Policy Grievance Archive

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2014-2017 Article(s): 54 Nature of Dispute: WUFA grieved that the University routinely fails to send out letters of appointment to sessional instructors at least eight weeks before commencement of classes as required by the Collective Agreement. Result of Grievance: The University committed to developing a policy, university-wide, whereby if a sessional member does receive his/her letter of appointment by the eight-week notice period prior to the commencement of…

Collective Agreement Referenced:  2011-2014 Article(s): 5, 10 Nature of Dispute: WUFA argued that specific research and service assignments given to by Librarian Members in their workload letters for the 2013-14 academic year violated the Collective Agreement. Result of Grievance: WUFA withdrew this grievance, without prejudice, after consulting with Librarian members.  WUFA remains concerned that the practice of assigning specific research areas and service activities in librarian workload letters…

Collective Agreement Referenced:  2011-2014 Article(s): 59 Nature of Dispute: The University allegedly failed to follow procedures in Article 59, resulting in excessive discipline of members by means of letters of warning deposited in their personnel files. Result of Grievance: The letters of warning that were party to this grievance were removed from the members' files. At Step 3, the parties agreed that a non-disciplinary letter of counselling is an acceptable method for administrators to…

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2011-2014 Article(s): 5, 10 Nature of Dispute: WUFA alleged that the University examined certain Faculty Association Members’ files and personal communications without prior authorization or express permission. Result of Grievance: WUFA withdrew this grievance without prejudice after discovering further information about the two (2) cases related to this grievance. In the first instance, the email search was conducted by the Office of Internal Audit, and it focused…

Collective Agreement Referenced:  2011-2014 Article(s): 54 Nature of Dispute: The University allegedly failed to send out letters of appointment to sessional instructors at least eight weeks before commencement of 2014 Intersession semester classes in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Result of Grievance: The University conceded the grievance at Step 3 of the grievance process.The affected FAHSS sessional instructors can request that the University not utilize their course evaluations,…

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2008-2011 Article(s): 3, 14 Nature of Dispute: In May, 2009, WUFA filed an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board alleging unfair labour practices on the part of the University. Specifically, WUFA alleged that the University had negotiated voluntary contract termination retirement packages with a number of members without involving WUFA and in violation of the Collective Agreement. Furthermore, these packages were being negotiated while the parties were…

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2008-2011 Article(s): D.2, 7 Nature of Dispute: After making a unilateral decision to change the Pension and Investment Committee structures of the Board of Governors (BoG) Pension Committees, the BoG issued a policy that indicated all members of the committees must sign a confidentiality agreement. Two members affected by the policy are WUFA members who have a responsibility to keep WUFA informed. This responsibility conflicts with the confidentiality undertaking.…

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2008-2011 Article(s): 54 Nature of Dispute: In May, 2011, the Faculty Coordinating Council in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) approved criteria for Preferred Applicant Status (PAS) which was intended to be applied to all units in FASS when they considered sessional instructor candidates. The criteria for PAS were unfair to applicants for various reasons and did not follow the qualifications guidelines for PAS as stipulated under Article 54:06 of the…

Collective Agreement Referenced:  2011-2014 Article(s): Letter VII Nature of Dispute: The Centre for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) proposed a program that conflicted with the current M.Ed program offered in the Faculty of Education.  Result of Grievance: Prior to the second day of arbitration, the University withdrew the proposal for the CEPE M.Ed International Cohort Program. Grievance initiated: April 26, 2012 Grievance resolved: December 21, 2012 Relevant Docs:         …

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2011-2014 Article(s): 5 Nature of Dispute: WUFA alleged that student advising and counselling demands requiring the presence of members in the School of Social Work in their University offices during Spring/Summer 2012 were unreasonable. Result of Grievance: WUFA withdrew the policy grievance prior to arbitration after consulting with members in the Department of Social Work. Grievance initiated: April 25, 2012 Grievance withdrawn: September 20, 2012 Relevant Docs:…

Collective Agreement Referenced:  2011-2014 Article(s): 54 Nature of Dispute: The Odette School of Business allegedly evaluated sessional instructor applicants for Intersession/Summer 2011 in a method that is not in compliance with Art. 54:06(a) Result of Grievance: At an arbitration, without the arbitrator present, the parties agreed that Administration would meet with all Deans and Dept Heads/Directors to give proper instructions on how to use the sessional hiring grid for Fall 2012 appointments…

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2008-2011 Article(s): A, 12 Nature of Dispute: In late April 2011, after the Government of Ontario published its annual list of government employees making in excess of $100,000 per year, WUFA discovered that a recently hired Limited Term member appointed at the rank of Lecturer in the Odette School of Business Administration was being paid in excess of the salary cap for Lecturers. Result of Grievance: At Step 3 of the grievance process, the University adjusted…

Collective Agreement Referenced: 2008-2011 Article(s): 30 Nature of Dispute: WUFA was informed of two appointments that were allegedly made without proper posting of the positions as required by Senate Bylaw 20. The first was a tenure-track appointment in the Faculty of Law, and the second was a limited-term appointment in the Odette School of Business. In both cases, waivers of the job posting were granted by the Acting Provost under Article 30 of the Collective Agreement, but they did not meet…

Collective Agreement Referenced:  2008-2011 Article(s): 54 Nature of Dispute: On more than one occasion, the Dean of the Odette School of Business Administration failed to provide WUFA with qualifications and seniority of successful candidates that formed the basis for sessional appointments as required under Article 54:10.   Result of Grievance: After the Step 3 meeting, the Associate VP Academic's office provided the material in question. WUFA withdrew the grievance. Grievance initiated:…