RAAS Report
RAAS REPORT
Friday, January 29, 2021
PRESIDENT’S UPDATE
We are thrilled to announce that the Renison Board of Governors voted unanimously to ratify the Collective Agreement.
The decision to ratify is now in the hands of RAAS members. Sincere appreciation to everyone who attended this week's information sessions, sent inquiry emails, and/or met individually with members of the Negotiation Team. We have been in contact probably with about two-thirds of RAAS members this past week. It seems clear from these conversations that we have overwhelming support for the work that has been accomplished. We have also heard from some that we may have gotten certain aspects wrong, that some individuals would have preferred even greater consultation on some articles, that there are areas that need attention in the next round of negotiations (in less than two years), and that we have a great deal of work ahead for the implementation phase. This is to be expected with any agreement, and particularly with a first CA. Most importantly, it is clear that everyone is attentive, thoughtful, and engaged in ensuring that we have good working conditions at Renison.
Only two members expressed a desire for more time. As such, the Negotiation Team would like to proceed with the ratification vote as scheduled. We think this is important since the Collective Agreement affects the planning already underway for the next academic year. Rather than holding another group information session, we will meet with anyone individually as needed. We will ensure that members of the Negotiation Team are available as needed for any further discussions.
The Negotiation Team is bringing forth this agreement for ratification because we believe it is the best possible agreement we could achieve with the Employer at this time. We think it is a very strong first Collective Agreement. It goes a very long way toward establishing clarity and accountability on key policies and procedures governing our academic lives. Our strong recommendation is for ratification.
Kristina Llewellyn
RAAS President
RATIFICATION
The tentative agreement will come into effect upon ratification. Here are the next steps:
READ (or re-read for excitement) the Collective Agreement. Reach out to the Negotiation Team if you have questions or concerns.
VOTE! FAUW has set and will oversee the secret ballot ratification vote for RAAS. You will receive an email to vote on Wednesday, February 3rd at noon. The voting will close on Friday, February 5th at noon. Ratification is legally set at 50% +1 of the RAAS members who cast a ballot. The question will be: "Do you vote to ratify the tentative agreement reached on December 16, 2020?" The email to vote will include the agreement you have already received, which is the agreement (prior to minor formatting and grammatical changes) that the teams agreed to on Dec. 16th. You may only vote YES or NO. CAUT says there is no option to abstain in a ratification vote.
FAUW will announce the results of the vote (we hope) by the end of day Friday, February 5th
BOARD UPDATE
We can report from the Board meeting this past Wednesday two big developments:
1) The Board voted in favour of a second faculty representative to be selected among regular faculty. The Chair of the Governance Committee spoke about the request from faculty (i.e. long ago from RAAS and more recently from AC) and conducting their own research of comparator institutions. They confirmed that Renison has the lowest faculty representation on a Board among all comparators. They asserted that other university colleges typically have 2 faculty, 1 staff, and 1 student. We can anticipate a vote for a new faculty representative from the administration.
2) The Board ratified the Collective Agreement. The discussion and vote were held in camera. Before the Board meeting, with the advice of CAUT, we were advised that, of course, our faculty representative should not vote on ratification at the Board but that being in the discussion was a reasonable expectation. We regret that the Board decided to ask our faculty representative to leave for the discussion and not just the vote. That said, the great news is that the Board unanimously voted in favour of ratifying the Agreement. We have been permitted to pass along this news by President Fletcher.
WEBSITE UPDATE
The RAAS website is up and running at www.renisonassociationofacademicstaff.org. Members can find all kinds of information there, from our Collective Agreement and Memoranda of Understanding to our Grievance Policies and Procedures to archived issues of RAAS Report.
To reach any member of the RAAS Executive or Grievance Committee, please use their email addresses (as indicated on the website). Regrettably, the RAAS general email address – raas@uwaterloo.ca – has not been accessible since the shift to 2FA in November. Please don’t use it! We’ve given up on it.
If you have an informal query or wish to discuss a grievance matter, please send an email to any member of the Grievance Committee to set up a confidential meeting by Zoom or by phone.
Jason Blokhuis
RAAS Grievance Officer
SATIRE
Child Weirded Out After Bumping Into Teacher Outside of Laptop
The Onion (January 12, 2021)
Still shaken after a surprise encounter with the 37-year-old educator, local first-grader Micah Dunn was reportedly weirded out Tuesday after bumping into his teacher outside of his laptop. “Mrs. Evans was walking around without moving out of frame—it was super weird,” said Dunn, who recalled feeling dumbfounded after a recent trip to the grocery store in which he spotted the woman standing in line occupying three-dimensional space.
NOT SATIRE
Why two students are mapping where people cry on University of Waterloo's campus [including my office? –ed.]
Haydn Watters, CBC News (January 28, 2021)
Tons of tears have been shed on the University of Waterloo campus: Mid-panic attack at the gym while writing an exam, post-fight on the Bombshelter patio, at a lecture hall after meeting astronaut Chris Hadfield. Two engineering students at the university are mapping the places people have cried on campus hoping to show that campus crying is a communal experience.
CAUT NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), a nation-wide association of our peers.
It's Time to Modernize the Employment Equity Act
CAUT (January 11, 2021)
[The] Act’s roots go back to 1984 when Justice Rosalie Abella released her report from the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment. The Abella Report broke new ground by introducing the concept of “employment equity”, a uniquely Canadian policy to address workplace barriers facing equity-seeking groups.
OCUFA NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), a province-wide association of our peers.
Laurentian professors, librarians issue ultimatum
Sudbury Star (January 26, 2021)
The administration has made it impossible to bargain productively, the Laurentian University Faculty Association charges. Despite previous claims that severe budget cuts would be required to save programs, the association says administration has spent months repeatedly refusing to provide any data that backs up this assertion... Almost 600 professors and librarians at Laurentian University have been without a contract since July 1, 2020. Negotiations have been ongoing for almost a year. Professors and librarians at LU say they are tired of what they say is the administration’s ongoing efforts to delay bargaining and their continual threats of cuts.
LU faculty demand financial data, threaten bargaining in bad faith complaint
Sudbury.com (January 27, 2021)
Professors and librarians at Laurentian University are calling on the university administration to end bargaining delays, return to the table, and negotiate an agreement that preserves vital programs for students, protects good jobs, and restores stability to the Laurentian community. The Laurentian University Faculty Association said in a press release that administration has made it impossible to bargain productively.
UTFA (January 15, 2021)
This key win on PTR was clearly tied to our members’ informed engagement and vocal support, and for this we are grateful. Still, it is regrettable that hard-working faculty and librarians have had to experience lengthy delays in receiving their PTR and that the Association had to spend its members’ dues on expensive legal challenges in an effort to obtain them. UTFA members prevailed in a fight they never should have needed to wage in the first place.
53 test positive as University of Guelph grapples with growing COVID outbreak
Haydn Watters, CBC News (January 27, 2021)
At least 53 University of Guelph students have now tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus as the university continues to blame "unsanctioned gatherings" in residence buildings mid-January for the spread. The university has threatened larger fines for those breaking pandemic rules as the campus outbreak keeps growing.
UWOFA calls for Chancellor's resignation
UWOFA (January 25, 2021)
The union representing faculty members at Western University is calling for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Hasenfratz, saying her apology for taking a holiday trip outside Canada mid-pandemic is not good enough.
FAUW NEWS
RAAS has a service agreement with the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW), a campus-wide association of our peers
Does policy drafting at UW still work? Policy 14 could tell us
Kate Lawson, FAUW Blog (January 8, 2021)
The updated draft of Policy 14 – Pregnancy and Parental Leaves (including Adoption) is the product of UW’s unique collegial process and one that we can all be proud of. FAUW members often ask how—and even if—their “terms and conditions of employment” can be updated and improved. They look at UW’s comparator institutions in Ontario and notice that colleagues there don’t just get salary increments in their collective agreements; they also get improvements in such areas as workload, benefits, and employment equity. And it is certainly true that faculty members who belong to unionized faculty associations have well-defined pathways to such improvements.
UW is different.