The Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) has entered a new round of collective bargaining with Queen’s, outlining priorities including fairness in the workplace, workload, job and employment stability, information technology and privacy, and merit reform.
QUFA President Karen Rudie, professor of electrical and computer engineering, said bargaining is the process where QUFA and the University negotiate changes to their collective agreement.
The bargaining process comes ahead of the expiry of the Current Collective Agreement on June 30, following a one-year renewal.
In an interview with The Journal, Rudie said that if an agreement isn’t reached by June 30, the parties can agree to continue under the current collective agreement while bargaining proceeds.
She said a strike or lockout would require additional steps, and would involve faculty members withholding their labour.
“At the moment, the University and our bargaining team have set bargaining dates to continue into July,” Rudie said. “If bargaining is proceeding well, I don’t think either side tends to strike over a minor word choice.”
According to QUFA Bargaining Alert #1, released May 12, the parties began negotiations on May 4 and had completed four days of bargaining by that point.
READ MORE: Faculty union highlights priorities ahead of bargaining period
Members approved the association’s Collective Bargaining Mandate and Principles 2026 on April 13 following consultations, surveys, and town halls held earlier this year.
QUFA stated that its initial proposals addressed issues including discrimination and accommodation, grievance procedures, discipline, employment equity, and working conditions.
Workload is one of the key concerns in bargaining. “With the austerity position the University has had, people are [dealing with] class sizes increasing, fewer resources, fewer teaching assistant hours, fewer staff people in a department,” Rudie said. “All of that leads to increased workload for faculty members.”
Rudie said those working conditions also affect students. “It’s overwork for us, but it’s also not good for you.”
Merit compensation is also expected to be a topic during negotiations.
In May, QUFA members voted 60 per cent in favour of recommendations developed by the LOA#6 Joint Compensation Working Group , which reviewed the University’s merit system.
According to the rent report, members expressed concerns that the current process was cumbersome, unpredictable, and demotivating.
Rudie said the current merit system can create equity concerns because merit increases are added to base salary. This means an increase earned early in a career affects every future year of pay, since later cost-of-living increases are calculated from that higher salary.
Rudie added the current system can also make merit dependent on the performance of other faculty members within a department. She said if several faculty members produce major work in the same year, individual achievements may appear less impressive.
The QUFA Bargaining Alert #2, released May 26, said parties had completed six days of negotiations. QUFA Chief Negotiator and Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Science, Jordan Morelli, described discussions as “collegial and collaborative.”
The update states that QUFA and Queens have exchanged most initial proposals on non-monetary issues. QUFA said its proposals have been organized into five broad categories: fairness in the workplace, workload, job stability, information technology
and privacy, and compensation.
Rudie said QUFA is mindful of the University’s financial constraints during bargaining.
Tags
bargaining, Collective agreement, Faculty Association, QUFA
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