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Information Sheet for Unit Meetings with YUFA’s President

4 Oct 04 – The York University Faculty Association (YUFA) is the Association and certified bargaining agent (union) for all full-time faculty and professional librarians at York University. In addition to the responsibility of bargaining renewal collective agreements, YUFA offers a number of other services to our members. These include offering advice to members regarding all aspects of their employment at York in areas such as benefits, sabbatical entitlements, and workload; support and representation for complaints or grievances by individual members; advice and support to candidates in the Tenure and Promotion process; and information and assistance to new appointees in negotiating terms of appointment. More information about the issues and work of YUFA is available at YUFA’s website: http://www.yufa.org.

The strength and effectiveness of YUFA is directly related to the involvement of members, and there are many levels of involvement possible – from the full-time commitment of running for President to attending membership and ratification meetings or filling in a survey about bargaining priorities. Members also participate in the election of Officers and of stewards, or you may choose to serve in one of these capacities yourself or on any of the other committees staffed by YUFA members. Note that service to YUFA is considered service to the University.

For example, you could:

  • participate in a one-time committee to adjudicate YUFA’s academic leaves and fellowships,
  • write an article for the website about an issue that concerns members,
  • attend and report on a conference to which YUFA sends you,
  • serve as a delegate to the Canadian Labour Congress Convention,
  • participate in a YUFA caucus,
  • represent your unit on the Stewards' Council, which meets six to nine times annually,
  • serve as an Officer on the YUFA Executive,
  • participate on the YUFA Equity or Grievance committees,
  • represent YUFA on one of the joint YUFA-Employer committees such as the Joint Health and Safety Committee.

In addition there are caucuses, affiliated with the YUFA Equity Committee, for members who identify with a specific group. These include the Caucus for Persons with Disabilities, the Race Equity Caucus and the Queer Caucus. Caucus members meet to discuss concerns specific to their working situations.

Also important is participation by comment. YUFA’s Executive welcomes and values highly the opinions of YUFA members on issues before us. Of particular relevance are comments on the Collective Agreement. YUFA is reviewing the current Collective Agreement for possible revisions in preparation for the next round of bargaining and solicits feedback from members in this pre-negotiation stage. Comments can be sent by email to yufa@yorku.ca.

For general queries, complaints, or if you think you have a potential grievance, please contact the YUFA office by phone to 416-736-5236 (55236) or by email to yufa@yorku.ca. (Note that all queries are confidential and that the decision as to whether or not to pursue a formal individual grievance lies entirely in the hands of the individual member.)

If you are interested in finding out more about participating in the Association contact: