its first collective agreement as a union. The faculty association has negotiated terms and conditions of employment on behalf of tenured faculty for many decades and, more recently, for contract faculty at the institution.
MORE OCUFA NEWS
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.
OSAP offers have arrived, and students are stunned at the numbers
Joanne Laucius, National Post [yes, really] (June 24, 2019)
The provincial government’s overhaul of post-secondary grants and loans is starting to sink in for students as they scramble to figure out how they’ll make ends meet with a new school year only months away.
Postsecondary students get the bad news about their OSAP grants
Kate Allen, The Record (June 20, 2019)
April’s budget included a $671 million spending cut to the Ontario Student Assistance Program, and the province announced reforms to the program in January.
Ford’s firing of finance minister in cabinet shuffle is a frank admission of failure
David Akin, Global News (June 20, 2019)
If there’s a precedent for a premier or a prime minister leading a majority government in this country to fire the finance minister in Year 1, I don’t know it.
OCUFA adopts official policy on university governance
Ben Lewis, OCUFA Blog (June 14, 2019)
At OCUFA’s May Board Meeting, members adopted an official policy on collegial university governance. The policy statement, developed by OCUFA’s University Governance Committee, puts forward a set of principles to guide collegial governance at Ontario universities.
SUMMER HIATUS FOR OUR PRODUCTION TEAM
The production team at RAAS Report bemoans our summer hiatus…