Missed ATPUO’s Trivia Night but still want to test your knowledge of Teaching Professors and their ongoing negotiations? Now’s your chance! Take the quiz below!
Or review the questions and answers here.
Question 1 – What is a teaching professor?
Answer: An expert or a professional who teaches on a contract basis.
We are more than 2,800 teaching professors at the University of Ottawa, bringing expertise from fields such as law, engineering, history, sociology, mathematics, music, writing, healthcare, and many others. We teach more than half of all undergraduate courses at the university, including many large first- and second-year lecture courses.
You may know us as “part-time professors,” the title we used until recently. We changed our name to better reflect the reality of our members and the important role we play in the University community.
Question 2 – How different are your teaching professors (ATPUO) from APUO professors ?
Answer: All of the above…
- ATPUO members are unsure if they will be teaching next semester.
- ATPUO members’ research is not remunerated and they have little to no access to research grants.
- ATPUO members work on a contract basis.
We are hired on a per-course basis and, except for a few members with long-term contracts, must reapply every term for the same or similar courses.
Meanwhile, course sections are being cut and classes overcrowded, leaving some teaching professors without work when their usual courses are cancelled, sometimes with little notice.
Question 3 – What is the gross salary of a teaching professor who teaches a full-time course load (7 courses)?
Answer: $69,692
The base rate for a three-credit course is $9,956. Even teaching four courses a year earns less than $40,000.
Meanwhile, teaching assistants earn $6,532.50 for a typical 130-hour contract—nearly two thirds of our pay, despite teaching professors designing courses, delivering lectures, grading and training their TAs.
Our salaries also remain stagnant throughout our careers, with no promotions or career advancement.
By comparison, APUO professors with positions dedicated entirely to teaching can earn $99,377 or more for six courses, with opportunities for salary increases, promotions and lucrative administrative positions. The gap speaks for itself: we do comparable teaching work, but without comparable pay, job security or career prospects.
Question 4 – When do teaching professors find out which courses they will be teaching?
Answer: Between June and two weeks after the semester begins.
Contract assignment dates vary by department, and many teaching professors don’t know what they’ll be teaching until late in the summer. This makes it difficult to prepare lesson plans, order course materials, and plan ahead, and leave students uncertain about who will be teaching their courses.
That’s why we ask for a fixed deadline for assigning teaching contracts in every round of negotiations. It costs the University nothing but gives everyone more time to prepare for the academic year.
Question 5 – Which of the following is not covered by teaching professors’ insurance benefits?
Answer: Eye and dental.
That’s not entirely true. Professors with long-term appointment contracts have access to dental coverage for at least some basic care. Regular members, however, do not.
We have to pay for our eye exams and vision aids entirely out of pocket.
Our insurance does cover various medical treatments and services, but only for a limited number of sessions.
Question 6 – How many seats do teaching professors have on the Board of Governors?
Answer: None.
The Board of Governors oversees the University of Ottawa’s finances, administration, senior appointments, and salaries.
Yet, despite the university’s core mission of teaching and research, academic voices are underrepresented on the Board. It includes only four tenured faculty members, alongside student and staff representatives. Meanwhile, most external members come from management, public enterprises, and the private sector, particularly the business world.
Who gets to decide how university resources are spent? We believe those who teach and conduct research must have a stronger voice in decisions that directly affect the quality of education and the university’s mission.
Question 7 – Why are your teaching professors bargaining for the renewal of the collective agreement?
Answer: Because a collective agreement must be updated regularly so that working conditions improve and adjust to new realities.
Our collective agreement has been expired since August 2025. As the cost of living rises and teaching responsibilities evolve, our working conditions must keep pace. Despite months of negotiations, we remain far from an agreement on key issues.
A strike is never our first choice, and we know it would disrupt students’ studies. However, deteriorating teaching conditions also threaten the quality of education. We have proposed several constructive, no-cost solutions, but without meaningful progress, a labour dispute may become the only way to secure fair working and learning conditions.
The consequences of inaction will be far more damaging in the long run than the temporary disruption of a strike.
Question 8 – True or false: ATPUO’s demands are based solely on monetary proposals.
Answer: False.
Most of the issues at the heart of the negotiations are related to working conditions that do not concern financial matters and could be easily met by good-faith negotiations. They involve proposals related to hiring processes, workload, representation on the university’s decision-making bodies, access to resources, such as an office where we can meet with you!
All our demands stem from a single goal: to return the university’s focus to its main objective: the quality of education.
Question 9 – How are the University’s finances looking for the 2025–2026 fiscal year?
Answer: They recorded a surplus of $56.2 million for the previous year.
The university boasts that it has “generally regained financial health,” citing a 3.4% revenue increase “thanks to a solid recovery plan and the sustained efforts of our community.”
But what do these “sustained efforts” actually mean? The central administration is pressuring faculties to cut operating budgets, encouraging them to compete to find savings under the familiar motto: “do more with less.”
The consequences are already being felt: fewer resources, fewer teaching assistants, cuts to course sections, and increasingly overcrowded classrooms. All in the name of savings, but at what cost to teaching professors and the quality of education?
Question 10 – How much revenue does the University generate from your tuition fees?
Answer: $684,059,000
$1,621,237,000—that’s the university’s total revenue. As you can see, you are the main source of revenue; more than a third comes out of your own pockets!
International students, whose numbers have declined slightly in recent years due to new requirements for obtaining student visas, still contribute nearly $280 million. That’s a huge share, considering they make up only 15% of the student body.
Question 11 – What share of the University’s total expenses goes toward teaching professors’ salaries (even though they teach more than half of all courses, as a reminder)?
Answer: 2%.
The salary adjustment teaching professors are seeking would not automatically lead to higher tuition fees. After years of below-inflation pay, many of us struggle to make ends meet and take on additional jobs, leaving less time for course preparation, grading and student support.
Meanwhile, the university reports a surplus of over $56.2 million and record-high enrollment, yet continues to expand senior administration while cutting courses and refusing to address our salaries.
It’s time for fair pay for equal work. Students deserve quality education, and teaching professors deserve working conditions that make it possible.
Question 12 – Why is the ATPUO’s collective bargaining important to students?
Answer: ATPUO’s working conditions are students’ learning conditions.
The outcome of these negotiations will directly affect your learning conditions in most of your courses. If teaching professors secure the improvements they are seeking, it could significantly enhance your university experience. The working conditions we are fighting for are simply those that allow us to provide our students with a high-quality education.
Question 13 – How many picketers would it take to block the main campus in case of a strike ?
Answer: The more, the merrier!
In September, our members voted at 88.2% in favour of strike action. Since then, we’ve been mobilizing and preparing for every possibility. While we hope to avoid a strike, preparing for one is the best way to do so.
Next week, members will begin training their picket captains to help ensure safe, organized and well-equipped picket lines.
If a strike becomes necessary, students and community members are welcome to join us! Picket lines are an opportunity to show solidarity, share experiences and stand together for fair working conditions and quality education.
Question 14 – What can you do to support your teaching professors during collective bargaining?
Answer: All of the above…
- Take part in the ongoing letter-writing campaign. Click here to find out more.
- Follow ATPUO on social media and interact with their posts.
- Wear an ATPUO button.
- Talk to your friends about teaching professors’ working conditions.