The Alberta Colleges and Institutes Faculties Association and the sessional faculty union at the University of Toronto (CUPE 3902 Unit 3) were voted into membership at CAUT’s council meeting last month.
ACIFA represents the interests of more than 6,000 members of academic staff associations at 15 public colleges and institutes across Alberta and coordinates lobby and policy work with its university counterpart, the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations, and provincial student groups. ACIFA joins CAUT as a federated association.
“The defence of members’ freedom and tenure, a commitment to equality and human rights, active political work on behalf of public post-secondary education, the nourishment of positive and productive relations with other associations and groups that work to these same ends — all are visible objectives of ACIFA, embodied in its organizational arrangements, and reflected in its activity,” CAUT’s membership committee wrote in a report sent to Council delegates in April.
ACIFA president Dave Purkis said his association’s desire to work with CAUT on issues of national importance “led us to undertake the application for membership.”
CUPE 3902 Unit 3 was certified to represent part-time contract academic staff who teach in degree programs at the UofT in August 2004, and since then has successfully negotiated two collective agreements with the university for 847 unit members.
“It is my belief that part-time contract academic staff are possibly the hardest working among all of us, not having as the rest of us do the protection of tenure with both its longevity of employment and the academic freedom that it affords,” said Abhijit Gopal, who served on CAUT’s membership review committee. “They have to prove themselves every semester, in every class they teach, because the security of their employment in our current system is always suspect. It is our responsibility to acknowledge the unrelenting hard work put in by part-time academic staff of the University of Toronto and to not only admit them to a forum such as ours but to welcome them.”
In joining, CUPE 3902 Unit 3 becomes the 68th local member of CAUT.
“We’re delighted to have ACIFA and CUPE 3902 Unit 3 joining as members,” said CAUT executive director James Turk. “Their membership provides new support for our Canadawide advocacy efforts to preserve and enhance post-secondary education for all citizens.”