On April 23rd, the Professional Affairs Committee of the TFA hosted a panel discussion on collective bargaining and dispute resolution. This session was an opportunity to learn more about collective bargaining and dispute resolution approaches, the history of the TFA’s approach to collective bargaining, and how other unions in the post-secondary sector approach this question.
You can can watch the full panel discussion by CLICKING HERE.
The Panelists
Ian Sakinofsky, Professor in the Department of Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour in the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto. He joined Ryerson (TMU) in 1991 and since 1995 he has been almost continuously a member of the Negotiating Committee of the Toronto Metropolitan Faculty Association (TFA), and Chair of that Committee for five negotiating rounds. He served as Chair of the Ontario Confederation of Faculty Associations (OCUFA) Collective Bargaining Committee from 2007-2010. He was the President of the TFA from 2020 – 2022 and is currently the outgoing TFA Chair, Negotiating.
Mikael Eklund has been a faculty member at Ontario Tech University (aka UOIT) since 2006 and is a Professor in Electrical Computer and Software Engineering. He has served for many of the those years on Academic Council and various other governance committees. His involvement in the Faculty Association began shortly after its founding around 2008 as a voluntarily dues paying member, before it was recognized as a Union. Since then he has been a Faculty Representative for Engineering and Applied Science, Vice President and is currently the President of the UOITFA. Mike has also been Chief Negotiator for three rounds of bargaining since 2015, including most recently the 2021-2022 which resulted in a two week strike to reach a tentative agreement. He has also been an active participant in OCUFA, CAUT and the CAUT Defence Fund and their committees. He is currently a member of the OCUFA Executive Committee as one of the three Members at Large, and a Director of the Defence Fund.
Dr. Stephanie Ross is Associate Professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University. Her teaching and research focus on the politics and dynamics of labour movements, especially how unions deal with key questions of internal democracy, bargaining priorities, political vision and strategy, and collective identity. She also has an interest in union innovation in organizing, particularly for workers in difficult-to-organize industries. She is currently the principal investigator on a five-year SSHRC research project called Union Politics in the 21st Century, which seeks to understand the most effective strategies unions are using to influence public policy and improve workers’ lives. With Larry Savage she has co-edited three books, Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada, Public Sector Unions in the Age of Austerity, and Labour Under Attack: Anti-Unionism in Canada and co-authored two books, Building a Better World: An Introduction to the Labour Movement in Canada (4th ed) and most recently Shifting Gears: Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics (UBC Press, 2023). She is a frequent speaker at union events and commentator in the media about unions, labour relations, and collective action, particularly in the public sector.
Kimiko Inouye is the Director of Collective Bargaining Services at OCUFA. In this role, she provides tactical and strategic leadership to member associations throughout the life cycle of bargaining. Previously, she served in several research roles, most recently as the Research Officer in Collective Bargaining Services at the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, and prior to that, at OCUFA and the Service International Employees Union