RAAS Report
RAAS REPORT
A biweekly newsletter from your
Association of Academic Staff
Friday, September 27, 2019
SATIRE
Ford vows to reach $15 billion deficit total he lied about before the end of his term
Joel Buxton, The Beaverton (September 18, 2019)
QUEEN’S PARK – During his 2018 election campaign, Ford claimed the Liberals had left him with a $15 billion deficit, now understood to be a much smaller sum of $7.8 billion, and has since promised that this number will match reality by the time he leaves office.
NOT SATIRE
Hundreds of thousands join Canada climate strikes
Jessica Murphy, BBC.com (September 27, 2019)
Hundreds of thousands of people have joined climate strike marches across Canada, with almost 100 events planned in cities and towns. Protesters are taking part in the global climate strike movement, which has seen people around the world take to the streets.
John D. Simon, Inside Higher Ed (September 24, 2019)
We find ourselves at a precarious time in the history of higher education. Politicians and the public are increasingly questioning the value of what we do. The cost of education is rising while a population with greater need for financial aid is growing. Research and teaching are becoming more globalized at the same time that international collaboration is under scrutiny. And technological innovation is rapidly transforming the very definitions and methods of teaching and learning.
OCUFA NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), a province-wide association of our peers.
OUCC opposes Ford government’s performance-based funding model for universities
Meral Jamal, The Charlatan (September 20, 2019)
The Ontario Universities and Colleges Coalition (OUCC) issued a press release opposing the Ford government’s performance-based funding model earlier this month. The OUCC consists of eight organizations, including the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario (CFS-O) and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), and represents over 435,000 faculty, staff, and students from every public post-secondary institution in Ontario.
Librarians and Archivists head back to the bargaining table ahead of strike deadline
UWOFA association updates (September 27, 2019)
UWOFA librarians and archivists will be in a legal strike position on Tuesday, October 8 at 12:01 a.m. UWOFA’s Board of Directors confirmed the strike deadline following provincially appointed conciliator Greg Long’s submission of a “No Board” Report with the Ontario Ministry of Labour last week.
MUALA Letter in Solidarity for University of Western Ontario Faculty Association
UMALA association updates (September 20, 2019)
Help Western University Librarians and Archivists Avoid a Strike
Western’s librarians and archivists bargaining unit requested a No Board on Friday, September 13th, and will be in a legal strike position in less than two weeks.
UWOFA key bargaining demands include:
Fair Workload so our librarians and archivists can maintain high quality service to the university community.
Professional autonomy and collegial governance so that our librarians and archivists can have a meaningful voice in how the Western libraries system is run.
Fair compensation and benefits in line with those negotiated with other employee groups on campus.
Please join the online letter campaign to put pressure on the Employer: https://www.uwofa.ca/GetLoud
CAUT NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), a nation-wide association of our peers.
Solidarity with the Week of Climate Action
CAUT Staff (September 19, 2019)
September 20 marks the beginning of the Week of Climate Action, an international grassroots movement of student activists demanding that world leaders be held accountable for and take immediate steps to combat the climate emergency facing the planet. A week of activities around the world will culminate in a Global Climate Strike today. The Canadian Association of University Teachers stands in solidarity with all those taking part in the Week of Climate Action and the Global Climate Strike, and we join in demanding strong, immediate and effective action on climate change from governments in Canada and around the world.
Climate change is the crisis of our generation. CAUT encourages all its members to take part in the Week of Climate Action by joining local protests and events, supporting students who participate in the climate strike, pressing our institutions to adopt climate-friendly policies and practices, and raising awareness about the science of climate change and the role academic staff as researchers and teachers are playing in finding solutions.
FAUW NEWS
RAAS has a service agreement with the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW), a campus-wide association of our peers.
FAUW’s priorities for 2019-2020
Bryan Tolson, FAUW (September 19, 2019)
These are the key items we’re aiming to get through this year, in addition to preparing for negotiations at the end of 2020 and inevitably weighing in on more proposals from the provincial government.
· Policy development: Improvements and clarity around the policy drafting process, better supporting our representatives on policy drafting committees, and getting a few policies into (if not through) the approval process. Candidates are the policies on ethical behaviour (33), parental leave (14), accommodations (57, new), and faculty appointments (76).
· Conflict of interest guidelines: See item #3 from the September 12 Board meeting.
· Workload: We want to see clear and consistent definitions (and monitoring) of how teaching and other faculty work is counted across campus.
· Representation: We plan to issue position statements on our relationship with research professors and sessional instructors.