We are very fortunate to have fantastic leadership at the divisional level of our union. Those faculty who were around during the negotiations and strike of 2017 will remember the consistent, calm and relevant messaging coming from the DivEx leadership.
Our leadership team continues to be active in promoting key areas of concern and working towards educating the CAAT-A membership across the province. The latest edition of their newsletter, “The Faculty Voice” exemplifies this. Below is just a sampling of the articles:
- Overview of recent changes in public post-secondary education:
- ” While Ford touted this as making education more affordable, the tuition cut was paired with a deep cut to the financial grant system. The net effect is that post-secondary education will be much more expensive, especially for college students who rely on the grant system most heavily.”
- Implementation of the Partial-Load registry under the new collective agreement:
- ” The language in Article 26.10 has resulted in the development of a partial-load registry at each college. How is the registry presently being managed? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is uncertain… “
- An update on the 6 public colleges (including Northern College) who are contracting out work to private career colleges:
- ” Although the curriculum and graduation diploma are both branded with an Ontario public college name, the curriculum is taught by independent contract workers hired by the private colleges. The working conditions of these contract workers are far below the standards for partial-load faculty with respect to pay, benefits and academic rights. How, then, can we expect these international students to receive a quality education in such a system?”
- Academic Freedom – What does it mean?
- “Academic freedom is a broad and complex right that post-secondary faculty across the world exercise. It defines what it means to be an academic. This article focuses on five areas in which Article 13 can have an immediate and positive effect. “
And there is lots more, check it out here:
https://files.constantcontact.com/222b1283101/15b480ba-30ce-4adf-a8a5-3df88d33bba3.pdf