Updates from the bargaining table: disciplinary procedures and job postings
On Wednesday, your negotiating team returned to the bargaining table. After having our first day bargaining for Centre for Accessibility employees last week, this was a return to our conversations on the rest of our Component 1 proposals. This bargaining session, we agreed and signed off on a few proposals and made significant progress on a few others. For a quick way to see where all our proposals are at, check out the proposal tracker here. Right now we’re still working through non-monetary proposals. This bargaining session was also our first with Component 1 stewards taking part in the bargaining process! The stewards added great perspective and helped us caucus more efficiently when forming questions and responding to employer proposals.
What We Signed Off On
We reached an agreement to clarify the existing article in our collective agreement that covers job preference– making the change from “Teaching Year” to “Academic Year”
We also agreed upon language which will protect members from retaliation, specifically relating to UBC’s policies [Financial Investigations Policy (SC15), Retaliation Policy (SC18), and Public Interest Disclosure Policy (SC19)]. (Procedural 8: Whistleblower Protection Update)
What’s Still in Progress
Procedural proposals:
We had some back and forth on increased transparency in the job selection process by introducing a base level of standardization for application forms.
Procedural 6: Preference Continuation
In relation to job postings, we also discussed the process for how members would be able to ensure that they can maintain their hiring preference if it’s reduced due to budgetary constraints. We want to make sure the onus is not entirely on the member to indicate that they have preference as the employer’s language would indicate, and are pushing back for a better system
Equity proposals:
Equity 2: Disciplinary Procedures:
We made significant progress towards an agreement on language that would ensure the removal of written censures, letters of reprimand, or adverse reports from an employee’s file after a certain period of time.
We also tabled updates to the language in the collective agreement around disciplinary meetings. As it is, we often have very little notice about these meetings, which makes them inefficient for everyone involved. We proposed that the union be notified when a disciplinary meeting is coming up, with three working days’ notice. The employer countered with providing “reasonable notice” depending on circumstances. We are working on a counter-proposal with language that would not give them so much leeway to schedule disciplinary meetings on short notice.
Equity 1: Anti-Discrimination Protections:
We also tabled additions to the discrimination policy in the collective agreement to include caste and citizenship status as categories for which an employee cannot be discriminated against. The employer pushed back on this by saying they only wish to be in line with the BC Human Rights Code, which does not include these categories. We will be seeking more input on this from members, and we encourage you to reach out if this is an issue you feel passionate about or are affected by.
The employer initially did not accept our language we proposed regarding academic freedom. Their position was that this falls under the jurisdiction of the senate. We provided examples of collective agreements across universities in Canada that do have articles protecting academic freedom, like the CAs of unions at the University of Toronto, SFU, York University, and even the UBC Faculty Association, providing evidence that collective agreement protections for academic freedom are indeed a standard provision, even among other unions at UBC! After we provided this information, they indicated that they would come back with a counter-proposal on our next bargaining date.
Employer Proposals
Employer LOU: Rescheduling of Exams:
We discussed further one of the employer’s requests. Specifically, they want to be able to require people whose scheduled exam invigilations are cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e., weather) to work at a later date when the exam is rescheduled, outside of the contract dates. They don’t want to have to pay people for the additional make-up work after the contract end-date. We are working on an proposal that will ensure this work is paid and part of a future contract, and the hours are not taken from the term the original exam would’ve taken place in.
Employer Non-Monetary 3: Appointment Term
In response to our insistence that we cannot accept unpaid work outside of contract dates, the employer withdrew their proposal regarding work performed outside of the academic term dates. We are awaiting clarity on whether they will table something else relating to this matter.
What’s Next?
We’ve given availability for bargaining days to the employer and expect to meet next in January
The call will be put out again for Component 1 stewards to join us then, look out for that early next year! In the mean time, we wish you a restful break!