OCAD Faculty Association

09/22/2026

Dear Graeme:
What Happens �Now That the �MoA is Expired?

By Graeme Reniers, OCADFA Executive Director You may have noticed our Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) expired on June 30, 2026, and we do not yet have another one in place. We have been in active bargaining since last winter, but it will take some time before we arrive at a new agreement.

09/18/2026

We've been at the table since February 2026, across seven full days of bargaining. We've made progress on non-monetary issues: Sessional appointment processes, including Right of Reappointment; course load definitions; and improved layoff, recall, and severance provisions for Teaching Stream faculty. We tabled our monetary proposals this summer, with one still to finalize, and expect to schedule further meetings in the coming weeks.

Progress has been real, but slow. The employer has been raising financial alarm bells but we remind them that in the last decade, OCAD U's revenue growth has outpaced expenses by 11%. Budgets reflect priorities, and for too long, OCAD U's priorities haven't reflected its faculty and staff.

Read the full article here:�
www.tinyurl.com/OCADFA-AT

09/17/2026

When OCAD became a university, 71% of our faculty had permanent employment. Today that number is 45%. More than half of our faculty are now precariously employed. Permanent Studio Technician positions have declined by 22% since the pandemic. Meanwhile, student enrolment has grown by 18% and class sizes have increased by roughly 50%.

So I think we need to ask a harder question: �What does it actually take to sustain an art and design university?

How large can classes become before critique becomes something else? How much studio time can we remove before studio based education disappears? How long can we rely on people who have taught here for years without offering meaningful job security? How much more work can be absorbed by fewer people?

Read the full article here:
www.tinyurl.com/OCADFA2026

09/16/2026

The first issue of our newsletter is here for the 2026-27 school year!

From updates on bargaining, to tips from Sessionals and TAs to their peers, to a retrospective on OCAD through the decades from Prof. Walker (who started here in 1979!)...

Read and/or download:
www.tinyurl.com/DispatchSept26

09/10/2026

Welcome back OCADFA members!

We hope everyone had a great summer, and we hope to see on the 28th for a membership meeting from 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. followed by a time to catch up and socialise!

Our Memorandum of Agreement expired on June 30, 2026, and we’ve been in the negotiations since last winter for a renewed collective agreement.

A bargaining update will be provided by Negotiations Chair Annie Tung, followed by an open discussion on bargaining priorities and key issues impacting the membership.

www.ocadfa.ca

09/09/2026

Welcome back everyone!

www.ocadfa.ca

08/04/2026

"AUFA is taking the unprecedented step of publishing details of a personal grievance, and calling on all members and supporters for their help – AU is forcing a member to choose between her job and her child's legs.

Dr. Sabine Graf’s son was born in 2020. She is a Professor of Computing and Information Systems at Athabasca University, and one of the top-cited scholars in the country. Her son was born with a fibular hemimelia, a congenital defect affecting the legs. His particular form of fibular hemimelia is highly complex and difficult to treat. Sabine learned that the only treatment available to her son in Canada was to amputate both of his legs.

However, a more advanced treatment is available in other medical systems. In Austria, he could receive regular pediatric surgeries as he grows, which would save his legs and allow him to run, jump, and do sports like every other child with his legs. Dr. Graf and her spouse are Austrian citizens. Since Athabasca University employs its faculty remotely, and universities commonly have faculty work overseas, AU is particularly well-equipped to help Sabine.
..What happened instead is Human Resources refused to deal with the matter."

https://aufa.ca/blog/2026/7/23/athabasca-university-forces-professor-to-choose-between-her-job-her-family-or-her-childs-legs

07/28/2026

—— REMINDER ——

Annual Reports are due on August 1, 2026 for all non-Sessional faculty members.

Read our article at:�www.tinyurl.com/AnnRep2026

07/16/2026

Members asked to list activities between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026. We understand all three faculties now have closely aligned, if not identical, forms.

One question we’ve heard from several members, from all faculties, is what should you put under Graduate Supervision if you did not supervise any graduate students over the year?

Read our article at:
www.tinyurl.com/AnnRep2026

07/09/2026

Are you a Sessional Instructor at OCADU? Check out this pdf to learn more about your rights in that role and how we as a your union can help you.

PDF: https://lnkd.in/gwRrQA4i