July 31 Bulletin

Dear members, 
 
As per the recently signed letter of understanding (LOU) COVID-19 Impact on Course Development and Delivery, an additional one-time lump sum of $1,000 should have been deposited in members’ Professional Expenses Reimbursement (PER) account by July 31, 2020, to facilitate the acquisition of equipment and services necessary for preparing and delivering remote and online teaching in the 2020 Fall term. 
 
This email message serves as a friendly reminder that you may use this funding to hire a Research Assistant in accordance with the procedures set out in Articles 18 and 32 of the CUPE 2626 Collective Agreement and that this opportunity also applies to members conducting research during their academic leave. To this end, please note that the same procedures used to hire Research Assistants in any other circumstance apply when doing so within the context of the LOU COVID-19 Impact on Course Development and Delivery. We therefore encourage members to communicate with their respective academic units to inquire about the steps to follow to create a job posting for a Research Assistant position. 
 
Inter-union campaign against larger class sizes
 
Several APUO and APTPUO members have noted a significant increase in the enrollment numbers of their assigned courses for the Fall term. In response to the Central Administration’s decision to increase class sizes in tandem with the shift to the remote and online delivery of courses in the Fall term, the Inter-union Coalition of the University of Ottawa recently sent a letter to President Jacques Frémont outlining its concerns with this decision. You can view the letter here.
 
Under the terms of the APTPUO’s Collective Agreement, there is no provision regarding workload assignments that prevent significant increases in class sizes for our part-time colleagues. As contractual employees, part-time professors must contend with the stark choice of either accepting courses (often on short notice) with increased enrollments or forfeiting work.