RAAS Report
RAAS REPORT
*Special Summer Edition*
Friday, July 31, 2020
PRESIDENT’S UPDATE
The RAAS Executive continues to work hard through the summer. Members of the Executive recently attended a three-part series from CAUT on university financial analysis and our team continues to attend meetings with CAUT and OCUFA on grievance procedures and negotiations during COVID.
I continue to have very productive bi-weekly conversations with President Fletcher. Some topics during our last meeting included finances, library services, governance, and communication channels. President Fletcher confirmed via email two requests from RAAS for faculty supports. These include:
The data generated by spring/summer term student course perception surveys will only be provided to the Instructor and will not be used in evaluation unless faculty share it voluntarily.
Renison will provide T-2200 tax forms, as applicable, in February 2021, so that employees can claim [eligible] work-space-in-the-home expenses as a tax deduction. [Please note the Administration agreed with the disclaimer "as long as it is possible from the CRA perspective. As with the university, we are waiting for direction from the CRA to give clarity on how to proceed with this matter. Once we understand what the CRA will require and allow, we will write to the whole community on this as staff and faculty are both affected."]
These requests are in keeping with Dean Campbell’s recent comments at Academic Council (student surveys) and with a decision on main campus ( T-2200 forms; see https://uwaterloo.ca/faculty-association/information-faculty/coronavirus-updates). These policy changes mean that it is at the discretion of faculty members to use student experience surveys for tenure, promotion, and/or APR for the spring/summer term, and that faculty should keep all receipts associated with working from home for potential tax deduction purposes.
Please continue to reach out to the RAAS Executive should you have any concerns, questions, or issues regarding regarding faculty working conditions. We sincerely hope that RAAS members will find some time before the fall term for self-care.
Kristina Llewellyn
RAAS President
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
As previously reported, regular negotiation sessions were paused after February 28th when the RAAS Executive declared its intention to seek certification. Because of priorities related to the consequences of COVID-19, the Employer's negotiation team has not been able return to a regular schedule of negotiations. We met twice in June, as reported in the previous RAAS Report, and once in July (22nd). We are scheduled to meet again on August 19th.
At our July negotiation session (and prior to that by email), the RAAS team requested a more aggressive negotiation schedule and a commitment to returning responses to proposals tabled at one session at the subsequent negotiation session. Responding for the Employer's team, Kofi asked for some recognition of the constraints that responding to COVID-19 and its implications has placed on their availability for negotiations this spring and summer, and expressed very clearly the Employer team's committed to completing these negotiations in a timely fashion. We expect that negotiations will accelerate in September.
At our July 22nd meeting, we reached agreement on Political Leaves and Pregnancy & Parental Leaves.
The Employer side did not return a response to our June 10th counter-proposals on Financial Exigency, Program Redundancy, Lay-offs and Terminations, or Non-Disciplinary Terminations.
Instead, the Employer side proposed that we complete our Collective Agreement (CA) without these articles, and negotiate them instead through the Joint Committee, which is the committee established to troubleshoot any issues in implementing the CA. The rationale provided was that trying to reach agreement on these articles will slow down our negotiations. In the meantime, given that Renison has no policy on these matters, decisions regarding program redundancies or lay-offs for financial reasons would presumably be left to the discretion of the Administration and Board of Governors.
To our knowledge, there is only ONE institution in Canada that does not have either clear policy or articles in a collective agreement or MoA that cover these items (or both). In fact, nearly all Universities and University Colleges, including UW and St. Jerome's, include articles governing these items in their MoAs or CAs. The RAAS Negotiating Team has serious concerns about proceeding without them. We therefore rejected the proposal to go ahead without these articles, and requested that the Employer's team return counter-proposals at our next negotiation session. The Employer's Lead Negotiation indicated that their team would discuss our request. This would be the second time the Employer's negotiation team has unilaterally retracted a proposal they originated -- in this case, a set of proposals.
We would very much appreciate your reactions to this, if any, to help guide our approach at the August negotiation session (rob.case@uwaterloo.ca). For some perspective on Financial Exigency, take a look at the CAUT Statement on Financial Exigency and Layoffs, and James C. Garland (1983), "What Financial Exigency Means."
In addition to those articles, we are awaiting the Employer's response to our proposal on the Librarian. We will then be in a position to start negotiating Compensation.
Rob Case
RAAS Lead Negotiator
SATIRE
Kielburgers start ethics committee testimony by asking if MPs want to donate to WE Charity
Luke Gordon Field, The Beaverton (July 28, 2020)
In their opening statements before the committee investigating alleged conflicts of interest between them and Justin Trudeau in the awarding of the student grant program, Craig and Marc Kielburger asked MPs if they would consider making a small donation to WE Charity… “[F]or only a few dollars a day you could end child labour in India AND help us continue buying up prime Toronto real estate.”
NOT SATIRE
‘That’s Ridiculous’: How America's Corona Virus Response Looks from Abroad
Brendan Miller and Adam Westbrook, New York Times (July 27, 2020) [may require subscription]
From lockdowns to testing, we showed people from around the world the facts and figures on how America handled the virus. It wasn’t pretty.
CAUT NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), a nation-wide association of our peers.
July 29, 2020
FIRING OF HONG KONG PROFESSOR CONDEMNED
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) condemns the dismissal of pro-democracy activist professor Benny Tai from his tenured position as an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong.
OCUFA NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), a province-wide association of our peers.
‘Universities are not corporations’: Academics call for changes to governance structures
The Conversation [Australia] (July 28, 2020)
More than 600 academics from 36 Australian universities and members of the academic community have signed an open letter to federal and state education ministers calling for a return to a more democratic, cost-effective and functional structure for Australia’s universities.
University tuitions on the rise despite move to online courses amid COVID-19
Alicia Draus, Global News (July 25, 2020)
It’s an unprecedented time for everybody, and like many businesses and organizations, universities don’t have a clear road map for dealing with the pandemic.
UFV and FSA ratify new collective agreement
Dave Pinton, UFV Today (July 27, 2020)
The UFV Board of Governors and the UFV Faculty Association (FSA) have ratified the 2019-2022 Collective Agreement under the provincial government’s Sustainable Services Mandate. The mandate focuses on improving services for people and ensuring fair and affordable compensation. The agreement includes:
A t
Annual general annual wage increases of two per cent, two per cent, and two per cent [not a typo – ed.];
Updated gender neutral collective agreement language;
Increased extended health care coverage for hearing aids and eye exams;
Advances in Indigenization, including: language incorporated into teaching faculty duties to reflect work on Indigenizing UFV;
Establishment of a Service Improvement Training Fund for staff employees, to support training and Professional Development activities that enhance the delivery of services to students; and
Establishment of a Faculty/Student Research and Scholarly Activity Fund to support faculty research projects and scholarly activity that involves undergraduate or graduate students.
BUFA collective agreement ratified
Education News Canada (July 16, 2020)
The tentative collective agreement reached between Brock University and the Brock University Faculty Association (BUFA) on June 19 has been ratified by both parties. The new collective agreement was reached following two months [not a typo – ed.] of productive discussions between the Union and University's negotiating committees.
Black alumni call for action to combat Philippe Rushton's racist legacy at Western University
Sofia Rodriguez, CBC News (July 14, 2020)
A group of Western University alumni are asking the university to take concrete actions to mend the pain caused by J. Philippe Rushton, the late psychology professor who fostered anti-Black racism through his teachings that attempted to link race and intelligence.
FAUW NEWS
RAAS has a service agreement with the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW), a campus-wide association of our peers.
Anti-Black racism: An apology and a commitment
Bryan Tolson, FAUW (July 30, 2020)
I have been President of FAUW for almost three years now. In this time, I have not done enough advocacy and work on behalf of Black faculty colleagues to eliminate the systemic racism they face at our University and even within FAUW. For this I am truly sorry. The FAUW Board also apologizes for not doing more on this front.
FAUW is committed to joining the fight against systemic anti-Black racism on our campuses. In addition to this apology, we commit ourselves to:
1. Listening to Black faculty colleagues.
2. Learning about the systemic racism Black faculty colleagues face to help inform our next steps.
3. Better enabling and encouraging Black faculty members to participate in FAUW decision making and reducing barriers to full consultation.
4. Identifying possible ways to address anti-Black racism, including changing problematic policies and practices that reinforce the racism Black faculty colleagues face.
5. Continuing to consult with Black faculty colleagues on any actions we identify before implementing them.
6. Taking meaningful actions that go beyond talking or blogging like this, so that changes in policy and practice actually happen—both within FAUW and at the University.
7. Advocating for change for Black faculty colleagues.
Although we have not done nearly enough yet, we started this work in earnest after the last Senate meeting. As part of this effort, we have met with the Black Faculty Collective (BFC) three times since then. The BFC informally represent the small number of Black faculty on the Waterloo, Renison, St. Paul’s, St. Jerome’s and Conrad Grebel campuses (they count 8 faculty). Discussions at these meetings informed the steps outlined above.
Our discussions so far have also made clear to me the fundamental importance of white people like me stepping forward to do most of this work, because underrepresented Black faculty can’t possibly do it on their own—nor should they have to. Let’s not forget, Black faculty are here to do teaching and research. So FAUW's learning, work, actions, and advocacy need to move forward based primarily on significant investments of our own time and energy. But neither should FAUW fail to listen and fully consult.
The process will take much longer than my few weeks left as FAUW President, and longer than the one year I will serve as Past President starting in September. Despite this, I pledge to be in this fight against anti-Black racism for the long haul and I will do my best to equip FAUW to continue this work after I step away from the organization.
Bryan Tolson,
FAUW President