• ABOUT OCADFA
• vNEWS & EVENTS
  • President Messages
  • Negotiations Chair
  • Agendas and Minutes
  • Archive
• vDOCUMENTS
  • The MOA
  • » Appendix A
  • » Appendix B
  • Policies
• vSALARY SCALES
  • Faculty
  • Academic Staff
• BY-LAWS
• CONTACT

1) OCADFA – You're Already a Member! If you're getting this email, you're an OCADFA member. This means that we’re here to protect your rights and improve your working conditions. If you have questions, concerns or suggestions about your workplace, please contact our office by emailing Connie Reid (conniereid@ocadu.ca) or me (creeve@faculty.ocadu.ca).

2) Spring meeting, Thursday, April 25th 1-3 p.m., in room 1525 at 113 McCaul Street. We are surveying interest in free childcare during the April 25 OCADFA General Meeting and Faculty Appreciation event. If you're interested in childcare for either or both of these events, please contact Claudette Lauzon (clauzon@faculty.ocadu.ca).

3) Negotiations – You will have seen Bill Leeming's email, and he'll report further next week but, to recap, last week we served the administration with a request for "Negotiations Mediation and Arbitration" per the MOA’'s Article 12.1.1.

4) Performance Reviews – Many of you are getting notices to make appointments to sign off on your performance reviews. This is fine if you are satisfied with your review. **However** if you do not feel your review reflects your accomplishments, you can request a meeting with the Chair of the Faculty Performance Review Committee. If that meeting isn't satisfactory, you have 15 days more to make a written appeal to your dean. We've seen announcements stating that this process must be completed by April 22, so it's important to note that this deadline is subject to you being satisfied with your review. 5) Re-Imagining the Quality of Education at OCAD, Part 5

Ideally, a university's administration should support the goals of the faculty and students. Yet, increasingly, it's the reverse: students and faculty support the goals of the administration. Why?

Those of you who attended our event about post-secondary education on earlier this month heard some talk about the "new managerialism." This phenomenon has been in play in universities for over a decade, characterized by four factors: burgeoning upper management; a dramatic up-turn in the percentage of university budgets being spent on administration; distancing between upper management and the university's day-to-day activities (for instance, fewer and fewer of them do any teaching); and more and more teaching being done by contractually limited appointments. (See Rosemary Deem's "Unravelling the Fabric of Academe" in Universities at Risk—a book I've referenced before and highly recommend.)

This phenomenon is particularly pronounced at OCAD. For example, we've mentioned previously that, in the last 6 years, our student population has increased by about 26.5%. During the same period, OCAD's vice-presidential complement grew by 300% — from two vice-presidents and no associate vice-presidents, to three vice-presidents and three associate vice-presidents. We now have one vice-president or associate vice-president to every 670 students. By contrast, the University of Toronto has just under 90,000 students, and thirteen vice-presidents and vice-provosts—or about one vice-president/vice-provost to every 6,700 students. So, student-by-student, OCAD's vice-presidential complement is ten times that of the University of Toronto (even though we're a specialized institution). Here's another comparison: not one of the top seven people of OCAD University —president, vice-presidents, associate vice-presidents — have taught here. By contrast, U of T's out-going president, David Naylor, and in-coming president, Meric Gertler, rose through the ranks at that university.

This is why we say that new managerialism, while hardly unique to OCAD University, is especially egregious here—and why our administration expects the faculty and students to support their goals, rather than the reverse.

Message from Charles Reeve, President, OCADFA

Two upcoming events addressing the effects of austerity policies on universities:

1) Next Wednesday, OCAFU presents "Austerity and Ontario's Universities: Finding a way forward." This is a joint Town Hall Meeting for University of Toronto, York, Ryerson and OCADU faculty, students and staff.

Wednesday March 27, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. University of Toronto: OISE Auditorium (252 Bloor St. West, Toronto) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/485754828154901

2) To complement this event, The OCAD Faculty Association and OPSEU Local 576 present a forum on current financial and administrative pressures affecting post-secondary education, to be held Tuesday, April 2, 2013, from 5-7 pm.

Titled "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" (after a famous painting by Paul Gauguin), this forum features talks by Paul Hamel (University of Toronto School of Medicine) and David Robinson (Canadian Association of University Teachers).

Starting with the University of Toronto's injunction that academic freedoms must include the right to challenge the cherished beliefs "of the university itself," Paul Hamel's explorations of the contemporary university show how these fundamental rights are under attack as funders demand short-term return on investment and universities bring such corporate pieties into their administration.

Building on this theme of the corporatization of universities, David Robinson shows how management practices intended to protect the public interest in quality post-secondary education do the reverse: how the growing emphasis on performance indicators, for example, undercuts educational quality by eating up resources, replacing innovative thinking with standardized testing and justifying Draconian funding cuts.

"Politicians and educational administrators of all stripes increasingly assume that the legacy of Margaret Thatcher provides the only way forward," says Charles Reeve, president of the OCAD Faculty Association. "But it's far from proven that post-secondary education is a pointless luxury. We must re-examine this Thatcherite return before it causes irreparable harm."

Or it it too late? Join us for this timely, stimulating look at how these key pressure points in current post-secondary policy and administration affect you.

What: "Where Do We Come From? What Are We?
Where Are We Going?: A Forum on Post-Secondary Education"
Who: Featuring talks by Paul Hamel and David Robinson, and moderated by Charles Reeve (OCAD University Associate Professor and OCADFA President).
When: Tuesday, April 2, 2013, from 5-7 pm.
Where: OCAD University Central Hall, 100 McCaul Street.

This event is free and open to the public. A limited number of on-site child-care spaces are available—RSVP to Claudette Lauzon (clauzon@faculty.ocadu.ca) to reserve a spot for your child. Presented with support from the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Charles Reeve

Dear OCADFA Members:

1) Tax Time!

Don't forget that your ocadfa dues are tax-deductible, and that you also may be able to deduct the cost of maintaining a home office if you do a lot of work there. Ask your dean for a T2200. We've been told that they will provide them if requested.

Also, don't forget that all Continuing, Probationary and Tenured faculty are eligible for up to $500 in Professional Development Funding. This can go towards books, periodicals, travel etc. Forms and more info here.

2) Coming Events

Wednesday, March 27, 7-9pm, OISE Auditorium: OCUFA town hall on austerity and Ontario's universities. If you're on facebook, there's more info here.

Tuesday April 2, 4-6 pm, Central Hall. OCADFA and OPSEU Local 576 present "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" Exploring the impact on everyone in the post-secondary sector of recent shifts in funding and management strategies, this event features talks by Paul Hamel (University of Toronto School of Medicine) and David Robinson (Canadian Association of University Teachers). A limited number of child-care spaces are available on site. RSVP to Claudette Lauzon (clauzon@faculty.ocadu.ca) to reserve a spot for your child.

3) More on Re-Imagining the Quality of Education at OCAD University

Groundwork by previous ocadfa boards and ocadfa presidents has paved the way for a more public discussion and strategy regarding various issues affecting ocadfa’s members. One example of this is our emails about OCAD University's treatment of sessionals, which prompted quite a response and highlighted confusion about the enforcement of the five-year cap.

Following from those responses, here are a few key points that you should know.

First, in late February, we emailed the deans, associate deans and chairs in the Faculties of Art and Liberal Arts and Sciences to reiterate that OCADFA will waive the five-year cap for any sessional on receipt of a request from their dean. This message follows on the administration’s refusal to agree to remove the cap in last year’s negotiations; and underscores are willingness to waive the caps whenever deans request it.

Second, this action likely won't change things short term, since the administration has been inflexible on this issue for several years. But it will clarify where responsibility lies (which will help in negotiations). If anyone tells you that we refuse to budge on this issue, please inform us immediately.

Finally, we can't over-emphasize that the sessional issue affects everyone. This enforced turnover destabilizes the sessionals, increases the service burden of permanent faculty, and compounds the chairs' workload (among other things). Given the stress and cost associated with this policy, will continue to highlight this issue in our interactions with the administration.

Best regards,
Charles

Dear Members:

Please save this date: Tuesday, April 2, 2013 – 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

What: OCADFA and OPSEU Local 576 invite you to a discussion of the impact of recent shifts in funding and management strategies on everyone in the post-secondary sector. Featuring talks by Paul Hamel (University of Toronto School of Medicine) and David Robinson (Canadian Association of University Teachers).

Where: OCAD University, 100 McCaul Street, Central Hall (room 230).

Who: This event is free and open to the public. This venue is accessible and AODA compliant.

A limited number of child-minding spaces are available on site. RSVP to Claudette Lauzon (clauzon@faculty.ocadu.ca) to reserve a spot for your child.

Supported by OCADFA and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Charles Reeve

Dear Members:

Our email about increasing ratios of students to tenured/tenure-track faculty prompted queries about similar figures regarding sessional faculty. While we don't have the numbers on sessionals from 2005/06, we do have those numbers from 06/07 on, and they tell an interesting story. Here's the breakdown of numbers of sessionals since 06/07:

06/07: 225
07/08: 205
08/09: 231
09/10: 215
10/11: 236
11/12: 279
12/13: 292

Alongside this growth of nearly 30%, Continuing has gone from 24 to 33 (38% increase); and CLTAs have gone from 13 to 32 (146% increase-with a trend to 1-year CLTAs, marking a further casualization of labour). As we noted previously, this is against an increase in enrolment of 26.5% over the last 6 six years, and a 4.9% decline of tenure and tenure-track faculty.

Since all the growth in teaching staff has been in these areas, they're the ones who have enabled the school to keep up with climbing enrolment. And the relatively high sessional complement exposes our students to a healthy mix of career practitioners and career academics. As well, this arrangement suits many sessionals with active practices.

But sessionals now do about 37% of the teaching, even though the Memorandum of Agreement limits this number to 30%. So we're pressing this issue, and have prioritized it for negotiations. Why? How does this affect our quality of education?

As the use of sessionals grows, more and more of them burn out on a treadmill of temporary employment. As their teaching income becomes increasingly precarious, sesssionals must cobble things together at multiple schools, which gets exhausting quickly. (For some excellent context on this, see James Turk "Restructuring Academic Work" in Universities at Risk [2008].)

And more sessionals means fewer faculty for committees - so sessionals have less time for teaching because they're juggling campuses, full-time faculty have less time for teaching because they're juggling meetings, and creativity and scholarship suffers everywhere. (A situation worsened by the fact that, increasingly, sessionals feel pressured to do service, thus effectively working for free). So, it's in everyone's interest for sessionals to have a better deal, and for administration to make good on its commitment to create more full-time, permanent jobs.

Note: the MoA lets OCADFA waive the five-year cap for sessionals on a case-by-case basis, and we have told deans that OCADFA will grant any waiver they request. So, anyone who says you can't be re-hired because you've reached your five-year cap is wrong. We've got work to do on job security for sessionals, but OCADFA's not to blame for their precarious status.

Message from Charles Reeve, President, OCADFA

Hello everyone:

At the end of last semester, we sent around some information about how OCAD University compares to the other art and design schools in Canada in terms of student/faculty ratio and class size (in brief, not well).

Over the coming months, we will be sending you further information about the state of affairs here, as well as about institutional processes (such as performance reviews) that you need to understand.

The numbers below provide a snapshot of the growing pressure that we all feel -- an increase in workload, and a decrease in resources. So, to begin with, there's been a steady growth in student numbers over the last several years: 2005-06: 3467 heads; 2011-12: 4355 heads (4202 undergraduate, 153 graduate).

Meanwhile, there's been a slight decline in the number of faculty: 124 Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty in 2005/2006; 118 Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty in 2012/2013.

So, while the number of students has increased by 25.6% over the last 6 years, the number of tenured and tenure track faculty has decreased by 4.9% during the same period, leading to a dramatic upturn in student/faculty ratio: Student to tenured and tenure track faculty ration in 2005/2006 = 28:1; Student to tenured and tenure track faculty ration in 2011/2012 = 37:1.

Of course, it's very difficult to draw direct cause-and-effect connections between various phenomena. However, the recent auditor's report on post-secondary education in Ontario emphasizes that there's often a close correlation between student satisfaction and student/teacher ratios: the former goes up as the latter goes down, and vice versa.

Best,
Charles

Hello everyone -

I hope everyone had a restful holiday break, and that you all are looking forward to 2013 being rewarding personally and professionally. (I'm tempted to make a joke about it being a tough year for triskaidekaphobes, but jokes never work in emails, so I'll refrain.)

Some important things are on the horizon for OCADFA members — two of the most obvious being negotiations, and the Innovation, Productivity and Sustainability Task Force. We'll be providing information and discussion opportunities about these and other key topics over the coming months and, to kick off this process for the new year, here's an article from the Globe (which of course some of you will have seen) with some important context. (Thanks to Bill Leeming for the tip.)

If this sort of thing interests you — and I'd encourage everyone to follow the political and economic climate that governs what we do — then consider subscribing to the Chronicle of Higher Education's "Academe Today" daily e-newsletter. It's focused on the US context but, given that what becomes policy here often begins as policy there, forewarned is forearmed.

Again, best wishes for the new year, and I look forward to seeing all of you, freshly reinvigorated from your break, around the campus in the coming days.

- Charles

Hello fellow OCADFA members:

I'm humbled and proud to be writing to you in my capacity as newly-elected President of OCADFA: humbled because, having worked with Sandra Altwerger on the OCADFA board and knowing many of the other people who preceded me in this position, I realize I've got some tough acts to follow; proud, because your board combines new voices, historical memory and an emphasis on communication. A lot can be gained from regular information-sharing amongst OCADFA members, and with our numerous friends and allies in other sectors of OCAD University's community.

To kick off this conversational focus, over the coming months we'll be sending out wallet-sized bits of information to contextualize some issues that we, together, will address in the near future. Keep these facts with you—we hope to provide them in a convenient format soon—and raise them at meetings (from Senate and Board of Governors all the way down) when they're germane. And if you have suggestions about other information that you would find useful, please let us know.

Fact Number 1: Why do faculty, staff and students find class sizes overwhelming? Because they are. Data from the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) for 2010/2011show the ratio of undergraduate students to faculty is 17.2:1. For purposes of comparison: 

When it comes to declining employee morale and declining student satisfaction, the cascade starts here.

Also regarding communication: Maria-Belén Ordóñezhas launched an OCADFA Google group to give us an easy way to talk to each other. All OCADFA members are encouraged to join, and only OCADFA members can join. It's a forum for discussing not only labour-related issues, but also anything where reaching your colleagues could be helpful. If you've already joined, help us expand the network by inviting others to join as well. Here is the link:

https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fgroups.google.com%2Fd%2Fmyforums&hl=en&service=groups2  You may have to open a google account.  For more information, you can reach Maria-Belén at mordonez@faculty.ocadu.ca.

We'll be in touch with more information soon. And thank you again for the opportunity to serve.

Dear Members:

Please review the attachments prior to our Annual General Meeting which takes place on Monday, November 26, 2012 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Room 230.

Hard copies will be available at the meeting. Please note the Proxy Registration Deadline – Thursday, November 22nd at noon.

President's Report:
President's Report AGM 2012

Minutes and Agendas:
Revised AGM Agenda Nov 26, 20l2
GM Minutes May 22, 20l2
Proxy Nov 26, 2012
OCADFA Candidate Slate

Dear OCADFA Members,

Our affiliate, Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has prepared material for you regarding Fair Employment Week, October 22-26. This takes on heightened importance as federal and provincial governments are attacking labour rights, the very rights that are the foundation for improvements in the situation of contract academic staff. The situation of contract academic staff seeking job security, better wages and benefits and improved working conditions and the preservation of the integrity of post secondary education.

The passage of the federal government’s omnibus bill C-38 this past June includes changes to the Employment Insurance Act that will further compromise access for academic staff to Employment Insurance by penalizing repeat users and broadening the definition of what constitutes suitable employment that, when offered, must be accepted. For many academic staff on contract, this means that their situation has become even more precarious as a result of these changes. Various provincial governments have implemented wage freezes or are in the process of doing so, while others are proposing anti-labour bills that undermine the right to collective bargaining.

Unionization and the right to collective bargaining has meant significant gains for contract academic staff across the country over the past decade, such as better wages, benefits, access to research stipends, remuneration for service, and the right of first refusal by course or course load. These gains, as important as they are, need to continue as we work together towards greater equality.

It is in this context of a broad-based assault on our post-secondary education system that Fair Employment Week takes on even greater significance than it has before.

You will find the new Fair Employment Week materials on CAUT’s website: http://www.caut.ca/pages.asp?page=572

Sandra Altwerger, AOCA, MFA, B.Ed.
Associate Professor, Faculty of Art,
President, OCADFA

Hello OCADFA Members:

Please review the attachment from Sandra Altwerger, OCADFA President.

Connie

Message from Sandra Altwerger, OCADFA President

Dear Members:

I hope the academic term has been going well.  This message is a follow-up to Jane Ngobia’s email below.  As the OCAD Faculty Association representative on the Employment Equity Sub-Committee I am encouraging all OCADFA members to take a few minutes to complete the OCAD University Employment Equity Workforce Survey (http://employee.ocad.ca/).  This survey has been created in response to the requirements of the Federal Contractors Program (FCP) and there is an 80% compliance requirement.  At the moment approximately 60-65% of OCAD U employees have completed the survey.  We cannot move forward under the FCP if we don’t meet the 80% compliance rate.

By completing this survey, the Employment Equity Sub-Committee will have critical information to help us guide OCAD University’s employment equity policies and programs.

If you have any questions, please contact Jane Ngobia  or Bahrat Saini.  OCAD University is committed to equity and diversity and we sincerely thank you for your time.  Take care.

Best Regards,

Sandra

Dear OCADFA Members,
 
A volunteer is needed to be the OCADFA representative on the Employment Equity Sub Committee. As stated in the description below, a participant is needed very soon. There is more information in this attachment.
 
At its meeting of October 6, 2010, the Educational and Employment Equity Committee (EEEC) approved the creation of an Employment Equity Sub-Committee mandated to ensure OCADU’s compliance with the Federal Contractor’s Program and to honour its commitment to employment equity.  Per the Terms of Reference for the Employment Equity Sub-Committee, attached to this message for your information, OCADFA is to appoint a member to serve on this group. In identifying a representative, OCADFA is encouraging members of the four designated groups, specifically women, members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities as well as LGBTQ. It may also be helpful to consider appointing to this Sub-Committee the OCADFA representative that serves on the EEEC as the work of this Sub-Committee will inform the work of the EEEC.

As this group will meet in late November, I hope OCADFA can confirm the name of a member who will serve on the Employment Equity Sub-Committee as soon as possible.
 
Please contact the OCADFA office as soon as possible if you are able to participate on this important committee.
 
Sincerely,
Sandra Altwerger,
President OCADFA

I’d like to wish a warm welcome to all new faculty, Academic Staff and Academic Counselors joining us this year and extend a warm welcome back to all OCADFA members who are returning this year.

We are now known as OCAD University, but the faculty association will still be known as OCADFA, the OCAD Faculty Association.

As faculty, Academic staff and Academic counselors, you are all members of OCADFA and are represented by the association in matters of bargaining and workplace conditions. These conditions are covered in the Memorandum of Agreement that outlines the matters of salary, contracts and hiring. The Memorandum and is available on the OCAD and OCADFA web sites - OCADFA.ca - and you can read it for information on your terms of employment. If you have any inquiries or concerns, please feel free to call the OCADFA office at extension 336, and we will be sure to speak to you.

OCADFA participates in all aspects of the university activities with representatives at Academic Council, the Board of Governors, Equity in Education and Employment Committee, The OCADU/OCADFA Joint Committee, Intellectual Property Committee, Health and Safety and Pension committees that make the school work.

There are two positions on committees currently available. These are Academic Council and The Health and Safety Committee. If you are interested in participating on these committees, please contact the OCAFA office at conniereid@ocad.ca.

Here are some notes on OCADFA activities this summer:

The summer has been busy with meetings of our affiliate organization, Ontario College and University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) in Toronto. Bill Leeming, Negotiations Chair, and I have been attending meetings with the other Presidents and Negotiators of faculty associations in Ontario to discuss the impact of the current legislation coming from the McGuinty Government about the Public Sector wage freeze. Ontario faculties are currently caught up in one of the most important issues since the Social Contract of the Rae government in 1993. After the government announced last spring that it would be undertaking consultations in response to its statement calling for two consecutive years of zero increase in net compensation, the faculty associations elected eight representatives to meet with the government and the Council of Universities. We have no idea how the government intends to implement its statement on compensation and the impact this might have on us. This is only the beginning of what we will face from the Ontario government, and we at OCADFA are confident that these issues can better be addressed at the local level by free collective bargaining. Ontario universities are diverse and the needs and interests of our workplace can best be addressed here, at the local level. Government public sector consultations so far has resulted in most unions walking away from the table.

Bill Leeming has been sending regular negotiation updates. Please keep up with the news coming from OCADFA. These are crucial issues that will be affecting our rights to collective bargaining during negotiations this year.

Other Items of Interest:

Intellectual Property- even though a meeting held in April was productive and encouraging; there has not been any activity on the part of management to finalize this agreement. The committee members have been involved in discussions about Intellectual Property for over two years. We have an appointment with the arbitrator in December, but I thought that this matter would have been completed by now. I hope that we will have something ready soon as it is to be included in the Memorandum of Agreement.

Three OCADFA officers, Marie-Josee Therrien, Tony Kerr and I, took part in mediation training sponsored by the office of Equity in Employment and Education. It was a three day workshop that took place in June. All OCADU students and employees are affected by this new legislation (Bill 168) that is now in effect. This addresses Violence and Harassment in the Workplace. A new document, The Respectful Workplace and Learning Environment has been written and approved by the Board of Governors to reflect this legislation and replaces the former Harassment Policy of OCAD. The changes in this document will require negotiating changes to Article 6.3.1, regarding Collegial Behaviour, and Appendix A - Academic Freedom in the Memorandum of Agreement.

Update on Bargaining

There has been a good deal discussion in the media about a two year wage freeze for Ontario public sector workers, including university academic and general staff. We would like you to be aware of the facts.

On Tuesday, Dwight Duncan, the Minister of Finance, met with stakeholders in the affected unions and administrations and said that he was encouraging all those in bargaining to agree to a pause and that all interest arbitrations be put on hold. He also announced that the Government was convening sectoral "consultations" with the university sector scheduled for Aug 9-20 at the Royal York in Toronto. Apparently, the participants will work around the clock for twelve days to reach a consensus. The objective of the "consultation" is for labour and management in the university sector plus government representatives to come up with solutions and options on how to meet the Government's policy objectives.

On Thursday, CAUT arranged a conference call of the leaders of all academic staff associations currently in bargaining to share information about what the government had said and to discuss what we, as the associations representing academic staff, wanted to do.  It was agreed that there will be a meeting in Toronto next week of the presidents of all academic staff associations in Ontario to discuss whether we will participate in the "consultation"; if so, who our negotiators will be; what mandate they will have from all the academic staff associations in Ontario; and what system of accountability there will be between those at the table and the leadership of associations across the province. The actual agenda will be set by the presidents at the start of next week's meeting -- the date still to be determined.

Until then, it is important to know:

1) The government has stated its wish that there be no net compensation increase for the first two years of any agreement signed after the current agreement expires. There has been no legislation that authorizes the government to impose this restriction.

2) The government has indicated its desire that bargaining be paused and that all interest arbitration be placed on hold until after the Aug 9-20 "consultation.". As with the first item, this is only a request and the government has no legislative authority to impose it. Parties are free to continue bargaining and to negotiate whatever they want. The government has indicated that it will not add additional money in the event of a negotiated increase so each university would have to find the money in its current budget.

3) The government's hope apparently is that the Aug 9-20 "consultation" will result in to parties agreeing to a sectoral framework consistent with the government's plan. It seemed to be the consensus of presidents on Thursday's conference call that the obligation of academic staff associations is to put the interests of its members first, not to act as an agent for the government in its efforts at setting sectoral bargaining restrictions.

We will keep you updated following the meeting of association presidents next week.

Bill Leeming
OCADFA Chair of Negotiations

Sandra Altwerger
President, OCADFA

Frederick Burbach
Vice-President, OCADFA

President’s Report
Spring General Meeting,
May 10th, 2010
Room 327, 11am - 2pm

What are foremost on the minds of the membership at present are the negotiations at OCAD set to begin in September of 2010. The current agreement will expire on the 30th of June, 2010. Many meetings have taken place recently with different focus groups representing different labour groups at OCAD. There were six meetings in all. It is very clear that there are many serious issues affecting everyone. The concerns of all of our members are very serious and the Board of Directors and the Negotiations Committee will be working throughout the summer and next fall to bring resolution to the next round of negotiations. Bill Leeming, OCADFA Negotiations Chair, will be leading discussions at the member’s meeting on May 10th and will be take a mandate for negotiations at that time.

Many of our members have questions about OCADFA. Who are we? What are our rights?

I cannot explain each and every labour group here in this message, but in order to clarify some of the many questions that people have, I have prepared this information below.

The Ontario College of Art and Design Faculty Association is a legally constituted association formed in 1965 to protect the rights and improve the working conditions of full and part-time employees listed in the Memorandum of Agreement. OCADFA is the only body that can negotiate terms of employment with the University. OCADFA was unionized under the Ontario Labour Relations Act in 2000 when the Memorandum of Agreement was revised.

OCADFA negotiates a Memorandum of Agreement with the University. This is a legally binding document which governs the terms and conditions of employment for all of the members. The Association monitors the Universities’ compliance with the Memorandum of Agreement, and may file grievances where it believes that the University has violated the MOA. The Association also acts as a spokesperson for the members on issues of concern at OCAD. The MOA is a legally binding document that affects all faculty and Academic Staff and Counselors. It contains salaries, benefits, hiring procedures, working conditions and grievances.

OCADFA is a member of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) and the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). Both of these organizations offer legal and consulting services to all universities in Ontario and Canada and lobby both Provincial and Federal governments on behalf of university employees. As a member of these organizations, the Grievance Chair, the Negotiations Chair and the President attend conferences and workshops regularly throughout the year as part of our service to OCADFA.

All Faculty, Academic Staff and Counselors are members of OCADFA. All of the members of OCADFA are eligible to be nominated and be elected to the Board of Directors. This is the executive committee of OCADFA. The members elect the executive who consist of the President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, Grievance Chair and Negotiations Chair, plus four Directors. There are a total of nine people on the Board of Directors who hold their terms for three years. The Board of Directors is a rotating Board, with all Directors being elected for terms of three years with three Directors retiring and being elected each year. The Executive is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Association and reports regularly to the membership at a minimum of two membership meetings during the year.

Changes are made to the Memorandum of Agreement during negotiations. The faculty association and the university select their own negotiating committees. OCADFA has nine members on the Negotiations Committee, with a representative from each of the constituencies at OCAD. The two committees meet in an attempt to agree on changes to the Agreement. If the two committees agree on a package of amendments then the Negotiations Chair and the Board of Directors bring the amendments to the membership meeting for ratification. If the members of OCADFA and the Board of Governors ratify the package, the Memorandum of Agreement is modified in accordance with the agreement.

The Memorandum of Agreement provides that any member’s dispute can be taken to mediation through the grievance process. If resolution cannot be found through discussion at the university, then an outside mediator is appointed to help settle the matter. The mediator looks at all sides of the issue and makes a recommendation to the parties which is binding. Legal services are expensive, and fees for mediation and grievances are paid for from the fees collected from the membership.

Participation in OCADFA is important. Every member can vote. Every member has the right to be nominated and serve on the Board of Directors. Throughout its history, OCADFA has had representatives from all of the faculty and academic staff and counselors as representatives on the Board of Directors. All labour groups are welcome and need to participate so that your concerns can be heard.

If you have any inquiries, please contact the Executive Assistant, Connie Reid at extension 336. Or email Connie at conniereid@ocad.ca.

Please make sure that you stay informed about OCADFA activities. I look forward to seeing you all on May 10th 2010, 11am - 2pm, room 327, at our annual spring meeting.

Sandra Altwerger,
President, OCADFA

President, Sandra Altwerger, Faculty of Art
Vice President, Frederick Burbach, Faculty of Design
Secretary/Treasurer, Chris Bennell, Academic Staff, IT
Grievance Chair, Marie-Josee Therrien, Faculty of Liberal Studies
Negotiations Chair, Bill Leeming, Faculty of Liberal Studies
Director, Lewis Nicholson, Faculty of Design
Director, Tony Kerr, Faculty of Design
Director, Charles Reeve, OCAD Gallery Director and Faculty of Liberal Studies
Director John Kuisma, Academic Staff, Fabrication Studios

Message from Sandra Altwerger, President OCADFA

Spring Meeting for the General Membership of OCADFA (Ontario College of Art & Design Faculty Association)

On May 10, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Room 327, the Spring Meeting for the general membership of all members of OCADFA will take place to discuss the negotiation process that will commence in the fall of 2010.

Our Negotiations Chair, Bill Leeming, will be leading the discussion with his Negotiations Report in order to review a mandate for the next round of bargaining for the OCAD/OCADFA Memorandum of Agreement.

OCADFA Board of Director member Lewis Nicholson will be leaving on June 1st due to a sabbatical leave. I would like to thank Lewis for his participation at OCADFA. He will be missed by all of us at OCADFA.

Natalie Waldburger, Sessional Faculty, Faculty of Art, has been appointed by the OCADFA Board of Directors to take Lewis’ place on the Board from June 1st to the date of the next Annual General Meeting of OCADFA to be held in November of 2010. As the OCADFA by-laws state in article 4.01, the OCADFA Board of Directors may appoint someone from the membership to fill a vacated position until the next Annual General Meeting. Welcome Natalie!

Please attend this important meeting. It is important that all of the voices of the membership be heard so that your concerns can be brought forward in matters of negotiations.

Regards to all,

Sandra

Please rvsp your attendance with Connie Reid so that adequate refreshments are provided and let us know if you have any dietary restrictions.
 
Connie Reid
OCADFA Executive Assistant
conniereid@ocad.ca
4l6-977-6000 - Ext. 336
conniereid@ocad.ca
www.ocadfa.ca

Message from Sandra Altwerger, President, OCADFA Bill Leeming Negotions Chair, OCADFA

As a follow-up to our e-blast yesterday about public sector compensation restraint, OCUFA has released a statement to say that it is bargaining as usual for all faculty associations in the upcoming year, whether or not they are certified trade unions.

Donna Gray of OCUFA points out: "The Finance Minister indicated in the press in the days following the budget that the government fully expects hard bargaining to occur this year; clearly, he does not anticipate that public sector unions will simply roll over as a result of this budget."

Given that so much of next year's provincial funding increase is tied to the system enrolling 20,000 additional students, we anticipate that workload and complement issues will continue to dominate the discussion for many faculty associations. That being said, there do NOT appear to be any legislative bars to bargaining compensation increases for our members.

Message from Sandra Altwerger, OCADFA President and Bill Leeming, OCADFA Negotiations Chair

Dear Members:

OCADFA members will no doubt be wondering what the impact will be of the Public Sector Compensation Restraint to Protect Public Services Act, 2010 on our upcoming round of MOA negotiations in September.

Please be advised in reading the memorandum circulated to you by our President, Sara Diamond, yesterday that the Liberal government is being vague in its explanations. Consequently, there are several things that OCADFA and other provincial university faculty associations are investigating at this time. First, the immediate compensation freeze only applies to "non-bargaining" public sector (and broader public sector) employees. Secondly, assurances were given earlier this year to Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Association representatives that this part of the legislation would not apply to any OCUFA member - including OCADFA. OCUFA will attempt to re-confirm this when the actual legislation becomes available.

OCADFA will keep you posted as news becomes available.

Dear Members of OCADFA,

I am forwarding a letter to you from our afillliate, Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) .

It is extremely important to understand that universities in Ontario are underfunded by the government of Ontario, and universities are being asked to address the need for more money to operate the system by increasing student enrollment.

Attention to this matter has to be brought to the university community at large and the people who teach in it as well.

We need increased funding from the government to hire more tenure track faculty and teaching assistants rather than keep on increasing class sizes and not provide the proper support for the faculty teaching in them.

Please read the letter below ans communicate your thoughts on the matter to the links provided.

Sincerely,
Sandra


Dear Colleagues;

Ontario’s higher education system is at a crossroads. Decisions we make today will affect our ability to provide a high quality educational experience to students now and for generations to come.

Quality teaching and research depends on public funding. Faced with rising enrollment and the demands of the knowledge economy, our universities are in urgent need of new investment in the quality of education they provide.

The Government of Ontario’s Reaching Higher Plan took a visionary, long-term approach to higher education in Ontario and injected needed money into our university system. It is time to renew this commitment to higher education and equip universities with the resources they need to move our province forward.

The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) has launched its Quality Matters: http://www.quality-matters.ca campaign to convince Premier Dalton McGuinty to increase public funding for Ontario’s universities. This new investment will improve the quality of education by:

• Creating smaller classes and improving engagement with individual students;
• Ensuring students learn in the best classrooms, labs, and libraries with the latest technology available; and
• Supporting the basic and applied research that will fuel our economy; and
• Keeping the cost of higher education affordable through frozen tuition fees and compensatory funding for universities, which in turn controls the level of student debt.
  

The people of Ontario – present and future – need a high-quality, world-class university system to succeed in the new economy and build a vibrant society. You have the power to help make this vision a reality.

Please visit Quality-Matters.ca and take the time to send a letter: http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=81&ea.campaign.id=2336 to Premier McGuinty indicating your support for increased investment in universities. You can also show your support by joining our Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo page or following us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ocufa.

It’s time to move Ontario into a new future defined by high-quality education, research and innovation, and the success of every student. Thank you for your support of Quality Matters.

If you have any questions about the Quality Matters Campaign, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

All the best,
Graeme Stewart
Communication and Government Relations Manager Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations
300-83 Yonge St. | Toronto, ON | M5C 1S8
416 979 2117 x232 | gstewart@ocufa.on.ca www.ocufa.on.ca