Members    Collective Agreement    Publications    Blog    Links    About QUFA   

Re: Financial Report Update

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this message is to keep you informed about QUFA's role in connection with the statements made recently by the senior administration about the financial state of the University.

On February 26, 2009 Principal Tom Williams provided his second financial report to the community. In his report he invited staff and faculty union leaders to work with him to explore how "we might reduce our wage bill" (Principal's web site http://www.queensu.ca/principal/financialupdate.html).

QUFA representatives met with Principal Williams the next day at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Joint Committee for Administering the Collective Agreement (JCAA). At that meeting he reiterated the main points from his February 26th presentation. He said that utilizing the financial exigency provisions of the CA was not a realistic option. He did not make a formal request to reopen the CA.

On Monday March 9, 2009 representatives from all of the employee groups including QUFA met with Acting Principal Patrick Deane, Alistair MacLean (Dean, Arts and Science), Kim Woodhouse (Dean, Applied Science), Donna Janiec (Budget Office/Risk Management) and Lorna Baxter (Human Resources). Dean(s) MacLean and Woodhouse provided additional information about their budget projections for 2009-2012 and answered questions.

QUFA's role, as always, is to represent the interests of its Members, individually and collectively. At present there are no proposals under consideration, but we will continue to meet with the University's senior administration in the future.

Yours truly,

Peter A. Dacin, President

 

2009.03.15