QUFA PACC Chair

From the QUFA Constitution:

ARTICLE 5:   GENERAL MEETINGS

  1. There shall be at least two General Meetings of the Association each year: a fall meeting to be held in October, November or December and a spring meeting in March or April, each at the call of the Secretary. The Secretary shall call special General Meetings as directed by Council or Executive, or at a written request of 20 members in good standing of the Association, which includes a statement of the purpose of the meeting.  The Secretary shall give written notice of meetings at least 14 days in advance.
  2. The General Meetings shall be chaired by the Chair of Council (or the Alternate Chair or other designate). The agenda for each General Meeting shall be prepared by the Secretary and shall include a President’s Report, a Treasurer’s Report, and where appropriate, reports by one or more of the Standing Committees.

ARTICLE 9:   EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

9.1      COMPOSITION
There shall be an Executive Committee of the Association consisting of the Officers of the Association, the Chair of the Council of Representatives, the Chair of the Grievance Committee, the QUFA Co-Chair of the Joint Committee to Administer the Agreement (JCAA) who also chairs the Committee for the Management of the Collective Agreement (CMCA), the Chair of the Political Action and Communications Committee (PACC), two Members-at-large, one representative from among Librarians and Archivists, one Continuing Adjunct representative, one Term  Adjunct representative, and one Equity representative. The positions of Librarian and Archivist, Continuing Adjunct, Term Adjunct, and Equity representative should be filled regardless of whether other members of these constituencies hold positions on the Executive Committee.  All Executive Committee members must be members of the Association.

9.6       DUTIES OF REMAINING MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

  1. The Chair of each Standing Committee shall prepare a brief written report to be included in the [Executive] agenda package that is distributed by the Administrative Officer [Executive Director] one week prior to the regularly scheduled monthly meeting.

9.7       TERM OF OFFICE

  1. The term of Executive Committee members shall be two years.
  2. Re-election or, in the case of Past President, reappointment, is allowed.
  • Terms commence July 1 of the year of election or appointment.

From the Terms of Reference for the Political Action & Communications Committee – PACC

Sent to Council January 25, 2000
Approved by QUFA Executive March 2010
Approved by QUFA Executive January 2014
Approved by QUFA Council January 2014

The Political Action & Communications Committee (PACC) is a Standing Committee of QUFA under Article 10 of the QUFA Constitution. In addition to Article 10, the following terms shall govern the operation of PACC:

  1. PACC Co-Chairs (2) are members of the Executive Committee and are elected or appointed according to Article 9.2 of the Constitution. [This will have to be amended to reflect the new Constitution (approved April 2016) which authorizes a single PACC Chair.]
  2. In addition to the Co-Chairs, PACC shall be constituted by 5-12 Members who represent a range of interests.
  3. The President of QUFA is an ex officio member of the committee with voting rights as per Article 9.5 of the Constitution.
  4. Quorum is 4 voting members.
  5. PACC shall meet at least 3 times per term in Fall and Winter and at least 7 times per academic year (July-June).
  6. PACC’s purpose is to make proposals for political action and communications with the membership to QUFA Council of Representatives and/or the Executive Committee as appropriate and to implement their policies and instructions concerning political action and communications.
  7. All PACC campaigns, communications and actions shall be approved by the Executive Committee and/or the Council of Representatives.

Definitions and Limitations:
“Political action” includes cooperation with other university bodies to monitor and influence university decisions that have implications for the terms and conditions of employment of QUFA members. Specifically, PACC is responsible to monitor Queen’s Administration and work with the QUFA President to liaise with other employee and student groups at Queen’s, as well as with OCUFA, CAUT, and other interest groups, parties and unions. “Political action” also includes those activities that QUFA undertakes to further its purposes by influencing the public and government at any level (municipal, provincial, federal, or international).  Among the forms of action included are influencing public opinion, lobbying politicians and civil servants, and presenting briefs and other submissions to governmental bodies. Finally, PACC will work with the President, the Executive Committee and the Council of Representatives to create and disseminate communications with QUFA Members.

Direct contact with the Principal, Provost, Senate, Board of Trustees or the media shall be channelled through the President or designated Officers of the Association.

Responsibilities

Priorities:  ** and * indicate first and second priorities; other matters are also important but of lower or merely occasional priority

Cyclical responsibilities:

  • **Chair all PACC meetings (Regular and Special Meetings)
    • Prepare and distribute agendas
    • Prepare or review and distribute minutes
    • Formulate to-do lists pursuant to meetings (indicating who and when) and follow up with QUFA volunteers and staff
  • **Attend all Executive meetings (1st week, monthly, Sept.-Jun.) and prepare and submit a PACC Report one week in advance.
  • **Attend all Council meetings (3rd week, monthly, Sept.-May) and prepare and submit a PACC Report one week in advance.
  • Attend all Unity Council and Kingston and District Labour Council (KDLC) meetings (normally Sept-Jun)
  • *Delegate members of PACC to attend or monitor Faculty Board and Senate meetings  (Note: QUFA’s President has an ex officio seat in Senate, but if possible, the PACC chair, or members of the committee should have positions on Senate as well.  Where that is not possible, PACC members can still attend Senate as visitors, and in any case PACC should participate in or coordinate with the Senate Faculty Caucus.)
  • **Attend all QUFA General meetings (December and April) (and prepare and submit a PACC Report two weeks in advance)
  • *Monitor all Board of Trustees meetings (Note: QUFA’s President, VP, and PP ordinarily attend BT meetings and should brief PACC afterward.)
  • **Coordinate the Annual Lecture (in fall or winter term) with committee and QUFA staff

Occasional responsibilities:

  • *Participate in posting, forwarding, and analyzing news (e.g., via email lists)
  • *Participate in editing or approving communications to QUFA Members and the public (e.g., QUFA Voices, QUFA Digest bulletins; see QUFA Publications)
  • Write and/or organize the writing of letters to Queen’s Administration, politicians, and media on issues of concern to QUFA members
  • Write letters of support for other faculty associations or groups involved in labour and/or other disputes.  Work with the QUFA President and Treasurer to ensure that financial support is provided when appropriate.

Schedule of duties for a typical month (September through May)

As per the terms of reference, PACC will normally meet at least 3 times per regular term and once in the summer. The QUFA boardroom can be used for this purpose.  Contact the Office Administrator to book the boardroom.  Ideally these meetings should be scheduled at the same time/day every month so that the boardroom can be booked well in advance

Regular duties include:

  • Set PACC agenda and circulate to committee members
  • Chair PACC meeting
  • Review minutes and action items and follow up with staff and volunteers.
  • Prepare a written PACC report for QUFA Executive & Council to be submitted to the QUFA Executive Director. Agenda packages go out one week before the Executive Meeting and one week before Council. Often, these can be the same report pending timing.
  • Prepare to report to PACC on KDLC, Executive and Council meetings.
  • Prepare or solicit pieces for Voices and items for the Digest.

December and April

  • Prepare a written PACC report for the General meetings (to be submitted to the Executive Director two weeks in advance; agenda package goes out one week before the GM); attend the meetings prepared to field questions.

Your work is Service to the University following Article 7.6.4.

QUFA recognizes that because of a volunteer’s academic duties and personal responsibilities, individuals cannot guarantee to be available for all meetings cited in the job descriptions.