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Summary of JCOAA issues (May 2001)

The goals of the YUFA caucus of JCOAA (the Joint Committee on the Administration of the Collective Agreement) over the past year have been to clear up outstanding items and begin to move ahead with new issues.  In the interest of efficiency YUFA has folded all subcommittees of JCOAA into the main Joint committee, which provides the caucus with an efficient overview of what is or isn’t happening.   These include subcommittees on post-retirement benefits, the Financial Information Subcommittee (FISC) and the Long Range Planning Committee (LRP). YUFA is represented on JCOAA by Penni Stewart, Leslie Sanders, Marilyn Silverman, Bob McDermid and Oona Padgham (YUFA staff). At present the work of JCOAA has been moving very slowly. YUFA has met and raised this as a concern with Vice-President Ahmet and Academic Relations Officer Barry Miller who indicate they are committed to a more timely and productive process. JCOAA has been very active in pursuing collective agreement issues.  Issues that are currently outstanding and before JCOAA are as follows:  

Schulich Executive MBA

YUFA has raised a concern with the Employer about several different aspects of the program including “contracting out”, “contracting in” and “off-load” teaching.  We have asked Cathy Lace of Sack Goldblatt Mitchell to review the program for us.

Compensation for Additional YUFA-Exempt Positions

YUFA is looking to the Employer for compensation for agreeing to a third associate dean at Atkinson and for agreeing to remove Barry Miller from the YUFA bargaining unit. YUFA is currently negotiating with the Employer as to the exact nature of this compensation.

Stipends

This issue involves stipends that do not conform to the terms of the Collective Agreement. It has moved to grievance.

New Salary Inequities

This issue has moved to grievance.

Atkinson Office Space

This involves a program at Atkinson that provides incentives to share or give up office space. This issue has moved to grievance.

Remediation Issues

We continue to have a watching brief on remediation related issues. Two issues are outstanding: pay and holidays.  Remediation pay is expected in the May cheques. We are still exploring how best to accommodate individuals whose on-load teaching this summer will mean that they will receive no holiday time because of the ellipsis between summer and fall terms.

Workload Reports

A new request for Article 18 workload summaries has been sent to the deans.

Changes in Block Scheduling

The new Registrar has announced new block scheduling moving from 6-9 pm to 7-10 pm.  YUFA has objected to this change and has agreed to meet in JCOAA with the new Registrar.

Conflict of Interest

Conflicts of interest and commitment is another topic of interest to both parties. Last year Professor David Shugarman worked with YUFA to draft a policy on conflict of interest and commitment. We then proposed a conflict of interest policy to the Employer at JCOAA.  There was no response until recently when the Employer asked if we would make conflict of interest a priority discussion over the summer.

Benefits Web Site

Updating is required.

Law Librarians

Collegial procedures need revising because of the separation of the Law Library from the larger library system.

Data

YUFA has been trying to be scrupulous in going through the Collective Agreement and demanding all the information that we are entitled to.  This has resulted in a long list of requests to the Employer.

Health and Safety

We are working on setting up a joint Health and Safety Committee and on the terms for that committee.

Teaching Evaluations

We have agreed to set up a joint subcommittee to examine teaching evaluation issues.

Joint Programs

We have agreed to set up a joint subcommittee to examine a series of issues pertaining to joint programs like the EMBA.

Tripartite Committee on SRC Renewal

The committee has just begun its work and is represented by John Bell, Leslie Sanders and Walter Whiteley.

Post-Retirement Benefits

Post-retirement benefits continue to be a major source of concern. This spring we were at last able to agree on some limited improvements to benefits drawing on monies negotiated in 1999. Last summer we appointed trustees to the YUFA Retirees benefits trust fund. We look forward to receiving a benefits improvement plan from the trustees in the near future. We are also examining backdating survivors’ benefits. The draft of post-retirement benefits booklet was received recently.