YUFA
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Report on CAUT Librarians’ Conference & Workshop "The Aggrieved Librarian – Enforcing Workplace Rights through the Collective Agreement"
28-29 October 2011, Ottawa, Ontario
By Mary Kandiuk, York University Libraries
7 Nov 11 – The topic of the Conference and Workshop was timely in light of recent labour-related developments in academic libraries in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada. These include the firing of academic librarians at McMaster University and attacks on the academic freedom of academic librarians at McGill University. Even with my extensive experience in YUFA, I continue to find the biennial CAUT Librarians Conference and Workshop useful and informative. Although it was presented as a “general introduction to the enforcement of librarian workplace rights”, it actually went far beyond.
The agenda included plenary sessions on the grievance in context (including the historic development of the right to grieve), the legal foundation of the grievance process, investigation skills, member vs. member disputes, the settlement, and the arbitration process. The Workshop was adapted from a Grievance Handling Workshop offered on request by CAUT to local member associations. The plenary sessions were presented by experienced CAUT staff such as Michael Piva and Peter Simpson, Assistant Executive Directors of CAUT, and Mariette Pilon, General Counsel for CAUT. In addition we learned about the roles of the Labour Relations Act, the Labour Board and the Human Rights Act in the grievance process. Probably one of the most important takeaways was the role of the Collective Agreement in establishing employee rights and limiting the employer’s discretion. Heavy emphasis was placed on using the grievance process to resolve issues as opposed to being drawn into creative solutions outside of it, which results in the individual forfeiting the right to due process. We were reminded several times that a “grievance forces the dispute into the framework negotiated by the parties and protected by labour legislation and arbitrators.” The advantages and disadvantages of settling were also reviewed. Supplementing the plenary sessions were practical exercises and quizzes that dealt with such topics as how to determine what is a grievance as well as role-playing scenarios where participants took on the roles of grievor, Grievance Officer, and employer. Douglas Vaisey, librarian at St. Mary’s University, presented the results of a grievance survey conducted of academic librarians prior to the Conference. We learned that while many librarians have considered grieving, most have not actually filed grievances for fear of reprisal. By far the greatest area of concern expressed by academic librarians in the survey was the lack of collegiality and respect. The onus to provide a safe and healthy workplace, we learned, falls on the employer.
In addition to the session themselves, there were lots of good questions and a lot of opportunity for discussion. I would like to thank YUFA for supporting my attendance at this Conference and Workshop.
Other Delegates to this Conference:
Patti Ryan