This is my last report for the AGM newsletter as Chair of the Librarians Committee. My term concludes June 30, 2016. It has been a great honour and a tremendous pleasure to work with so many knowledgeable and committed colleagues across our three campuses for the past six years.
This was another busy year for the Equity Committee. The two issues at the top of our agenda were precarious academic labour and gender-based and sexual violence prevention.
The Appointments Committee advises UTFA Council and Executive on all matters related to the University administration’s many policies on academic appointments. This includes procedures for hiring, promotion, tenure, and termination encompassing all librarian and faculty ranks – full-time and part-time – including tenure stream, teaching stream, contractually limited, visiting adjuncts, and emeriti/ae (sessional instructors are, of course, represented by CUPE).
Greetings from the Treasurer. I first need to acknowledge the fantastic work of Marta Horban and Rucsandra Schmelzer in supporting this portfolio and UTFA’s members. We are extremely fortunate to have both of them on staff and to benefit from their careful oversight of the financial aspects of the Association. Detailed supervision of the renovation of the new office space at 720 Spadina recently acquired by UTFA has also been an extra burden on Marta in particular; she has spent an extraordinary amount of time and energy to ensure completion of this project.
As Vice-President, University and External Affairs, I represent UTFA on the Board of OCUFA and on the Ontario caucus of CAUT. Both organizations have vigorously pursued the concerns of faculty and librarians this past year, especially around issues of contingent faculty, the casualization of teaching, and confrontation of sexism and sexual violence on campus. These themes, plus the implications of (welcome) leadership change in Ottawa, dominated the agenda of the CAUT Council meeting in November.
I liaised for UTFA and OCUFA on three provincial initiatives:
During 2015–2016, the Grievance portfolio won two tenure appeals at the University Tenure Appeal Committee. In each case, UTAC granted a second tenure committee, which is the only possible result of a successful tenure appeal. In recent years, UTFA has secured a small number of second tenure committees through negotiation with the Office of the President.
Our last three-year agreement expired on June 30, 2014. As per Article 6 of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), UTFA’s President and I met with the Administration in January of 2014 to formally announce our intention to bargain a new settlement. Since the last AGM, we have met with the Administration to engage in bilateral negotiations on a dozen occasions.
This has been an exciting year for full-time members of the teaching stream. The successful completion of the SJAC negotiations has brought about very positive changes for them. As Chair of the Teaching Stream Committee I joined the SJAC team in the final days of negotiation of the tentative agreement between UTFA and Governing Council in December 2014, and I was present at the Governing Council meeting on February 26, 2015, when the changes were approved in principle by a unanimous vote.
The mandate of UTFA’s Equity Committee is to advise UTFA Council on all matters pertaining to equity and diversity – including gender, race, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and ability – and to assist the Association in developing policy and approaches to related issues, including pay and employment equity, sexual and other forms of harassment, personal safety, and accessibility. If you have a concern related to equity or diversity or wish to become involved on the Committee, please contact me at zoric@utfa.org.