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Bargaining News

Happy New Year

We would like to wish all faculty a happy new year!

The big news here is that Collective bargaining at ECU has begun! Not only is this a time to reflect on all the work we put into our various roles as members of the Faculty Association, it is also a time for action. Some important things we are focusing on in this round of bargaining are Right to Available Work, Compensation, and Teaching Load.

Join us at the monthly Faculty Association meeting to hear updates in person and let us know if you have questions.

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Bargaining News

Negotiations Update

Dear Faculty Members,

After bargaining sessions on June 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11 and 12, we now have a tentative agreement for you to vote on. A summary and more details were emailed out to you.

We are holding a ratification information meeting at 11 am, June 30, in NB 245. Hope to see you there, and if you’re not available, please feel free to contact us with questions by email or telephone.

Thank you for your attention,

your Negotiations Committee

Rita Wong
Jane Slemon
David MacWilliam
Dennis Burke
Leah Squance

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Bargaining News

What is Collegial Governance?

The following handout (building on CAUT’s work) offers some working definitions that may be helpful to consider:

Collegial Governance is defined in terms of the degree of autonomy members of a department or discipline can expect in participating in and determining every aspect and condition of their work: for example, meetings, workload, workload planning, academic planning, and so on.

The term turns on two elements:

“collegiality” which means the participation of faculty in governance structures.

Collegiality does not mean congeniality.

To be collegial, academic governance must:
(a) allow for the expression of a diversity of views and opinions,
(b) protect participants so that no individual is given inappropriate advantage (for example, due to power differentials) with respect to decisions, and
(c) ensure inclusiveness so that all who should be participating are provided the opportunity to do so.

Collegial governance depends on the participants being given, and being able to deliver, their share of the service workload.

“consultation” refers to the process whereby the person(s) consulting a person(s) is obligated to take into consideration the circumstances and interests of the person(s) being consulted, and, also, to ensure that these circumstances and interests are reflected in the determination made at the end of the process.

Consultation also refers to a formal meeting by which the consultation occurs around a specific agenda item(s) and whose procedure and outcome(s) are documented.

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Bargaining News

Academic Governance 3.0

The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA) has released an e-book called Academic Governance 3.0. It is worth a read for any faculty member seeking to think through the ways in which we come to make decisions as communities and learning organizations. When professor Cary Nelson recently spoke at SFU’s Institute for the Humanities, he identified shared governance, tenure and academic freedom as being crucial for the integrity and the future of post-secondary education.

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Bargaining Regular Sessional

Contexts: Collective Agreements and Universities

Notwithstanding the gorgeous sunny weather this long weekend, it’s also one of the most intense times of the year for studio and academic faculty. After the crunch eventually subsides, it may be healthy to take a step back to reflect on how post-secondary education is evolving, as well as our responsibilities to protect the quality of education in this province. While we each have our individual strengths and challenges, we’re also in this arts, media & design education community together, and it’s through mindful coordination that we’ll achieve more.

If you’d like to compare the collective agreements of post-secondary institutions that are members of FPSE (Federation of Post-Secondary Educators), they can be found online at http://www.fpse.ca/agreements/collective.

Also, for more context and discussion, the latest issue of Canadian cultural studies journal Topia, entitled Out of the Ruins, the University to Come, can be found in our library: http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/topia/issue/current.

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Bargaining Regular

Academic Freedom

While we’ve had a number of discussions about academic freedom over the years, some faculty members are new to the discussion. As an introduction, here is a brief overview and definition by Cary Nelson:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/12/21/nelson_on_academic_freedom

For a more detailed discussion, see his book No University Is An Island. While Nelson is writing in an American context, many of the trends and issues he identifies are relevant to the Canadian post-secondary community.