Updates: MoveUP talks & Summer term courses

MoveUP Negotiations

To our and MoveUP’s disappointment, there has been radio silence from the administration since their negotiator, Hamilton, Ontario, lawyer Geoff Tierney, walked away from the table Thursday.

As a reminder: all Mr Tierney did was concede to the inclusion of remote work arrangement language, without actually proposing specific language for the process. In bargaining, that is not a commitment. There needs to be language the parties can work on. Without discussion on language, this is not bargaining.

Then the administration’s negotiator walked away from the table at 11 a.m. despite Paul Dangerfield's direction to the negotiator to stay at the table and negotiate.

Since then, no one from the administration has contacted MoveUP. We hope this will change over the weekend, but at the moment it is still unclear whether the administration is serious about negotiating a fair process for flexible work.

Summer Term Courses

After taking over the authority to grade summer courses on Tuesday night, the administration seems to have changed course. Yesterday Laureen Styles wrote to students to advise that the administration is extending the grade deadline for summer term 1 courses to 21 August–though the administration is still indicating an intent for administrators to potentially issue grades or pass students without a grade. Her message also suggests that administrators may ask students to submit assignments or write exams. We hope this does not mean Laureen Styles intends to have administrators grade students’ work.

We don’t know why Laureen Styles has changed course by opening the door for an extension of courses into August, but we are hopeful that it was the result of the concerns faculty and students raised about the extraordinary action that Paul Dangerfield took on Tuesday night, declaring a disruption and giving Laureen Styles authority over all summer courses.

The open letter from faculty senators may have helped. We encourage you to read it, since the action Paul Dangerfield took on Tuesday has implications for CapU that extend beyond this semester.

Regarding the administration’s new decision to extend the grading deadline: We discussed this possibility during the SGM this past Tuesday evening. As we advised then we see the following options:

1. Faculty currently assigned to teach can reschedule the remaining classes and finish teaching and grading the courses, but only:

   1. If they agree to do so,

   2. Are paid to do so (replacement of income withheld during the strike), and

   3. If they are regular faculty and the extension of the course into July or August cuts into their vacation period, they are paid for the vacation as well.

2. If the faculty assigned to teach these courses have commitments inJuly/August that make it impossible for them to finish these courses, the completion of the courses would either have to be:

   1. Rescheduled in the fall or summer, with that faculty member (provided they are paid for the work to complete the course), or

   2. Taught by substitutes, if any qualified substitutes are available among faculty to teach in July or August.

The CFA has also written to the administration to make sure they will support students who need paperwork support (e.g., with study visas) due to the extension. We are also talking with the CSU about supporting students in this and other ways.

And once the strike is over, we will work with faculty, the CSU, and the administration to sort out the effects of the interruption in courses, and the myriad effects of the strike on your workloads and income.

To conclude, we want to remind you how unnecessary this strike was. This is an impasse the administration could have avoided by agreeing to bargain at some point during the three and a half weeks when no talks were occurring. Also, the administration could have accepted MoveUP’s suggestion to move to mediation.

MoveUP’s proposal is simple, and is consistent with the processes already agreed at UVic, UBC, and other post-secondaries. Their proposal is that managers’ decisions about remote work arrangements be reasonable. That is all. The administration has been saying, “Trust us.” But they have resisted stating in the collective agreement that they will be reasonable.

Our solidarity is working: we hope the signals from Thursday will produce a resolution.

In solidarity,
Job action committee