t its December 1997 meeting CAUT's Collective Bargaining and Economic Benefits Committee decided to make significant changes to the collective bargaining training program sponsored by CAUT.

Now, much like the grievance and arbitration conference held in the winter, the June collective bargaining conference will deal only with prevailing policy issues. The committee is currently developing the June conference agenda with the main policy theme centred on university budgets, financial exigency and redundancy. The conference will be held in Ottawa from June 19 to 21, 1998. A draft agenda will be available soon.

In an attempt to address the heavy bargaining calendar and distinct needs of faculty associations, the committee now offers customized collective bargaining training workshops. Training is available for individual associations, or to a group of associations in a specific region, wishing to learn or to improve negotiation skills at the bargaining table. The committee will also provide training for an entire bargaining team, to further team building and team cohesiveness. These workshops will offer training in every aspect of the negotiation process, and depending on the duration of the sessions, will normally cover: the legal framework of collective bargaining, an overview of the negotiation process, a clause-drafting exercise and a one-day negotiation simulation exercise designed to give participants hands-on experience. Workshops will be conducted by CAUT's collective bargaining officers.

Customized workshops will be designed and scheduled according to an association's needs. Replacing the summer workshop, these new workshops are offered on a cost-recovery basis. CAUT expects to be able to provide on-site training for the same average amount as it formerly cost associations to send two or three delegates to the summer workshop held during the June collective bargaining conference.

For information please contact Christiane Tardif (tardif@caut.ca); or Pierre Choquette (choquet@caut.ca), CAUT, 2675 Queensview Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K2B 8K2; tel: 613-820-2270; fax: 613-820-7244.