YUFA eNewsletter: November 2015

Bargaining 2015

Bargaining Update #8:

YUFA's Collegiality Proposals: Contesting Managerialism, Protecting Shared Governance

Over the past year, YUFA has worked hard to develop a bargaining agenda that speaks to our members’ concerns about the erosion of collegial rights and process. As we know, the principles of shared governance are at the heart of the modern university. Faculty members—members of the collegium—are supposed to have the primary role in hiring their colleagues, reviewing and …

Member Advisories

Annual Call for CV and Report of Outside Professional Activities

Many of you have recently received from your Dean’s Office the annual request for your updated CV and report on outside professional activities. YUFA is concerned about the wording of some of these requests, which appear to impose requirements on members that have not been agreed to by the Association. This advisory is intended to inform you of your rights …

2016-17 Academic Grants, Leaves, and Fellowships

As you know, the 2012-15 Collective Agreement has expired and YUFA is in negotiations with the Employer. One implication of the ongoing negotiations is uncertainty regarding various grants, leaves, and fellowships provided under the Collective Agreement. As these programs are subject to negotiation between the parties, it is possible that some or all of them may be increased, reduced, or …

Beyond YUFA

The Water is Safer than the Land, Warshan Shire

Refugee Solidarity:

YUFA Executive to ask membership to approve a levy for refugee bursaries

In response to the current global refugee and displacement crisis—a crisis that has reached proportions unseen since the Second World War—the YUFA Executive has resolved to join other Canadians and Indigenous peoples and support generous migration, citizenship and refugee policies. In this spirit, YUFA has decided to work with other parties at York University to support refugee solidarity initiatives, notably …

Faculty, Nippising University Reach Tentative Agreement

Poised to enter its fifth week, the Nippising University Faculty Association reached a tentative agreement with their employer on November 26, 2015, subject to the ratification of both faculty members and the Board of Governors.

The YUFA Executive was proud to support NUFA's efforts with a $2000 donation to their strike fund, not least because their grave concerns about university management's unilateral decision-making and the decline of collegial governance mirror our own. Their employer was very aggressive during the strike, and went so far as to shut down all faculty's university-based email addresses. NUFA President Susan Srigley recently published this account of the issues that led up to the strike on the website RankAndFile.ca.

Calls for Involvement

YUFA Holiday Social

December 4, 2015

The YUFA Executive, Equity Sub-Committee and Equity Caucuses invite all YUFA members to join us at an end-of-term holiday social to celebrate the many efforts of our members and staff to make York a better and more equitable place to work and learn. The event will take place December 4, 2015, from 1:30 - 4:30pm in Winters 021 (Winters Senior …

Call For Members: YUFA Race Equity Caucus

The Race Equity Caucus (REC) would like to invite interested YUFA members to join the Caucus. As a semi-autonomous equity-seeking caucus within YUFA, the primary aim of REC is to engage critical discussions and develop meaningful approaches to advancing race equity for racialized faculty in the areas of teaching, research and administrative service. Historically, REC has been instrumental in raising …

Call for Nominations:

Joint Committee on Affirmative Action

YUFA is seeking one member for the Joint Implementation Committee on Affirmative Action for Faculty and Librarians (Article 12.22). The mandate of this subcommittee is to ensure that units conform to the Article 12.21 criteria for selecting candidates and to ensure that units actively seek out and give fair consideration in their selection processes to candidates designated in the affirmative action …

Call for Trustees

YUFA is seeking two volunteers to serve as Trustees for the 2015-16 year. The trustees work together to review the activities and operations of the Association for the year, based on the audits and financial statements, minutes from Executive Committee meetings, minutes from Stewards Council minutes and any other material they feel would be useful. They present a report at …