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YUFA ratifies T & P agreement

YUFA members have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a proposed agreement on new tenure & promotions procedures. The agreement was proposed by a working group of representatives from the Association, the Employer, and the Chair of Senate, and recommended to members by the YUFA Executive.

84% voted in favour of the new procedures in the ratification ballot held by YUFA on 16-18 January. 290 members voted.

Bob Drummond, Dean of Arts and Chair of Senate during the period when the agreement was being negotiated, greeted the news warmly.

"The news that YUFA has ratified the proposed changes is very good news indeed," Drummond said. "The changes, while not ideal in everyone's judgement, are the result of a serious joint effort of the working group, as well as considerable consultation in the community. I believe the changes will make a positive difference to the tenure and promotion process."

Past YUFA Chairperson and negotiator Penni Stewart also welcomed the results. "After 25 years of disagreement and nearly 2 years of negotiations in this round alone, it is extremely gratifying to be this close to meaningful reform of the T & P process.

"Although not perfect, this agreement moves a considerable way towards YUFA's goals, especially in the areas of transparency and timeliness," she said.

The agreement now awaits the approval of the full University Senate. Though ordinarily a settlement between the Association and the Employer is enough to make a change to the Collective Agreement, an obscure clause in YUFA's Collective Agreement requires Senate endorsement for several aspects of tenure & promotions.

Drummond looks forward to Senate joining the accord. "I hope the Senate will soon concur in the changes so that we can proceed to implement them," he said.

Immediately upon Senate approval, the document will come into force as an amendment to Attachment 1 of YUFA's Collective Agreement. 

In addition to future members, the new process will apply to most current members who are seeking tenure (see "The new process - a summary").

More information ...

Background

YUFA, with Senate and the Employer, agreed to reform the tenure and promotion process during 1999's round of collective bargaining. The purpose of this reform was to render the process “more transparent and … less complex, less daunting to individual candidates, and less time consuming to both candidates and adjudicators” (Appendix S, 1999-2001 Collective Agreement).

A steering group of Penni Stewart (Chairperson) and Brenda Hart (Executive Associate) for YUFA, Harriet Lewis (Secretary of the University), Robert Drummond (then Chair of Senate), Ted Spence (Office of the President) and Liz Veness (University Secretariat) began work in early 2000. They presented a first draft of revised procedures to YUFA members in the Summer of 2000. Subsequent drafts were circulated to Faculties, Faculty Councils, a YUFA membership meeting and YUFA committees.

In March 2001, the steering group presented a penultimate draft to a YUFA-Senate-Employer Forum. Drawing on feedback received from that Forum, the procedures were again revised.

A final draft was brought to the YUFA Executive for approval and recommendation on 26 November 2001. In the view of YUFA Executive, the changes will result in a process that is fairer and more transparent to candidates, while being leaner, simpler and less time consuming for those preparing files, all without sacrificing community standards and process.

Not all the innovations sought by YUFA were achieved. Processes of negotiation such as this one require compromises on the parts of all three constituencies in the interests of moving forward. No doubt, some gaps and inconsistencies remain. For example, the rather daunting task of articulating standards at unit, Faculty and Senate levels remains, and we expect that other issues will emerge as we begin to put the procedures in place. With this in mind, the parties to the Collective Agreement have agreed to review the procedures, if ratified, no later than February 2003.