On January 16th and 17th, 2025, ULFA hosted its seventh and eighth Bargaining Town Halls in the current round of negotiations toward a new Academic Staff Collective Agreement (ASCA). Both town halls focused on proposals presented by the ULFA and Board negotiating teams on what a new Teaching Professor rank could look like and how it could be introduced.
After a brief update on the overall progress of bargaining to date, at both sessions, members of the ULFA negotiating team reviewed elements of the two Teaching Professor proposals in terms of similarities and differences. At the January 16th session, ULFA welcomed a guest from CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers) who briefly described how the concept of a teaching professoriate has evolved in Canada over the past fifteen years. They noted that today we now see a wide variety of teaching streams at postsecondary institutions across the country.
The fruitful discussion that ensued at both sessions included many Instructors, who represent the academic staff category in the ASCA that would be most directly affected by the introduction of a new Teaching Professor rank.
A summary of the progress of articles opened in this round of bargaining is available here. The ULFA and Board negotiating teams have bargaining dates scheduled for January 20, 22, 29, and 31.
