Table of Contents
1. Bargaining Bulletin #4: Monetary Proposals and Unresolved Key Issues
The APUO Negotiation Team submitted the union’s monetary proposals on September 9, 2026 and received a counterproposal from the Employer on October 7. You can read the APUO’s monetary proposals here, and the Employer’s counterproposal here.
While this marks an important step in negotiations, major issues remain unresolved, including child care, safeguards on artificial intelligence (AI), the minimum number of full-time professors and librarians (APUO staffing complement) and governance. So far, the employer has shown little willingness to make meaningful commitments on these issues.
Child Care and AI: Consultation and Safeguards Needed
While these two issues are under negotiation, the employer continues to move forward on both files. Proceeding unilaterally on matters at the bargaining table undermines the negotiation process and risks presenting members with decisions already made rather than proposals open to meaningful discussion.
The Employer has established a child care working group without representation from the APUO or any other union, despite the direct implications of child care for our working conditions. Campus unions, the APUO included, spent years fighting the closure of our only campus daycare.
On October 6, the Employer announced the launched of a Lumi Pro Pilot Project in Brightspace all while safeguards on AI remain unresolved at the bargaining table. The implementation of AI in teaching and learning raises important questions about academic freedom, intellectual property, privacy, and pedagogical autonomy.
It is very disappointing to see the Employer proceeding unilaterally on the very issues that Members identified as key bargaining priorities.
APUO Staffing Complement and Governance
As highlighted in our third bargaining bulletin, uOttawa has seen a decade of disproportionate growth. Between 2016 and 2025, student enrolment grew by nearly 15%, while the number of full-time professors and librarians (APUO staffing complement) increased by just 1.83%. Meanwhile, the University’s upper central administration grew by almost 43%. Our student-to-professor ratio has reached 37.5:1, well above the provincial average of 33:1 and the national average of 25.3:1.
The data is clear. We need a significant increase in the minimum APUO complement. APUO members are being asked to support a growing student population without a significant increase in the number of full-time professors and librarians. This negatively affects our workloads and the quality of education and research delivered at uOttawa, all of which also impact our ability to participate meaningfully in collegial governance.
During the last round of bargaining, we secured language in the Collective Agreement establishing a minimum of 1,335 APUO positions. This language had previously been established in a Letter of Understanding. Enshrining it in the Collective Agreement was an important victory we must now build on by securing a higher staffing complement that reflects the University’s growth and the needs of our campus community. We also need the implementation of a joint APUO-Employer complement committee to make sure that hiring priorities reflect the teaching and research needs of all faculties and academic units.
Winning on complement, governance, and securing meaningful protections on child care and AI require meaningful commitments from the Employer. The APUO Negotiation Team remains committed to advancing your priorities and will keep you informed as talks progress. Your support will be more and more important over the upcoming weeks.
The APUO and the Employer negotiation teams will next meet on November 24, 25, and 26.
As you may be aware, the Association of Teaching Professors of the University of Ottawa (ATPUO) is also currently in bargaining with the Employer and has seen little progress at their negotiation table.
As a result, in early September, the ATPUO membership voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate of 88.2% for the Main Unit, 73.1% for the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) Unit, and 100% for the Toronto-Windsor Unit.
The ATPUO and the Employer then began a conciliation process on September 13 but were unable to reach an agreement. On October 21 the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development issued a No-Board report in the collective bargaining process between ATPUO and the University of Ottawa for the union’s Main Unit and the OLBI Unit.
Once a No-Board has been issued, there is a period of 17 days (during which negotiations and mediation are still possible) at the end of which: (1) ATPUO members may begin a strike action; (2) the Employer may impose a lock out; or (3) the Employer may unilaterally rewrite the ATPUO Collective Agreement. The 17-day period ends on November 7. At the time of writing, the ATPUO and the Employer have still not reached an agreement.
In the event of a work disturbance, the Central Administration may call upon you to take on tasks usually conducted by ATPUO members. In solidarity with our ATPUO colleagues, we encourage APUO members to exercise their right to refuse taking on any ATPUO tasks during any work disturbance. We also encourage you to pass on any work requests usually undertaken by ATPUO members to your Dean’s Office, and to the President and Vice-Presidents’ Offices.
The APUO is in solidarity with our ATPUO colleagues and their fight for better working conditions. We encourage you to support their demand for an equitable agreement by participating in their letter-writing campaign. Send a letter to the members of the Board of Governors asking them to intervene and support good-faith negotiations toward a fair agreement. The letter can be personalize