Below are recent resolutions adopted at Annual and Special General Meetings of CUFA membership. These have not all been resolved, and in some cases the situation has gotten worse for union members since the resolution.

SGM of May 24, 2022

a. Resolution on CUFA’s response to the challenges faced by visa-holding faculty, including new provincial barriers to permanent residency and the EDI implications for tenure and sabbatical:

Whereas the recent changes in rules for permanent residency in Quebec, it was moved and seconded (Tiwary, Sharma) that the CUFA Executive be mandated to negotiate regarding the concerns of non-Francophone non-Canadian faculty. Specifically, we ask the Executive to:

  1. Negotiate to give a year to non-Canadian new hires lacking French proficiency to learn French and consider it part of their workload.
  2. Negotiate to give sabbatical to members who have nominal tenure but do not yet have permanent residency due to language exams.
  3. To pay for the renewal of work permits until tenure-track faculty get permanent residency.

b. Resolution on CUFA’s response to UNITY, purchasing cards, vendor agreements, and other administrative barriers to accessing our professional development accounts and research funds:

Whereas the University administration launched the Unity-SAP enterprise software systems with no consultation with CUFA as to how the process might be best managed; Whereas the preparation and training offered to faculty members for Unity-SAP was unsatisfactory; Whereas at the same time as Unity-SAP was being rolled out, the administration introduced new spending and accounting restrictions linked to cooperative procurement contracts negotiated with Staples.com and other suppliers that require that CUFA members using PDA or research account funds limit their purchases of goods and services to these suppliers; Whereas by restricting purchases of designated goods and services to those offered by designated suppliers may mean that CUFA members will be limited in their ability to make the most effective and economical selection in the market as recommended by Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration; Be it resolved that (Draimin, Gauthier) CUFA members making purchases with PDA or research account funds be allowed to have the automatic right to by-pass the list of procurement contract suppliers if they can find a more effective and economical substitute elsewhere. Carried unanimously.

c. Resolution of CUFA’s planned response to the administration’s proposed changes to our health benefits:

Upon motion duly moved and seconded (Lynch, Valizadeh) it was resolved that the general assembly of CUFA recommends that the CUFA Executive rejects the proposed changes to the health and benefits plan package.