As of January 16, 2023, FAUW and the administration have completed the first two steps of our “path forward” for policies 76 (Faculty Appointments) and 77 (Tenure and Promotion of Faculty Members)—exchanging policy drafts and four meetings of a policy drafting committee —and are beginning mediation (step three).
Substantial agreement has been reached for many aspects of P76/77, but the remaining points of contention are important and substantial. Should agreement not be achieved during mediation sessions, we will proceed to interest arbitration.
The road to resolving P76/77 revisions has been long and fraught, but an ending is now in sight. Nevertheless, we must recognize that mediation and arbitration inevitably involve compromise. We will not achieve everything that we need. We are very confident of our case on several issues, including the need for dedicated time for the PPD activities required for tenure/permanence and promotion. We want to mitigate unintended negative consequences for precarious faculty members, such as definite term lecturers with high teaching loads, who will now be subject to higher expectations. It is important that the introduction of the new teaching stream bring about net gains rather than net losses to our faculty membership.