With a collective agreement on the horizon, the Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) is preparing to negotiate.
In an interview with The Journal, QUFA President Karen Rudie explained their current collective agreement with the University expires June 30, and either Queen’s administration or QUFA can signal their intent to begin as of April 1. Once that notice is given, the other party must meet within roughly two weeks.
Rudie said bargaining rarely concludes by the agreement’s expiry date. Instead, negotiations will likely continue throughout the summer, with the possibility of further action if talks break down.
“Typically, bargaining would take place over the summer, and the hope would be that we would reach an agreement and have a [new] collective agreement. If not, then in the fall, we would be very seriously preparing to hold a strike vote, and then to strike, if necessary,” Rudie said.
Before negotiations begin, QUFA members will vote on a bargaining mandate that outlines the union’s key priorities, which have been shaped through consultations with faculty.
“We’ve had many town halls with departments and with specific groups,” Rudie said. “We had two bargaining surveys sent to the whole membership where they were polled about their priorities.”
Among the issues expected to feature prominently in negotiations is support for adjunct professors. Rudie said of their 1,372 members, 32 per cent, or 442 individuals, are non-tenure-stream instructors who often lack job security and access to benefits. She said these instructors taught more than 1,200 courses at Queen’s last year.
Rudie explained these adjuncts are typically hired on short contracts and may teach only one or two courses at a time. Because those contracts often don’t provide stable income or benefits, some adjunct instructors teach at multiple universities simultaneously to make a living.
“They’re trying to cobble together a living salary from a bunch of courses,” Rudie said.
According to Rudie, the conditions adjunct faculty face can also impact students’ learning experience. Instructors who are commuting between campuses or juggling multiple courses may have less time to respond to emails, hold office hours, or provide detailed feedback.
“There’s a well-known saying: working conditions of faculty are learning conditions of students,” she said.
Another concern for QUFA heading into negotiations is faculty workload.
“Austerity measures that the University has imposed have led to larger classes, fewer TAs, less staff support,” she said, explaining this has placed more of the burden on professors, which also makes it harder for students to learn.
Discussing how they want to ensure students are informed of the process, Rudie explained she’s been reaching out to the AMS, SGPS, student senate caucus, and other student groups to establish contact.
“We would love to, and welcome, being able to reach out to students through The Journal [and to] meet with student leaders, and certainly, we would hope that if we ever got to point where we’re ready to strike, that we have the full support of everyone in the Queen’s community,” Rudie said.
QUFA says it hopes negotiations with Queen’s will proceed respectfully and productively. “We’re certainly hoping to go into bargaining with an open mind and to bargain in earnest,” she said.
In a statement to The Journal, the University echoed this sentiment.
“Queen’s University values the contributions of its academics, and we share collectively the desire to build and sustain a world-class university by strengthening and enhancing research and teaching, Queen’s wrote. “The University is committed to bargaining in good faith and to reaching an agreement that is fair to our faculty, fiscally responsible to the University, and capable of being ratified by both parties.”
Tags
Collective agreement, negotiation, negotiations, QUFA
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