(Sudbury – Nov. 15, 2018)

LUFA has been informed that there is misinformation being circulated regarding the workload credit grievance. As previously reported, LUFA is seeking to have the special deal that was negotiated with the members, implemented. (i.e., 12 credit workload for faculty members of the Faculty of Arts).

The Dean of Arts circulated the following memo on Tuesday, Nov. 13:

“Hello / Bonjour,

Please see the message below from the Interim Dean of Arts:
Veuillez consulter le message ci-dessous de la doyenne intérimaire:

As you know, the 12-credit workload issue in the Faculty of Arts has been an ongoing conversation since it was trialed for this academic year. I wanted to share that a decision to end the trial has been made for the 2019-2020 academic year and in line with current Collective Agreement language, the Faculty of Arts will again be assigned a 15-credit workload. Thank you.”

These statements are inaccurate. It was never stated that the 12-credit workload was being “trialed for a year.”

It is our position that the previous Dean has committed to a 12-credit workload for the duration of the collective agreement through having negotiated directly with the members in the Faculty of Arts, and that therefore the members of the Faculty of Arts must be provided the necessary resources for a 12-credit workload for the balance of the life of the collective agreement.

We are very concerned that the Administration’s action in rolling back the reduction to 12 credits is retaliation for LUFA having filed a grievance. The grievance asserted that the previous Dean acted inappropriately, both contrary to the collective agreement and the Labour Relations Act in implementing this change.

In order to ensure an equitable workload, we also sought as a remedy in the grievance that all faculty members should be moved to a 12-credit workload for the duration of the collective agreement and they should be provided the necessary resources to implement that workload. Our aim was not to see a rollback of these positive changes for members of the Faculty of Arts, but rather to ensure that all members were treated equitably.

We informed the administration that we were happy to continue the committee work to help achieve a 12-credit workload on a long term basis and in preparation for the next round of bargaining, but this would be independent from the remedy we were seeking through the grievance and/or unfair labour practice. LUFA continues to assert that members are entitled to the 12 credits for the duration of the agreement. We hope that the parties can find a long term solution during negotiations in 2020. The administration has indicated a willingness to continue these discussions in advance of bargaining.

Our position is that the Administration cannot now roll back the change to 12 credits and that it is a violation of the collective agreement and the Labour Relations Act for them to do so. We will be challenging this action.