Bruce Feldthusen, Dean of the Faculty of Common Law, University of Ottawa
(c) uOttawa

Two members of CUPE 2626, Miriam Martin and Daniel Tucker-Simmons, sent a reply to the letter sent by Dean Bruce Feldthusen to the students in Common Law.

In his March 5th letter, Dean Feldthusen admitted the Faculty of Common Law did not follow the collective agreement, especially Article 31 on workload and overtime. He also blamed CUPE 2626 for the fact that the Faculty did not enforce the collective agreement before now.

CUPE 2626 pointed out many times to the Faculty and the University that the collective agreement was negotiated between the members of CUPE 2626 and the University (including its faculties). Both sides agreed on the employment framework for TAs, RAs, Proctors and Markers. And it is up to the University to enforce its part of the deal.

In their reply, Martin and Tucker-Simmons were quick to point out the following:

“[y]our announcement attempts to blame the Union’s enforcement of article 31 for a  threatened reduction inavailable research assistantship hours this summer. Article 31, however, does nothing to limit the total number of hours available. If the University or Faculty has decided to reduce the number of hours available, that is an unfortunate decision for which you, the employer, are solely responsible.”

You can find the members’ letter below.

CUPE 2626 will keep moving forward on this matter to make sure that the rights of members are respected.

For more information on this issue, feel free to contact us.

[gview file=”http://2626.wplocals.cupe.ca/files/2013/03/Open-Letter-to-Dean-Feldthusen.pdf”]