The following principles and values guide and inform the University’s preparation of its proposals and our response to the Faculty Association’s proposals in this round of negotiations.
Principles and values:
- Encourage, inspire and value the highest standards for the University – the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty is critical to the University’s ability to meet its vision of excellence;
- Honour and foster the essential mandate of the faculty: student learning, excellence in teaching, contribution to knowledge through scholarly activity and community engagement;
- Protect UBC’s bicameral governance system, as provided for in the University Act;
- Recognize that the University is a complex, diverse and decentralized organization, and that departments and faculties have developed different approaches and different practices which reflect their diverse disciplines and histories;
- Adopt a fair and rational approach in the context of a requirement to honour contractual commitments;
- Strive for simplicity, transparency and clarity in the wording of our agreements, and streamline processes that are put in place;
- Ensure flexible and discretionary means to address faculty retention issues;
- Recognize that there are different ways of rewarding merit – compensation is only one;
- Strike a balance between collegiality and shared governance with UBC’s responsibilities as a university and the Faculty Association’s responsibilities as a union;
- Understand that collective bargaining decisions are influenced by the University’s need to exercise fiscal responsibility and respect government constraints;
- Bear in mind that commitments made today have implications for the future.
- Conduct our negotiations at the table; not through the media;
- Respect the roles of those we bargain with and the concerns of those they bargain for – our faculty members.