Frequently Asked Questions

The Association of Teaching Professors of the University of Ottawa (ATPUO) is a union representing more than 2,500 teachers, lawyers, professional musicians, engineers, healthcare workers, and other experts who teach at the University of Ottawa on a contract basis.

ATPUO members teach the majority of the courses offered at the University of Ottawa.

Teaching professors teach the vast majority of courses at the University of Ottawa, and more than half of the undergraduate courses.

Teaching professors are not the only ones affected by this round of negotiations: the entire university community is as well. Better working conditions for teaching professors contribute to a better student experience and enable them to make a greater contribution to the university community. Furthermore, the outcome of these negotiations could set a positive precedent for improving working conditions for other labour organizations at the University of Ottawa.

For Teaching Professors, these negotiations will determine their working conditions for the coming years.

For undergraduate students, these negotiations will have a direct impact on their learning conditions in most of their courses and will contribute to an enriched student experience. Better working conditions for ATPUO members allow them to be more available to their students.

For graduate students—whether as teaching assistants or teaching professors—these negotiations will determine their current and future working conditions.

For teaching assistants, these negotiations will have a direct impact on their working conditions, since they mostly work under the supervision of teaching professors.

For APUO faculty members, these negotiations will have a significant impact on labour relations within the university and, consequently, on some of their governance activities and on the day-to-day operations of departments and units. Improvements in the working conditions of ATPUO members may also enable APUO members to achieve substantial gains in their own collective bargaining negotiations for the renewal of their collective agreement.

For support staff, these negotiations will affect their working conditions and relationships within departments and units. The progress made by ATPUO members may also enable support staff to achieve gains when it is their turn to renegotiate their collective bargaining agreement.

Our demands were developed after a year of surveys and consultations with all of our members. They are grouped into five main themes. They include, but are not limited to, the following:

Job Security

• Fair and equitable hiring practices: simplification of the hiring process and the elimination of discriminatory provisions, particularly the use of student teaching evaluations for hiring decisions.
• The creation of an objective evaluation system to assess the performance of contract academic staff.
• The transition from precarious contractual arrangements to permanent and protected employment relationships through the creation of long-term appointment (LTA) contracts for teaching professors who have accumulated sufficient seniority points.
• The conversion of all LTA contracts into permanent positions.

Quality of Education

• Reduced class sizes.
• Adequate workspaces on campus to meet with students and/or access to the necessary equipment for online classes.
• An increase in funding for the Academic and Professional Development Fund (APDF) and the Association’s autonomous management of this fund.
• Protective measures regarding the adoption and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic systems in our workplace.

Recognition, Inclusion, and Collegiality

• Transparency and accountability on the part of the University.
• Fair representation of ATPUO members, with the right to speak and vote, in all bodies where university policies and guidelines are developed (faculty councils, Board of Governors, Senate).
• The ability for the ATPUO to give prior consent to any changes affecting working conditions.
• Improved collaboration in the grievance resolution process.
• The assurance of impartial handling of complaints regarding discrimination, harassment, and sexual violence.

Fair Pay

• Pay catch-up for long-term appointments (LTA) and a seniority supplement for all others, so that our salaries reflect the reality of the University of Ottawa’s internal market (at least at the entry-level salary for positions leading to tenure).
• Promotion within rank that rewards institutional loyalty.
• The elimination of salary differences based on the type of instruction (language courses taught at the Official Language and Bilingualism Institute [OLBI], clinical or laboratory instruction, etc.).
• Adequate compensation to cover any additional work resulting from large class sizes, requests for accommodations, make-up exams, etc., while streamlining the administrative processes required to obtain payment for each service rendered.
• A robust benefits package.
• Sick and parental leave benefits, with continued employer contributions to our pension fund and the preservation of all non-monetary measures designed to protect our hiring priority and our eligibility for promotion.

One Single Unit

• Consolidate our three bargaining units (main unit, OLBI, Toronto-Windsor) into a single collective bargaining agreement.
• Include visiting professors in our bargaining unit.

No. Other issues are at the heart of the negotiations, including hiring processes, workload, representation on the University’s decision-making bodies, access to resources, and the ability to provide a quality education to students. These issues are essential because they affect the group of faculty members who teach the majority of courses at the University of Ottawa.

Visit our Get Involved! page (Coming soon!) to learn all the ways you can support us!

A strike vote is a ballot organized by a union among its members to seek their authorization to call a strike if negotiations reach an impasse. It is an integral and normal part of the bargaining process.

For a strike mandate to be considered strong, it must have a high turnout and a majority of votes in favour of the strike mandate. Such a mandate gives the Bargaining Committee the authority to legally call a strike if necessary, but does not in itself mean that a strike will be called.

Furthermore, a strike mandate is a powerful tool for applying pressure in the event of an impasse with the employer, encouraging the employer to take the Association’s proposals seriously. It demonstrates the members’ solidarity and their determination to take industrial action. This vote allows the Bargaining Committee to return to the negotiating table and demand improvements in working conditions. If the employer continues to refuse, other actions will need to be considered, including, but not limited to, a strike.

ATPUO members who are on the seniority list of their respective bargaining units or who have taught a course under an ATPUO contract within the last 24 months are eligible to vote in the strike vote.

No. After the strike vote, negotiations continue. A strike mandate strengthens the Association’s position at the bargaining table and, in most cases, helps move the negotiations forward.

The Bargaining Committee will also ask the Ontario Ministry of Labour to appoint a government conciliator.

If both parties are deemed unable to resolve their differences, the conciliator will file a “no board” report with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, thereby noticing that a board of conciliation will not be appointed. 

After the “no board” report is filed, we enter a mandatory 17-day waiting period before the Association is legally authorized to strike or the employer is authorized to lock out the workers. During this period, work continues in accordance with our contracts, but after the 17 days, there’s no more statutory freeze.

However, according to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, the employer may ask the Ministry to order a vote among the members of the bargaining unit to accept or reject its final offer presented to the union on all outstanding issues between the parties. For more information on this process, please refer to the “Vote on the Final Offer” section of the Ministry of Labour’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), available here:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/collective-bargaining#section-4

A lockout, or workplace closure, is a work stoppage initiated by an employer to pressure a union into accepting the employer’s terms during collective bargaining. The goal is to exert financial and operational pressure on the union and its members so that they will accept the terms proposed by the employer for a new collective bargaining agreement.

A strike mandate does not mean that we will go on strike in the coming weeks. A vote in favour of a strike mandate is a bargaining tactic that shows the employer that the Association’s members stand united and want to reach an agreement to renew their collective agreement as soon as possible.

Even with a “yes” vote, there are still important steps to take before the ATPUO is in a position to legally strike. During the last round of negotiations, we secured a strong strike mandate, and that is what allowed us to avoid a strike.

A strong strike mandate results from high member participation and a strong majority of votes in favour of the mandate. When a strong strike mandate is obtained, it sends a clear message to the employer that members are united behind their bargaining committee and determined to secure better working conditions.

Members play a vital role in securing a strong strike mandate. By staying informed, participating in union activities, voting “yes,” and encouraging their colleagues to vote, they show the employer that they support their bargaining committee. Members can also show their support visibly by displaying posters or wearing their union’s buttons, and by offering them to their colleagues who are APUO or CUPE members as well as to their students.

Participation in our mobilization activities also demonstrates our collective strength. Every action helps strengthen the union’s mandate and position at the bargaining table.

To put pressure on the employer, we could take other measures aimed at disrupting or partially halting the university’s operations. Forms of pressure, such as a work-to-rule, were used during a previous round of negotiations and proved successful.
In some situations, only a strike can lead to an agreement with the employer.

The ATPUO has no control over the possibility of a lockout, as the University has the legal authority to initiate one.

The ATPUO has put forward numerous constructive proposals, often at no cost to the employer. If no progress is made in this round of negotiations, the negative consequences—in the medium and long term—for teaching professors as well as for the entire university community will be far more significant than the temporary inconveniences of a labour dispute.

If the ATPUO accepts the employer’s proposals as presented, students will face dramatic consequences for the quality of the education they receive, while their tuition fees will continue to rise. Current and future employees of the University of Ottawa could face various consequences, including having to absorb rising living costs without seeing their salaries rise to compensate or keep pace with inflation. Faculty members will face a deterioration in their working conditions, greater job insecurity, an increase in unpaid overtime, and various threats to their academic freedom.

Several concrete and constructive proposals were presented to the employer. These proposals include job security, measures to promote the quality of education, recognition and inclusion in college processes, fair wages and benefits, as well as the consolidation of all members of our association into a single, large bargaining unit.

The University has stubbornly refused to negotiate on several of these issues during its meetings with the ATPUO, and the proposals submitted to us by the University’s bargaining team involve several significant setbacks. Teaching professors have been committed to negotiating in good faith from the outset, but cannot accept offers that roll back the working conditions we have fought hard to secure over the 40 years of our Association’s existence. If we seek the assistance of the Ontario government’s conciliation services and if a labour dispute eventually arises, the ATPUO will continue to defend your rights and your dignity as workers, regardless of the university’s attitude toward us.

The ATPUO and the University of Ottawa will negotiate to complete the current semester as soon as we reach an agreement. Similar steps have regularly been taken at other Ontario universities following a labour dispute.

University operations will be partially suspended in the event of a labour dispute (a strike or lockout). If such a situation arises, employees and students should expect to see picket lines and information booths on campus or in the surrounding area. Courses taught by teaching professors will be cancelled. Courses taught by APUO faculty members may also be cancelled, depending on the decision of the University of Ottawa and/or other labour organizations.

Members of the university community can support the teaching professors by staying informed or by actively participating in their Association’s actions.

In principle, we will not have access to our offices and/or labs during a strike or lockout. Our university accounts will also be inaccessible for the duration of the labour dispute.

Suggested precautions:

• Set up an automatic email reply and make sure you retain access to any information you might need during a work stoppage.
• Avoid uploading your course materials to the virtual campus in advance. You would lose access to them, and the employer could use them as it sees fit during the labour dispute.
• To ensure the protection of your office or laboratory materials while you are away from campus, consider moving copies of essential work documents, files, printouts, and other portable materials off campus.
• Inform your colleagues at other universities or organizations about the labour situation at the University of Ottawa and provide them with alternative contact information.

Yes. Thanks to the CAUT Defense Fund, the Association is prepared to support its members in the event of a labour dispute.

Thanks to CAUT’s support, our health insurance plan will remain in effect as is for the duration of any labour dispute. Only the employer’s contributions to our pension plan will be suspended.

Discuss with your teaching assistants their roles and your expectations during a labour dispute. In principle, your assistants can continue to work and be paid, but we cannot predict the employer’s decisions.

It is best not to try to reassure your teaching assistants by claiming that a strike or lockout is unlikely, will be short-lived, or will have no consequences, as we cannot offer any guarantees. Instead, refer them to the frequently asked questions posted on the APEUO website for up-to-date information.

Explain to them that our working conditions are their learning conditions. It is because we care deeply about the quality of education that our APEUO is currently negotiating with the university.

They need to understand that the majority of professors teaching at the University of Ottawa are contract faculty, that we are paid significantly less than our tenured colleagues for teaching the same courses, that we do not have benefits tailored to our needs, and that we must renew our teaching contracts every semester, sometimes at the last minute. This situation creates several challenges that students may experience in the classroom. We need to help them better understand the effects of our precarious status and these unstable conditions.

Our Association advocates for greater job security, fair compensation, equitable working conditions, as well as greater recognition and integration within the university community. Explain to your students that these are the minimum conditions that allow us to devote ourselves to what matters most to us: their academic success.

The university has not been cooperative during these negotiations to renew our collective bargaining agreement and is seeking to roll back our working conditions. That is why the students’ support is essential.