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Executive Officers' 2008-09 Workplan Progress Report

6 May 09 - As required by YUFA By-law 9(b), the following outlines Executive Committee Officers' 2008-09 Workplan progress.

President - Arthur Hilliker

Although implementation of my Workplan for 2008-2009 was impeded somewhat by the circumstances of the CUPE 3903 Strike, I was able to achieve many of my goals. I performed all the duties of President and of Chief Fiduciary Officer and represented YUFA on the York Senate. I served on and later chaired the Contract Review Committee, which has submitted an extensive list of proposals for the new Collective Agreement to the Executive Committee, which shall, after discussion of the report by the Executive, develop contract proposals for Executive approval followed by ratification by the Stewards’ Council and then by the general membership.

VP Internal - Mary Kandiuk

It goes without saying that this past year was difficult and challenging for those serving YUFA. As outlined below, many of the priorities and projects that were anticipated to be carried out this year for the benefit of YUFA members were affected by the CUPE 3903 labour disruption.

YUFA Executive and Stewards’ Council / Membership Meetings:
I regularly attended meetings of Executive and Stewards’ Council and participated in the work of these bodies. This required reporting regularly to Executive and Chairing meetings in the President’s absence. I also attended General and Special Membership Meetings and assisted the President with the Chairing of those meetings. Many additional Special Membership Meetings as well as meetings of both Executive and Stewards’ Council were held this year and I would like to recognize the efforts of the YUFA Recording Secretary, Jay Rahn, and applaud him for the timely and efficient turnaround of the minutes from those many meetings.

Nominations / Outreach to Members:
I worked with YUFA staff and other members of Executive to recruit members to YUFA committees and subcommittees. Members were recruited for Stewards’ Council, the Grievance Subcommittee, the Subcommittee on Benefits, the Working Group on Electronic Evaluations, and the Financial Information Subcommittee. There were a record number of nominations and elections to YUFA committees. The new faculty lunches and other initiatives to reach out to members and increase member participation were postponed, although the events of this past year have sparked increased member attendance at YUFA meetings and renewed interest in YUFA committees.

Personnel Committee:
Meetings of the YUFA Staff Relations Committee were called as required and I reported to the YUFA Executive under the Personnel Committee Report, as necessary. This has been a difficult year for YUFA staff. The CUPE 3903 labour disruption generated much additional work and considerable pressure for staff. For many YUFA members, the YUFA staff is the first and sometimes only point of contact and their expertise is invaluable. I would like to thank all of the YUFA staff for their outstanding work on behalf of our members and commend them for maintaining their professionalism and dedication under difficult circumstances.

Bargaining:
As a member of the Contract Review Committee, I worked with other members of the Committee to develop and analyze the bargaining survey, solicit feedback from members, and prepare the Contract Review Committee Report. At the time of this report, the development of bargaining proposals and the appointment of the Bargaining Team were delayed and YUFA bargaining was not yet underway as originally planned. I would like to thank Jill Flohil for so capably supporting the work of the Committee and all things relating to bargaining.

JCOAA:
Members of JCOAA included John Amanatides, David Cabianca, Didi Khayatt and Leslie Sanders. JCOAA is responsible for handling a large number and wide range of issues relating to the administration of the Collective Agreement. Some of these issues come to us by way of individual complaints while others arise from how the Employer is interpreting policies or parts of the Collective Agreement. The workload of JCOAA and its associated subcommittees, of which the YUFA Co-Chair is also a member, was very heavy this past year. This was further compounded by the CUPE 3903 labour disruption which seriously impacted the speed with which issues were taken up in JCOAA. Much of the work in JCOAA was devoted to long range planning issues relating to the creation of the new Faculty. I would like to thank Leslie Sanders, the YUFA Co-Chair for Long Range Planning, for all of her work. The Subcommittee on Benefits, which included Ruthanna Dyer and Walter Whiteley, was responsible for dealing with issues relating to the change of benefits carrier and long-term disability. The Working Group on Electronic Evaluations, which included David Cabianca and Paul Grayson, met to consider the issues arising out of electronic evaluations. The Financial Information Subcommittee has been reconvened to receive financial information, although it had not yet met at the time of writing. In addition, JCOAA was responsible for taking up issues relating to remediation and returning to class as a result of the CUPE 3903 labour disruption.

The work of the Task Force on Inclusivity and Diversity was rolled into that of JCOAA. This work entailed the development of a survey dealing with inclusivity and diversity. After much work and many revisions, YUFA and the Employer are close to agreeing on a final draft of the survey and YUFA looks forward to its distribution to the membership in the near future.

I would like to thank Heidi Bishop, the YUFA Executive Associate who supports the work of JCOAA and its many subcommittees, for all of her efforts around keeping us on track and for her work on behalf of those many members who turn to YUFA for assistance when issues arise.

VP External - Livy Visano

Performed the duties of VP External as outlined in the YUFA Constitution and By-laws, including:

As VP External, I continued to build on our past accomplishments and further strengthened proactive advocacy, coalition-building and ongoing consultation with our various constituencies on- and off-campus; enhanced YUFA’s external profile and presence; expanded YUFA’s engagements with community-based groups / organizations; promoted greater inclusivity with respect to CAUT and OCUFA; and, facilitated more strategic and operational partnerships among inter- and intra-University unions, i.e., nurtured and expanded the well-developed links that my predecessors initiated with CUPE 3903, YUSA, Graduate Student Association (GSA) and York Federation of Students (YFS) to engage in more active, ongoing, mutual, and progressive consultative processes.

On Campus Activities:

  • Member of the following committees:

    • Executive,

    • Stewards’ Council,

    • Contract Review,

    • Campus All Union,

    • Community Projects, and

    • YUFA Staff Relations.

  • Held regular meetings with Hamid Osman, YFS, and incoming President, Krisna Saravanamuttu re developing closer ties between YUFA and the YFS;

  • Brought to the Executive Committee support for existing community projects, conference / workshop participation, and facilitate the development of community-related initiatives, funding requests, for example: Centre for Social Justice, 11 Annual Summer Retreat, Rastafest, “Lumpen-City: Discourses of Marginality / Marginalizing Discourses”;

  • Followed through on correspondence as directed by the Executive e.g., SSHRC petition in response to the Executive motion: “That YUFA Executive support the petition to reverse the January 27 Federal Budget’s statement that scholarships granted by SSHRC will be focused on business-related degrees; letter with A. Hilliker to the Employer re tripartite discussions around issues that impact the YUFA Collective Agreement;

  • Communicated to University Safety Audit Committee re YUFA safety issues raised by members, Stewards’ Council, and concerns of members who have submitted communications.

Off-Campus Activities:

  • I liaised actively with appropriate provincial and national faculty associations as well as non-academic unions in terms of action and lobbying on such matters as labour relations, education, health & safety, retirement, transportation, and housing (e.g., OCUFA, CAUT, OFL, Toronto & York Region Labour Council). I brought various reports and press releases of CAUT, NUCAUT, OCUFA, CLC, OFL, etc. to the Executive’s attention.

  • Attended:

    • CAUT Council Meetings in Ottawa, Nov. 2008,

    • OCUFA meeting at CAUT, Nov. 2008,

    • OCUFA Board of Directors meeting, Oct. 2008 and Feb. 2009,

    • OCUFA Staff Relations Committee.

  • Met with Marcus Garvey Centre, FIT, Tumaini House of Hope.

  • Re-established relations with the Toronto & York Regional Labour Council, attending monthly meetings with YUFA delegates and providing ongoing updates / reports.

CUPE Strike:

I executed successfully my Workplan for 2008-2009, with the following amendments necessitated by the CUPE strike:

  • I was YUFA’s liaison with CUPE 3903.

  • I was Chair of the YUFA Ad Hoc CUPE Support & Communications Committee, set up as a venue for members to express support for CUPE 3903 and provide communications to YUFA members about the strike.

  • From Nov. 2008 to March 2009, I maintained weekly contact with CUPE 3903 (Parbattie Ramsarran, Chairperson of the CUPE 3903 Unit 2 Bargaining Team, CUPE’s liaison with YUFA); and arranged for financial support for CUPE 3903 re food on picket lines, etc.

  • Arranged for YUFA's assistance to the financial hardship fund for undergraduate students.

Chief Steward -  David Cabianca

  • Consulted with, assisted, and represented YUFA members in contract-related matters; consulted with members with a number of concerns in areas such as Tenure & Promotion processes, accommodation of disabilities, workload, which are typically handled confidentially, and without grievance (while protecting that option if needed); represented members in disciplinary hearings (Article 16) and in meetings with the Employer's representatives through the various stages of the pre-grievance and grievance process (Article 9).

  • Consulted with YUFA staff and lawyers regarding ongoing and potential grievances, including numerous policy grievances.

  • Chaired meetings of YUFA’s Grievance Committee and worked with the Committee members to prepare a report for the Contract Review Committee for upcoming bargaining.

  • Participated in the monthly Stewards’ Council meetings.

  • Participated in bi-weekly meetings and related activities of the YUFA Executive.

  • Participated in meetings, caucuses and deliberations of the JCOAA and Long Range Planning.

  • Attended an Arbitration Workshop conducted by CAUT.

Chief Steward -  Suzie Young

As one of YUFA’s two chief stewards, I worked most often with Monica Mulvihill (staff associate for Stewards’ Council and the Grievance Committee), whose assistance and advice could not be more highly valued as I implemented my 2008-9 Workplan as follows:

  1. I provided information and advice to YUFA members regarding provisions in our Collective Agreement, from relatively straightforward queries on sabbatical delays to more complicated details on graduate supervision credit to complex issues of discrimination.

  2. I prepared members for, and represented them at, meetings called by the Employer or by YUFA.

  3. I met with YUFA’s lawyers and with grievors to prepare for arbitrations.

  4. I chaired Stewards’ Council meetings, and responded to stewards’ requests for information, assistance or advice.

  5. I alerted the Grievance Committee to problems that exceeded an individual member’s circumstances or a single unit’s practices.

  6. I participated in the work of the YUFA Executive, and called for a renewal in and through greater involvement of our members.

  7. I attended regular and special meetings of the Executive Committee, Stewards’ Council, Grievance Subcommittee and YUFA general membership, meetings with Academic Employee Relations, meetings with stewards as requested, and a workshop for senior grievance officers conducted by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT).

In all of the above, I benefitted from the mentorship of past Chief Stewards, the dedication of current stewards and of Stewards’ Council’s two representatives on the Executive Committee, the wisdom of colleagues on the Grievance Subcommittee, and the experience of YUFA’s staff. I thank all of them for a productive year.

Communications Officer - Louise Ripley

  1. Performed the duties of Communications Officer as outlined in the YUFA Constitution and By-laws, including:

    1. Wrote for and solicited and edited submissions from the membership for the YUFA Website and YUFA-M distribution:
      In addition to writing the regular reports required for the YUFA Website and YUFA-M distribution, I handled the task of YUFA’s communications during the CUPE 3903 strike.

    2. Served on Executive Committee
      I served regularly and faithfully on the Executive Committee, missing few meetings.

    3. Produced a summary of minutes of the YUFA Executive meetings:
      I produced regular and timely summaries of YUFA Executive meetings, available on the Website.

  2. Attended YUFA General and Annual Membership Meetings and other relevant meetings:
    I attended almost all YUFA General and Annual Membership Meetings and a number of other meetings relevant to YUFA, and have written reports on these where appropriate.

  3. Made myself as available as possible to YUFA members / Officers / staff and others who want to communicate with / through me; I am always available by email at lripley@yorku.ca, or I may be reached at 416-736-5236.

  4. Served as Chair of the Contract Review Committee:
    I continued in this role up until the Committee completed its interim report to Executive just before the CUPE 3903 strike, and continued to work with the committee into spring.

Equity Officer - Deborah Brock

I began my active involvement in YUFA in April 2008, when I attended a meeting of the Equity Committee (chaired by Joy Mannette), as well as two Town Hall meetings addressing workload and equity issues.

I remained an active member of the YUFA Executive, regularly attending Executive Committee Meetings and Stewards’ Council meetings, and during its brief existence, the Ad Hoc CUPE 3903 Support & Communications Committee. Throughout the strike, I motivated a series of motions at Executive Committee and Stewards’ Council that helped to frame YUFA’s engagement with the CUPE 3903 strike, and shape a course of action for the organization.

Race Equity Caucus:

Throughout the 2008-2009, I attended 4-5 meetings of the Race Equity Caucus, at their invitation. They chose to continue to meet throughout the strike, at an off-campus location. These meetings provided further opportunity for me to appreciate the tremendous resource that YUFA has available to it, given the significant number of highly accomplished and widely known critical race scholars who are part of the York University Faculty compliment.

Recommendation: Given these resources, a future initiative that YUFA Equity Officers might undertake is to organize a workshop specifically on developing an equity plan for racialized groups. This plan will identify and incorporate the most successful features of equity initiatives developed over the past twenty years for the advancement of the general category of ‘woman’. (Thanks to Andil Gosine for this last component of the recommendation.)

Following the resumption of classes, an Equity Committee meeting was held, attended by both Equity Officers. At this meeting, it was agreed that the Equity Officers would organize a Supercaucus meeting to discuss equity bargaining priorities. The Supercaucus meeting was planned for March 2009 (see report below). Another important potential equity initiative was discussed at this meeting, concerning age as an equity issue. Retired faculty member, Joy Cohnstaedt suggested that YUFA organize a workshop on age-related issues, modeled after a successful workshop recently held at UWO. Unfortunately the Equity Officers were unable to commit to organizing the event for the Spring of 2009, as was requested.

Recommendation: The Equity Officers instead suggested that a workshop of age-related issues for faculty be organized for the Fall of 2009.

CAUT Equity Forum:

On 6-8 February 2009, I participated in CAUT’s first Equity Forum. My report on the forum is available online.

Supercaucus Meeting:

A Supercaucus meeting was held on March 21, 2009. A series of issues were identified as potential bargaining issues, including:

  • Tracking equity data

  • Reduced workload

  • Aboriginal Scholars

  • Dis/Abilities

  • Gender

  • Age

  • Parental leaves

  • CLAs

  • Tenure and Promotion issues

  • Teaching Evaluations

  • President’s Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community

  • Queer as fifth AA

  • Hiring procedures

  • 30% visible minority targets

In preparation for the meeting, I prepared a set of documents and bargaining priorities to assist the discussion. This included the following:

  • Recommendations developed at the meeting with Penni Stewart the previous afternoon.

  • Relevant language from agreements from other universities: Wilfred Laurier, Queen’s, and Western.

  • Copies of Equity bargaining priorities that were developed by equity officers and committees for the previous two rounds of collective bargaining (2006; 2002).

  • A set of documents (first presented at the February 12th Equity Committee meeting) that provided a synopsis of key potential bargaining issues that had been identified by the equity caucuses over the past 1.5 years.

Didi Khayatt’s notes, as well as my records, were submitted to the Contract Review Committee for their consideration.

Recommendation: That the Supercaucus structure replace the Equity Committee. The Supercaucus can provide a forum for all equity caucus members to periodically meet to discuss their distinct, intersecting, and shared equity objectives.

Equity Workshop (Failed Initiative):

My Equity Workplan was significantly disrupted by the duration of the labour dispute between CUPE 3903 and the Employer. My central objective for the Fall term was to organize an Equity Workshop for November 2008, where we could discuss and prioritize equity issues for the forthcoming round of collective bargaining. Rosemary Morgan and Penni Stewart of CAUT had agreed to participate in the workshop, in order to share with us the status of equity in other faculty collective agreements in Canada, as well as to assist us in developing bargaining priorities and language. This workshop was put on hold as a result of the strike.

Near the conclusion of the strike, I attempted to move quickly to organize the event. However, this raised the concern of the Race Equity Caucus, which questioned my taking leadership in organizational processes, without first consulting the Equity Caucuses. As a result, the event was cancelled.

This experience raises an important concern for future Equity Officers: Communication and decision-making processes between the Equity Officers, Equity Committee and or Supercaucus, and Equity Caucuses must be clarified and agreed upon at the beginning of the beginning of the term of office of incoming Chairs and Officers. Moreover, communication and decision-making processes must be periodically reviewed in order to ensure that they are working effectively.

Equity Officer Workload:

The workload required for the Equity Officer position has been significantly disproportionate to the number of weekly hours allocated for this job (the equivalent of one full course release). While I recognize that the CUPE 3903 strike created extraordinary circumstances for YUFA Officers this year, I also believe that it is difficult to do justice to the enormous and pressing concerns of the Equity portfolio, while remaining an active participant and contributor to YUFA Executive meetings and Stewards’ Council meetings. Less than full participation in the Executive and Stewards’ Council is an injustice to the importance of equity work for this union. I consider it essential that all members of the Executive be active participants in decision-making processes, in order to best represent the interests of YUFA members, to maintain transparency in the organization, and to uphold Section 1.3 of the YUFA Constitution (cited below). I would like to add, however, that excessive workload would have been less an issue of concern for me had I had the opportunity to work in a more collegial environment.

Recommendation: Given the significant workload required of the equity portfolio, including regular attendance at YUFA Executive Committee meetings and Stewards’ Council Meetings, and moreover given the difficulty of balancing workload and responsibilities between Equity Officers, I suggest that YUFA return to the practice of having one Equity Officer, who receives a 2.0 course release.

Recommendation: Given the overlap of the concerns of the equity portfolio and the grievance portfolio, I recommend that the Equity Officer also be a member of the Grievance Committee. This practice will be a further step toward assigning a higher priority to equity in all of YUFA’s activities on behalf of its members.

Resignation Letter:

6 April 2009

To the Executive Committee of YUFA:

I am resigning from my position as Equity Officer.

It is an understatement to say that this has not been an easy executive to work with. My experience in social movements has taught me that work is best shared, and change is best made, by maintaining open, democratic and participatory structures and processes. For YUFA, these structures and processes must be consistent with Section 1.3 of the Constitution.

Many YUFA members have dedicated years of their lives to building an organization that they believed would be modeled on democratic union principles. However, YUFA is now experiencing a crisis of confidence among its members due to the perception that YUFA is no longer an organization that is inclusive of and responsive to the interests of its members. I am not at all confident that the current YUFA executive is in a position to allay these concerns. For the good of the organization and the membership, I urge the YUFA executive to open the way for a period of transition, in order to allow the organization to enter a period of rebuilding and renewal.

Sincerely,

Deborah Brock

YUFA Constitution: 1.3 Equity Statement

The Association is committed to upholding the principles of equity, non-discrimination and freedom from harassment and to nurturing a culture of acceptance, diversity and inclusion where every member of YUFA and the broader York community is treated with dignity and respect, receives equal treatment and enjoys freedom from harassment, interference, restriction, coercion, or intimidation exercised or practised by a member with respect to another member both within the union and in the workplace because of, but not limited to, race, ancestry, place of origin (birth place), colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, language, creed, sex, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, sexual preference, age, marital status, family status, number of dependents, disability, political views or beliefs, religious affiliation or belief or membership in associations.

Equity Officer - Didi Khayatt

The Equity Officers have a rather broad mandate to make York an inclusive and a welcoming institution for all YUFA members and especially to examine the needs of those belonging to the designated equity groups. I will continue to attend the following meetings and others that fall under this portfolio:

  • hold bi-weekly meeting (or as appropriate) with YUFA Executive Associate, Brenda Hart to prepare for Equity meetings and to discuss the ongoing projects;

  • participate in YUFA Executive meetings twice monthly;

  • participate in monthly Stewards' Council meetings;

  • participate in Race Equity, Queer, Aboriginal, and Disability caucus meetings as needed, and others deemed necessary under this portfolio; and

  • meet informally with the Affirmative Action Officer for input into equity issues.

Contract Review Committee (CRC):

This Committee’s work began in the January 2008. Each member of the Committee took responsibility to read particular sections of the Collective Agreement and make recommendations for change. I was in charge of articles 3, 12, 26, as well as Appendixes D, G, G, H, and Q. I sent my report to the Chair in August.

I attended CRC meetings and provided input regarding equity in each of the relevant clauses. The Committee met regularly.

Joint Committee on the Administration of the Agreement (JCOAA):

Attended all meetings and offered insights for any issue concerning equity. This year, the main equity concern was the re-working of the Survey on Inclusivity and Diversity. It is still ongoing.

Equity Committee:

Only two meetings were called this academic year. In February, a group of CLAs were invited to join Equity Committee meetings. Since it is a bargaining year, at the Winter meeting it was agreed that the Equity Officers should organize a “super caucus” whereby all caucuses would come together to discuss bargaining concerns. I took copious notes which formed the basis of the recommendations submitted to the CRC. I also met with President Hilliker to ensure that the concerns were incorporated into the CRC’s Report.

Meetings:

As Equity Officer, my mandate is to participate in Executive and Stewards’ Council meetings. I missed one of each of those meetings in December. Our mandate to meet with the Affirmative Action Officer was also fulfilled when she was invited to attend a Race Equity Caucus meeting.

Negotiating Committee:

It is my intention, should I be appointed, to sit on the Negotiating Committee for the upcoming round of bargaining. I will bring an equity perspective to the negotiations.

Treasurer - Ray Rogers

My work as YUFA Treasurer for the 2008-09 year centred on insuring that the Association was fiscally responsible, and that proper procedures were followed in the allocation of YUFA funds. As a member of the YUFA Executive, I focused on casualization issues during the CUPE strike. In conjunction with my role as Co-Chair of the YUFA Community Projects Committee, I continued to expand the social justice agenda of the Association.