Table of Contents
- Members’ Personal Contact Information
- Important Reminders for the 2024 Fall Term
- APUO 2023-2024 Annual Report
- CCAA Changes to Protect Public Post-Secondary Education
1) Members’ Personal Contact Information
On June 20, you received our first collective bargaining update which included a survey form to share your personal contact information. This is a standard practice for unions engaged in collective bargaining that ensures the ability to remain in contact with members.
At the University of Ottawa, the Employer removed email access to SSUO members during their strike in 2020. Since the APUO has recently had to file for conciliation, we wish to remind members to share your personal (non-uOttawa) email address and telephone number with us.
Your information will be kept confidential and will be used for association communications and strike payments should the Employer opt to remove Members’ uOttawa email access in the event of a lockout or strike. Members can share their contact information with Armaan Singh at armaan@apuo.ca.
2) Important Reminders for the 2024 Fall Term
With the start of the Fall 2024 Term, we wish to share important reminders regarding:
- Workday Requests
- Fall 2024 Course Syllabi (Articles 9 and 21)
- Unconventional Methods of Teaching (Article 22)
- Vacations, Holidays, Leaves and Absences (Article 28)
The APUO has learned of several instances where Members used Workday to request such things as, but not limited to, accommodations, family and university leaves, promotion and tenure, retirement, and workload reductions, only for their requests to go unaddressed.
The APUO advises that when making requests pertaining to any matter set out in the Collective Agreement (CA) you should, in accord with the processes specified in the CA, begin by first directly advising your respective Dean in writing. We do not recommend relying on Workday to have matters relating to the Collective Agreement dealt with appropriately in a timely manner.
Each term, the APUO is informed by Members that some faculties and units request that specific statements and timelines be included in course syllabi. Some faculties and units also send members course syllabi templates, claiming their use is mandatory. As the APUO has stated in previous communications, and in accordance with Article 9 and Article 21 of the Collective Agreement, imposing statements and templates for course syllabi constitutes an infringement on your academic freedom.
APUO members are certainly free to but are in no way obliged to use faculty or unit course syllabi templates or to include statements and/or any other information provided by their faculty or unit in these documents. Nor are they required to submit their course syllabi to their faculty or unit for approval or to adhere to submission deadlines for these documents. Article 21.1.2 (b) of the Collective Agreement is very clear about this matter. It specifies that members have the right and responsibility to:
“organize course content and classroom laboratory activities and employ methodology and didactic material, including textbooks for the courses assigned to her, in a manner appropriate to the course and consistent with relevant academic standards and course descriptions approved by the Senate, it being understood that in the case of a multi-section courses the Chair and the departmental assembly may jointly choose common didactic materials, including textbooks, where it can be shown that this choice is justified by valid academic reasons and does not impose ideological conformity on the members concerned.”
Furthermore, as per the applicable sections of Article 21.1.3, members shall:
“(b) determine a reasonable number of regularly scheduled office hours when she will be available to students for consultation, post these at her office door, and communicate them to the students and to her chair;
(c) inform her students, at the beginning of a course, regarding course requirements, instructional and evaluation methods, and the nature and timing of assignments, projects and examinations;
(d) not schedule final examinations outside the period designated for that purpose by the appropriate authority;”.
Put simply, members have the right both to choose whether to include information produced by their respective faculty or unit in their course syllabi, and/or whether to disseminate such information by other means. Should members have any questions, we encourage them to contact the APUO at apuo@apuo.ca or michel@apuo.ca.
c) Unconventional Teaching Methods
Article 22 of the Collective Agreement covers Workload and Methods of Teaching.
Article 22.2.3.1 specifies:
“courses which:
a. are taught by correspondence or at off-campus locations, or
b. are videotaped, recorded, broadcast or televised, or
c. call for unconventional methods such as teleconference teaching,
d. delivered entirely or partially via the Internet,
may be included in a member’s teaching load only with the prior consent of the member and, if applicable, once any special arrangements that may be required have been agreed upon.”
It is equally important that you be aware of the other rights afforded by Article 22:
Distribution of teaching duties
Article 22.2.2.1 states:
“A Faculty Member’s scheduled teaching duties shall be distributed over two (2) of the three (3) terms of an academic year, it being understood that:
a) the above provisions may be set aside with the prior consent of the Member concerned;
…
d) where a Member’s Dean requests that the Member accept the spring/summer term as one of the two (2) terms comprising scheduled teaching duties, the Member shall not unreasonably refuse.”
Furthermore, as per Article 22.2.2.2:
“As far as possible, the Employer shall not — unless the Member agrees otherwise — include in the Member’s workload more than one (1) course per term finishing after 7 p.m., it being understood that more than one (1) course will not be included without prior consultation with the Member, and unless justified by reasons related to the nature of the student clientele.”
Modifications to your workload assignment
As per Article 22.2.4.4:
“A Member’s workload shall not be changed after May 1, unless the change is made clearly necessary by the circumstances. Such change is to be made as far in advance as possible and shall always be preceded by consultation with the Member concerned.”
If your workload is modified and you do not agree to the changes, you may communicate with the APUO to activate the Faculty Workload Review Committee (FWRC) process detailed in Article 22.2.6.1.
Student requests to have in-person sessions recorded and made available online
The APUO is aware of ongoing demands from students to have in-person class sessions recorded and made available online. With the exception of formal accommodation requests issued through SASS, the choice of what to make accessible, and how, is entirely at your discretion.
If you are considering disputing your workload assignment or have questions about teaching obligations, do not hesitate to communicate with the APUO at apuo@apuo.ca or michel@apuo.ca.
d) Vacation Leave, Holidays, Availability and Authorized Absences
Article 28 of the Collective Agreement covers vacation leave for all Professors and language teachers (article 28.1), vacation leave for librarians (article 28.2), holidays (article 28.3) and availability and authorized absences (article 28.4).
In actuality, article 28.4 covers a few different subjects under the umbrella of authorized absences:
- Article 28.4.1 specifies that a member’s residence must not be so far from uOttawa as to limit the carrying out of their workload duties.
- Article 28.4.3 specifies that a member who is not on academic leave or other leave is required to be present on campus:
- when their presence is necessary for the performance of scheduled or teaching duties, which are included in their workload pursuant to article 22.1.2.2(a) or for the guidance of graduate students whose work they supervise; and
- for a reasonable number of regularly scheduled office hours in accordance with article 21.1.3(b); and
- to assume a fair share of academic service activities required for the proper functioning of their academic unit and the University of Ottawa; and
- when the Dean or Chair gives them reasonable notice that, for good and valid reasons, their presence on campus is required.
- Article 28.4.4 specifies that a member is not required to be present on campus to fulfill their workload obligations, whenever another location is more appropriate for that purpose and when their absence from campus does not interfere with the application of article 28.4.3.
- The APUO wishes to remind members that librarians are included in the application of article 28.4 (just like article 28.3 and other sections of article 28.4).
- The APUO encourages librarians who believe they have been put in a position that contradicts article 28.4 to contact us directly or through your APUO Board Representatives.
- Article 28.4.5 specifies that, except when on vacation, a Member shall ensure that her chair is aware of how and where the Member can be contacted without delay.
- Article 28.4.6 details the concept of an authorized absence. During an authorized absence, all rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities of Members remain unchanged except for the added right to be absent without being subject to recall to the campus.
3) APUO 2023-2024 Annual Report
The APUO’s 2023-2024 Annual Report is now available. We invite you to read about the union’s activities over the past year, including collective bargaining preparations, our analysis of uOttawa’s finances, an interunion update, and much more.
You are invited to read the Annual Report here.
4) CCAA Changes to Protect Public Post-Secondary Education
As we reported in our June Bulletin, on May 28th the House of Commons passed Bill C-59, a legislation proposing important changes to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). These changes are the result of the advocacy of workers and advocates in the public post-secondary sector who wanted to ensure that no other public post-secondary institution meet the same fate as Laurentian University. You will recall that Laurentian’s Central Administration chose to seek creditor protection under the CCAA, effectively bypassing campus collective agreements and leading to some 60 programs, almost half of which were French language offerings, being cut along with the positions of more than 100 faculty and staff members.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) published a final update on the issue of the CCAA celebrating this important victory of the union movement.
To all our Members, we wish you a good start to the Fall Term and a rewarding and fulfilling academic year.