High-Quality Education and Research

During the 2018 round of collective bargaining, the Letter of Understanding Academic Administrative Position established a committee mandated with surveying faculties and units to compile an inventory of academic administrative positions, roles and responsibilities, and any supplementary compensation associated with these roles. Academic administrative positions are essential to the good functioning of our University. However, inadequate consideration and recognition is given to how the added responsibilities that come with these roles can impact members’ capacity to fulfill their teaching and research duties. Building on the Academic Administrative Positions Committee’s work, the APUO has tabled a new Letter of Understanding that aims to strike a committee to establish a formal compensation structure (stipends and/or course releases) for all academic administrative positions.

You can view the proposal in full here.

Our high student-to-professor and student-to-librarian ratios threaten our ability to consistently deliver high quality education. They also limit our capacity to provide individualized attention to students and to effectively support and resource research initiatives in the Library. Instead of renewing our existing Letter of Understanding on APUO minimum complement during every round of collective bargaining, the APUO is seeking to maintain the permanency of our minimum complement by tabling language to codify it in our Collective Agreement. In order to meet our institution’s growing educational and research demands, the APUO is proposing that our minimum complement increase from 1311 to 1350 full-time regular positions.

You can view the proposal in full here.

Continuing Special Appointment Professors (CSAP) play an essential role in our capacity to deliver a high-quality education. In the last round of collective bargaining, the APUO successfully secured the right for CSAPs to take professional leaves to enhance their teaching and/or perform scholarly activities. In this round of collective bargaining, the APUO is tabling a proposal that would put an end to the precarious nature of their employment by providing them permanency.

You can view the proposal in full here.

Language Teachers do work crucial to promote English/French bilingualism across the province and at our institution. As a means of redressing differences in their working conditions with other APUO members, and in recognizing the unique demands associated with their teaching duties as well as the value academic leaves can bring to fulfilling their mandates, the APUO has tabled language that seeks to reduce their teaching load and to extend eligibility conditions for academic leaves to Language Teachers.

You can view the proposal in full here.

Librarians play a central role in supporting course development and the research ambitions of professors and students alike. The Library reorganization, which took place over the last several years, has shifted the work undertaken by some librarians, increasing their overall workload. To redress some of the challenges arising from Library reorganization, the APUO has tabled proposals aimed at establishing more balanced workloads, updating the annual review process, and providing greater professional autonomy for our librarians. In line with our proposal around Departmental Assembly, the APUO is also tabling a proposal that would limit senior administrators’ interference in democratic spaces dedicated to librarian members.

You can view the proposal in full here.

For several years, the Central Administration’s deliberate move to keep Support Staff positions vacant has directly contributed to increasing the amount of shadow work undertaken by APUO members. To remedy this ongoing challenge, the APUO has tabled proposals that seek to provide members with adequate secretarial and technical services to ensure professors and librarians can focus on our University’s educational and research mandates.

You can view the proposal in full here.

As a research-intensive University and member of the U15, members in faculties with high teaching loads have expressed that their course assignments are a barrier to increasing their research capacity. In order to strike a better balance between professors’ teaching and research responsibilities, the APUO is tabling a proposal that seeks to reduce the overall teaching load of members and establish a framework and caps for class sizes.

You can view the proposal in full here.