Message from QUFA President – March 14, 2025

Dear Members,

At the end of the first week of the PSAC 901 strike, I want to update you on a number of issues that have arisen. First, thank you to all members who were able to support the strike, whether you walked the lines with our PSAC colleagues, or organized your work differently as an expression of solidarity. I appreciate your efforts. QUFA’s statement of solidarity with PSAC can be found here: https://qufa.ca/campus-job-action-news/.

Emotions are clearly running high on the picket lines as striking workers have much at stake. Unfortunately, we have heard some concerning reports about interactions between our members and picketers, and others about the content of strike signage. Notwithstanding the inherent strain associated with any job action, QUFA does not support ad hominem attacks or threatening behaviour. I encourage all members of the Queen’s community to engage respectfully with each other for the duration of labour action. Members who witness threatening or harassing conduct on campus may choose to follow the employer’s procedure for reporting these instances. You also have the right to file a harassment complaint if you are subject to harassing or threatening conduct. I hope we can avoid the need for either of these mechanisms if the strike continues.

For those of you who choose to withdraw your labour, we understand that this process is being handled inconsistently across campus. FAS, in particular, is circulating a form that forces you to declare that you are on unpaid leave for the duration of the strike, rather than allowing you to accept a one-day pay cut for each day you withdraw your labour. QUFA does not agree with this interpretation of your rights under Article 12.3.c and is working with Faculty Relations to have that form amended. We will keep you posted and advise you not to sign anything that you do not fully understand and/or agree to.

Should the strike continue into next week, we are convening a Heads’ Caucus (including Library Heads) on Monday at 10am to discuss emergent issues. If you are a Head, you would have received that invitation with the zoom link already.

As we approach the end of term, we agreed that QSSETs should proceed to be administered and collected, where possible. We are now discussing how these reports will be handled given that members may receive negative assessments as a result of PSAC’s labour action. We will continue to update the membership as these discussions unfold.

In other news, Past President Kayll Lake had to step away from his QUFA duties and will be sorely missed. We are grateful to Past President Diane Beauchemin for agreeing to step in and cover Kayll’s many duties through to the end of this academic year.

As always, keep us posted on developments in your part of the campus and do not hesitate to reach out for advice and support: qufa@queensu.ca.

In Solidarity,

Mary (Cella) Olmstead, QUFA President

Message from QUFA President – March 7, 2025

Dear QUFA Members,

We held a Town Hall this morning (March 7) to answer questions regarding USW and PSAC job action which may begin on Monday (March 10). It was a good opportunity to remind our members that they have the right to refuse to perform the work of striking or locked out workers from another union. We appreciate that it can be difficult to identify which tasks belong with the work of another union; our position is that if a task was not your responsibility before job action was initiated, it should not become your work afterwards. If there is any dispute with your supervisor over whether you can or cannot be assigned particular tasks, you are strongly encouraged to reach out to QUFA immediately. In general, if you’re unsure about how to handle a situation, contact qufa@queensu.ca.

You may also refuse to do some or all of your own duties in deference to not crossing a picket line, recognizing that you will be docked pay per Article 12.3.c of the Collective Agreement or if you are a Term Adjunct, per 12.3.d.

Again, we emphasize that QUFA supports the efforts of USW and PSAC to secure safe working conditions and fair compensation for their labour. We encourage our members to stand in solidarity with our staff and student colleagues by walking the picket lines with them. You could also encourage students and other Queen’s community members to educate themselves on staff and student employee rights to strike as a means to ensure better working conditions in the future. You can find bargaining updates and information on solidarity actions posted on the Unity Council website..

As labour negotiations and job action unfold, we remind all members to turn to QUFA-authored materials for interpretations of rights and obligations, and for guidelines on how to respond to administrative directives. Materials not directly authored by QUFA, even if we are named in them, are not reliable sources of information about your rights and obligations (including those outlined in the Collective Agreement); these should not be posted or forwarded. We have created a web page where we will post official QUFA communications (https://qufa.ca/campus-job-action-news/), please check here if you are in doubt about where a communication originated.

For those who have heard of an anonymous reporting mechanism for perceived violation of PSAC strike action, please rest assured that another union has no right to investigate or report on the activities of QUFA members. Should you receive any communication that suggests you are the subject of a PSAC investigation, do not respond and forward the communication directly to qufaed@queensu.ca. Again, we encourage our members to support striking workers in as many ways as possible, primarily by refusing to do the work of a Bargaining Unit engaged in a legal strike.

In Solidarity,

Mary (Cella) Olmstead, QUFA President

Message from QUFA President – March 4, 2025

Dear QUFA Members,

As most of you know, our staff colleagues in USW 2010 and PASC 901 (Unit 1) will be in a legal strike position and ready to picket on March 10th. USW 2010 represents support staff, academic assistants, and residence dons; PSAC901 Unit 1 represents graduate students who are teaching assistants, teaching fellows, or research assistants. Bargaining updates and information on solidarity actions are posted on the Unity Council website.

I encourage you to read the article ‘Know your CA: Strikes and Lockouts’ by Leslie Jermyn and Karen Sisson in our January edition of Voices. This will help you to navigate the difficult situation of job action by another unionized group. In brief, according to Article 12.2 of the QUFA-Queen’s collective agreement, QUFA members have the right to decline to perform the work of striking or locked out workers from another union. This includes work that was contracted to PSAC members in their capacity as TAs, such as marking exams or running tutorials. In general, if a task was not your responsibility before job action was initiated, it should not become your work afterwards. If you typically supervise the work of an employee who is on strike, you may be assigned extra work that is ‘incidental, infrequent and minimal’ but it should not threaten the integrity of the bargaining unit engaged in job action.

In addition, Article 12.3 provides protection for QUFA members who decline to cross the picket lines of another union in order to carry out their own work. It is important that you inform your unit head ‘as early as reasonably possible’ if you have made alternative arrangements for your scheduled duties or if you will be unavailable to carry out these duties. You may be required to forfeit pay for the day on which you do not undertake your duties but cannot be disciplined for this action.

Without the critical support of our staff and student colleagues, services and operations at Queen’s will rapidly decline. You have the right to refuse to work in an environment that is unhealthy or unsafe, but you must document and report the specific conditions that lead to this decision. If you are unable to work due to workplace health or safety concerns, send the details to your faculty representative and copy QUFA@queensu.ca:

• Arts & Science: Lorena Jessop – jessopL@queensu.ca
• Engineering & Applied Science: Ying Zhang – ying.zhang@queensu.ca
• Library: Nathalie Soini – soinin@queensu.ca
• Education: Zabe MacEachren – maceache@queensu.ca
• Health Sciences: Lisa Butler – lisa.butler@queensu.ca
• Isabel Bader Centre: Dan Tremblay – tremblad@queensu.ca

Recognizing that job action will impact student life, PSAC prepared a letter that explains their position and provides suggestions for supporting their bargaining efforts. Feel free to share this with your own students: Picket line protocols for students.

As a reminder, QUFA is hosting a Town Hall on Friday March 7th @ 10:30-11:30 am to answer questions regarding USW and PSAC job action, and to discuss how we can support the efforts of both units to negotiate a fair agreement.RSVP to Elizabeth Polnicky at ep43@queensu.ca for the Zoom link.

Finally, please consider reaching out to USW and PSAC members to discuss their concerns and to ask how you can support their bargaining mandate. If picket lines appear on campus, think about joining these, even for a short time. Keep in mind that staff and graduate student working conditions have a direct impact on our own working conditions; they deserve our respect and support as they fight for improvements that will benefit the entire Queen’s community.

Sincerely,

Mary (Cella) Olmstead, QUFA President