Our “STRONGER THAN EVER” Platform

Collective Bargaining: Enhanced Member Participation

  • Building on our current outreach, members will be asked to ratify a “Project” approved by our Advisory Council, which will form the basis of negotiations of our next Collective Agreement

Professional Development and Research: Advancement and Governance

  • Raise the maximum per project from $6000 to $7500

  • Facilitate research collaboration opportunities

  • Promote grant recipients’ work for at least one year

  • Overcome governance issues associated with the current grant application and adjudication process

  • Increase members’ participation in the grant adjudication process

  • Ensure that Professional Development and Research funding is equally available to all members in all faculties

  • Promote to ALL members the availability of Professional Development funds and opportunities

  • Demand the assignment of seniority points to members awarded a University-administered research grant (e.g., NSERC, SSHRC or CIHR)

  • Establish a reserve fund specifically for CUPFA members at the Open Access Fund (at the moment only graduate students have priority reimbursements)

  • Create a workshop and publish a guidebook on “How to”  for conferences: 

    • How to find a suitable conference for one’s work

    • How to apply to a conference

    • How to avoid "predatory" conferences

  • Create a workshop and publish a guidebook on “How to”  for publications in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes (How does one determine  the suitability,  credentials, and Impact Factor (IF) of a journal?)

  • Increase visibility of research output. Establish a clear and effective pathway for inclusion into Concordia’s Spectrum; personal page at Concordia that would include links to the final versions of your text/work; and inclusion into Scopus and Orchid platforms. 

  • Establish close collaborative ties with the newly established Concordia University Press in order to publish and market fiction and non-fiction books/ publications by  CUPFA authors.

Job Security for Members with Fewer than 24 Credits

  • Increase the maximum teaching load to 9 credits for members with fewer than 24 credits

More Job Security for All

  • Pilot project to repatriate more course loads from LTAs.

  • Seniority protection for members losing courses to LTAs who are at risk of failing off the seniority list.

Implementation of New and Existing Provisions of Our Collective Agreement

  • Hold annual joint CUPFA-University Chair-orientations to promote and demystify the implementation of Extra Duties

  • Monitor and hold accountable Department Chairs with respect to equitable application of our new TA clause based on “pedagogical need of courses”, not status of professor

Representation on Accreditation Committees

  • Demand representation on the Accreditation Committee in JMSB

  • Demand representation on the Accreditation Committee in the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science

Voice on the Council of Graduate School Studies

  • With greater number of CUPFA members teaching graduate level courses, it is time to be accorded representation on the Council of the School of Graduate Studies

Compensate Members for Duties Falling Outside Typical Teaching Duties

  • Demand compensation of $150 for each deferred examination, supplemental examination, grade review of a challenged examination or assignment, or any additional course work directly related to the assignment of the final grade for the course.

Build on Our Already Strong National Presence

  • Although CUPFA already has a strong national CAUT presence (Nick Papatheodorakos currently sits on a national committee and both Robert Soroka and Patrice Blais have presented at national CAUT conferences this academic year), we will seek to grow this presence with the contribution to additional national committees and to national policy statements.

Increase Health Care Coverage Accessibility

  • Members who qualify for the Comprehensive Health Plan (40 credits) should have access to 2 semesters of disability insurance (instead of requiring to reach 75 credits of seniority to qualify

Immediate Support for Managing Student Mental and Physical Health Issues

  • Advocate the creation of a “hotline” to guide professors’ handling of students’ acute medical and mental health issues

Ensure Strike Fund is “Green”

  • We will continue to monitor and revise to ensure our fund grows in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Upgrade our Communication Platform

  • Create a Communications Committee, leveraging communications expertise recruited from our talented membership ranks

  • Bring our CUPFA website to the next level