TRUFA President’s Report to the Membership

Colleagues,

Since my last report in mid-October, here are some highlights of issues with which TRUFA has been dealing and activities I have undertaken on behalf of the TRUFA membership.

Issues

CAUT Investigation of Academic Freedom at TRU

For those of you who may have missed the TRUFA statement on this issue on Monday, November 5^th, here it is again:

Colleagues,

As you may be aware, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has initiated an investigation of possible violations of academic freedom at Thompson Rivers University.  TRUFA’s goal is to keep you fully informed to the extent that is possible given the circumstances of cases that affect our workplace and working conditions.

TRUFA is actively providing representation for Dr. Derek Pyne, including taking appropriate actions under the Collective Agreement in response to his suspension by the University.  Media reports about this case are not completely accurate.  As such, we want to assure you that we are working on our member’s behalf.  It is important to remember, though, that TRUFA does not publicly comment on active cases due to privacy concerns.

TRUFA is affiliated with CAUT through its membership in The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE) and supports the CAUT investigation subject to the union’s own internal rules and the member’s preferences.

TRUFA unequivocally supports its members’ rights to academic freedom.  Academic freedom is essential to teaching, research and professional service, and TRUFA continues to defend members’ academic freedom whenever necessary.

 

Course Evaluations

TRU administration has announced that new software—QUALTRICS—has been adopted for course evaluations.  Results will be far easier for faculty to access through one.tru.ca and faculty can use new search capabilities so as to prepare for tenure/promotion application uses.  The information will be accessible starting in January 2019.

 

TRUFA Waivers for the Appointment of Non-Tenured Chairs and/or Program Coordinators

In an effort to ensure that tenure-track faculty are not burdened by administrative service that might potentially take away a necessary focus on successful tenure review, TRUFA will no longer grant waivers for non-tenured faculty to take on these elected departmental leadership positions.

Appointments Committee Training

TRUFA and TRU administration have agreed to review the current training provided for elected members of departmental appointments committees.   A concern raised by TRUFA is to ensure that there is adequate training in recognizing conflict of interest and bias, and in being away of the need for promoting equity in hiring practices.

 

Delays in Sessional Pay

A number of Sessional faculty approached TRUFA indicating that they were often not paid until the 2^ndor 3^rdpay period after starting their contracts.  TRU administration claims that Sessional faculty have to complete the paperwork required to put them on payroll once their contracts are signed. If you are a Sessional member and experience delays, please notify TRUFA.

 

Academic Leadership at Williams Lake

TRU administration committed to appointing an Associate Dean to provide academic oversight/leadership for the Williams Lake campus.  After a “failed search” in the spring, TRU is waiting to re-post the permanent position, and it is expected will appoint an interim Associate Dean in the near future. Academic programs at Williams Lake and its region fall under the authority of Kamloops-based departments; however, academic decisions about enrolment of students, exam schedules, etc. should, in TRUFA’s view, be made by an academic administrator working with WL faculty.

 

Between Christmas and Commencement of January Instruction

Article 12.1.3.1 indicates that this period consists of “non-working days with pay.”  The reality is that the vast majority—if not all—faculty members use this time period to prepare for the start of active duties at the beginning of the Winter semester.  In certain cases, due to program needs, some faculty are assigned duties during this period—AHT, Library, ESL etc.  Please let TRUFA know whether you or your colleagues are affected.

 

Faculty Complement Data

Article 5.4 of the Collective Agreement specifies that “no less than 70% of the total number of credit courses” be delivered by Tenure-Track or Tenured faculty across campus, with no less than 60% in any Division, Faculty or School.  Further, it states that no less than 70% of all instructional support work in each Division, Faculty and School is delivered by Tenure-Track or Tenured faculty members.  Each year, TRU administration compiles and shares the data with TRUFA.  The data for 2017-2018 academic year indicates that—overall—the ratio has fallen under 70% and in a number of Divisions, Faculties and Schools, the ratio has fallen below 60%.  Restoring the appropriate ratio will involve posting of tenure-track positions during the “following academic year.”

 

Benefits for Continuing Sessional Faculty

TRUFA is working on ways in which continuing sessional faculty can avoid being taken off benefit coverage at the end of each semester’s contract and then being required to re-apply at the start of the next semester’s contract.  TRUFA believes that coverage should continue seamlessly.  If you are experiencing this situation, please notify TRUFA.

 

Activities

TRUFA New Faculty Orientation Social

The October 17^thsocial held in the Panorama Room of IB was very successful.  About 15 new faculty participated along with a number of TRUFA Executive members plus members of SWCC and Stewards.  TRUFA will also be participating in the January new faculty orientation organized by the CELT group.  We distributed the TRUFA Faculty Handbooks to all participants, and I found it very important to meet new faculty and to provide them with some important information about TRUFA and the unionized academic environment.

 

CAUT Western Regional Conference

I attended the annual conference of all western Canadian university faculty associations from October 18^thto 20^th, held this year in Athabasca, Alberta.  With a couple of exceptions, all university faculty associations from western Canada were in attendance, along with the BCITFSA VP and FPSE president George Davison.  The prime focus of the whole conference was highlighting the shift from “association” status to “union” status for all Alberta university faculty associations. Under the new legislation, all Alberta FAs are, for the first time, covered under the Labour Code, which gives them the right to strike and takes away binding arbitration as a dispute resolution provision.  Here are the highlights of the conference.

 

Panel Presentations:

Picketing and Power

• Janet Morrill (University of Manitoba)
• Trevor Zimmerman (Alberta Union of Provincial Employees). Staff organizer.  Political action.
• Al Brown (SAIT) member of Alberta Labour Relations Board

The New Human Resources

• Stephen Rader (UNBC) The New HR: liberal interpretation of emergency articles as the foundation for an illiberal approach to faculty relations. Observations from the U of Northern BC.
• Nick Driedger (AUFA). The new terminology in HR.  Example of SAP, one of the largest HR firms in the world.
• Sylvain Rheault (URFA). Opening positions in Bargaining: the U. of Regina example.

Solidarity Within and Without

• Garry Sran (AUPE) Senior Research Advisor
• James Johnson (UBC) Chief Bargainer
• Bob Barnetson (AU) Bargaining committee

Professional Association to Trade Union Panel

• Kristan McLeod(Chivers Carpenter Law Firm).
• Annabree Fairweather (UL) Executive Director, Lethbridge FA. “Unicorns & Rainbows:  Professionalizing Faculty Associations Post Bill 7”
• Chris Hancock (MacEwan). Financial Considerations for Faculty Associations Unions

 

FPSE Victoria Lobby

Along with 18 other FPSE faculty association presidents, I attended the legislative lobby on October 23^rdto 25^th. The presidents met with Minister of Labour, Harry Bains, to discuss recommended changes to the BC Labour Relations Code, and with Premier John Horgan and Minister of Advanced Education, Melanie Mark, to discuss post-secondary issues, including indigenizing the academy and precarious academic labour.  In addition, FPSE hosted MLAs at an evening reception, to which both BC Liberal and NDP MLAs attended, and a luncheon for all government MLAs.  I can report that the current provincial government is very receptive to hearing from post-secondary educators and understands the importance of addressing faculty concerns, not only as a way of strengthening the quality of college and university education, but also as a way of enhancing the economic and social development of our province.

I met separately with Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett to lobby on behalf of our Williams Lake colleagues, their programs and their students.  Ms Barnett understands how important it is to have ongoing, permanent faculty positions in Williams Lake and was disturbed to hear that 75% of our WL faculty are non-tenured.  In addition, she knows that the continuation and expansion of Nursing programs are desperately needed by the WL community and region.

Highlights from FPSE Presidents’ Council – 15/16 November

The presidents of the 19 faculty association unions affiliated with the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) normally meet four times per year.[1]  Because all of our faculty associations are going into bargaining this year, the FPSE AGM approved additional meetings to help prepare for bargaining and address some other key issues.  We held a legislative lobbying session last month in Victoria and met again this past week in Vancouver.

 

Here are some highlights of our most recent meeting:

FPSE Holding Society

In order to comply with the new regulations of the BC Societies Act, the Federation was required to revise its governance structure. The 19 association presidents plus the four elected FPSE Executive Officers now form the Board of Directors of the new FPSE Holding Society, which is in compliance with the Act.  The holding society will, in accordance with its name, “hold” the assets of the Federation, which will still be governed by the membership as a whole, i.e. the members of each faculty association through FPSE’s Annual General Meetings held every May.  At the FPSE AGMs, affiliated associations conduct weighted voting based on the number of faculty members who belong to their union.  TRUFA is the second largest affiliate with 13 delegate votes, exceeded only by Kwantlen FA with 15 votes.

College Pension Plan Trustees’ Report

The College Pension Plan is governed by what is known as joint trusteeship with representatives from government, employers and unions serving on the Plan’s Board of Trustees.  Two of the FPSE-appointed trustees –Doug Birtwistle (Okanagan College faculty member) and Paul Ramsey (retired appointee, formerly a faculty member at College of New Caledonia and former BC Minister of Finance during the 1990s)—presented a report of the state of our pension plan. Some key pieces of information:

Financial Performance of the Plan:

1 year              9.5%    Benchmark: 8.3%

5 years            9.8%    Benchmark: 8.9%

10 years          7.5%    Benchmark: 6.7%

25 years          8.2%    Benchmark: 7.6%

The returns on investment have, in every time period, exceeded the benchmarks and have exceeded the most recent actuary’s assumed rate of return of 6.25% set in 2016, which dictates contribution rates.  In other words, the Plan is healthy.  It’s likely that the next actuarial valuation for August 2018, which will be submitted next spring, will indicate that the Plan is funded at a rate high enough not to require increases to contribution rates.

For your information, the pension contributions from employees and employers in all four public sector pension plans are invested by a BC crown corporation, the BC Investment Management Corporation (BCI), which charges a management fee of about 0.5%.  That rate has increased slightly due to in-house management of private equity, real estate, infrastructure and renewable resource placements, but is substantially lower than the fees charged to any of us as individual investors.  The total investments of the College Pension Plan alone are $5.032 billion as of June 30, 2018.

I am arranging for one of our trustees to present an overview of the Plan for TRUFA members this coming March, focusing primarily on information that will be most relevant for early and mid-career faculty members.

The BC Pension Corp. conducts pre-retirement workshops every year.  A newly opened section of the “Approaching Retirement” workshop has been announced and is open for registration:

Monday, November 26^th        7:00 to 9:00 pm

To register, please fill out the form on-line at https://www.pensionsbc.ca/portal/page/portal/client_education_registration_system/cpp_public_registration/

 

Upcoming Events

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Council meets twice a year—April and November—in Ottawa.  The Council consists of delegates from more than 100 faculty associations representing nearly 80,00 college and university faculty members across Canada.  The November meeting is scheduled for November 22^ndthrough 25^thand includes a Parliament Hill lobby during which faculty association presidents meet with MPs to highlight post-secondary education issues.  This year’s lobby will focus on ensuring that changes to the Copyright Act achieve an appropriate balance between the rights of academics as producers of copyrightable materials and academics as users of those materials in the classroom.  In addition to this national focus, I will be likely meeting with Cathy McLeod, the MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, who is the co-chair of the Parliamentary Aboriginal Affairs Committee and will urge Cathy to support increased funding for Indigenous bands to allow more of their members to attend TRU and other institutions.

From November 26^ththrough November 30^th, the BC Federation of Labour will hold its biennial convention in Vancouver.  TRUFA will have five delegates attending as part of a 57-member delegation from FPSE.  Labour issues that impact post-secondary education employees will be the primary focus of the FPSE delegation.  The repeal of two contentious pieces of legislation by the provincial government now allows faculty who serve on union grievance handling or negotiation committees to be elected to the University Board of Governors, and allows faculty unions to negotiate maximum class sizes and provisions that take into account the composition of classes (i.e. the number of students who may require special intervention).  An arm’s length review committee has issued recommendations on changes to the BC Labour Code, some of which may affect TRUFA and other post-secondary education unions in the province.  If you’re interested in these recommendations made to the Minister of Labour, you can access them here:  https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/332/2018/10/Labour-Relations-Code-Review-Panel-Report.pdf

[1]For your information, here are the faculty associations affiliated with FPSE:

Capilano University Faculty Association

Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association

Faculty Association of the College of New Caledonia

Douglas College Faculty Association

Kwantlen Faculty Association

College of the Rockies Faculty Association

University of the Fraser Valley Faculty and Staff Association

Vancouver Island University Faculty Association

Okanagan College Faculty Association

Selkirk College Faculty Association

Academic Workers’ Union (Coast Mountain College, formerly Northwest Community College)

Camosun College Faculty Association

Langara Faculty Association

Vancouver Community College Faculty Association

North Island College Faculty Association

Thompson Rivers University Open Learning Faculty Association

Nicola Valley Institute of Technology Employees’ Association

Education and Training Employees’ Association (representing instructors at private colleges)

Emily Carr University of Art + Design Faculty Association

 

 

In solidarity,

Tom Friedman, TRUFA President