YUFA
Contract
The Joint Committee (aka JCOAA): what (who) it is and what they're up to
September 2001
Background
JCOAA or more fully, the Joint Committee on the Administration of the Agreement, is the management/ labour body responsible for overseeing the implementation of our collective agreement. Any issue arising out of the Collective agreement, from the mundane exchange of information to tenure and promotion, comes to this committee. Some recent examples include:
- payment for remediation teaching during and following the recent CUPE strike;
- monitoring retiree benefits and negotiating improvements agreed to during collective bargaining;
- Registrar's changes to class meeting times;
- parking accessibility;
- conflict of interest;
- accommodation in tenure and promotion for members disadvantaged by the recent strike;
- monitoring workload;
- establishing a formal committee on health and safety.
JCOAA is a committee closely coordinated with the Contract and Grievance Committee and issues may overlap. Typically, JCOAA deals more with policy issues arising from the collective agreement while Contract and Grievance takes up individual complaints. If a solution cannot be reached at JCOAA in a timely fashion YUFA members at JCOAA will refer the issue to the Contract and Grievance Committee.
JCOAA is one of YUFA's busiest committees with full committee meetings monthly and Co-Chair meetings biweekly.
Members of the YUFA Caucus of JCOAA 2001/2002
Bob MacDermid
Amy Rossiter
Leslie Sanders
Penni Stewart
Walter Whiteley
Oona Padgham (staff)
Some Recent Issues on the JCOAA Agenda
Appointment Procedures for Law Librarians. Recently the Law Library became independent of the larger library system at York. Law Librarians however, remain members of YUFA. The shift in governance has meant an adjustment in a number of collegial procedures including tenure and promotion and appointment.
Librarian Release time. Currently when a librarian receives release time for service commitments, his/her work ends up being only partly compensated. YUFA has asked that release time be fully compensated via replacement in a process that is analogous to faculty.
Administrative stipends. The recently ratified collective agreement includes increases to administrative stipends and changes in stipendiary categories. We have heard from a number of members concerned that the draft CA omits their administrative role. The employer has agreed to provide YUFA with a comprehensive draft of categories and entitlements for discussion at JCOAA.
Graduate Program Directors. There are two outstanding issues. First, JCOAA is discussing a process for administering new course releases for graduate faculty in home units with a normal course load of "3". Second, over the past months some GPDs have raised a concern that fundraising is one of the expectations of the GPD role. YUFA has requested a report on this issue.
Gender Anomalies. In 1999 the employer made a commitment not to create new gender inequities in salary. To implement this commitment JCOAA has requested an analysis of gender anomalies in salary.
Conflict of Interest. Conflict of interest issues have become a significant area of concern for the employer. While the YUFA JCOAA caucus recognizes the issue, we have been concerned with developing procedures that will promote education, discussion and debate while ensuring protection of members' interests in the collective agreement. JCOAA has had two preliminary discussions on issues relevant to conflict of interest.
Health and Safety. After many months YUFA and the Employer have agreed to a protocol setting up a health and safety committee. We are now seeking members for the committee and hope to begin education and training shortly.
Financial Information. Some time ago, YUFA and the Employer agreed to a protocol for receiving financial information. Nevertheless, we have not received information for a number of months.
Parking. Changes without notification to parking availability have caused many difficulties for YUFA members. YUFA representatives met with the Director of Parking to discuss the situation and hope that this situation will be, if not resolved, at least improved over the coming weeks.
Joint Committees. JCOAA has agreed to establish a number of joint committees that will be working over the next year: a committee on student electronic contact; a task force on inclusivity and diversity; a committee on the implications of joint programs (i.e. Joint Kellog/Schulich MBA); a committee on teaching evaluation.