For UBC updates to faculty, staff and students regarding the Coronavirus outbreak visit the UBC Coronavirus page.

FA Office Update: Our office is not accepting Walk-In’s at this time. Please email us if you would like to set up an appointment with one of our Membership Services Officers.  

A Special Message from the Executive Committee on supports for those impacted by violence in Israel and Gaza

The UBC Faculty Association Executive Committee is deeply saddened by the unimaginable suffering and innocent human loss in Israel and Gaza. The Executive would like to acknowledge that many of our members have family, kin and colleagues directly impacted by the ongoing conflict and violence. Many are worried for their loved ones or in deep distress for all those who are suffering, making it difficult to fulfill faculty duties. These members may need information and assistance on navigating work at this difficult time.

Please reach out to the Faculty Association if you need information on supports available to you through the Employee and Family Assistance Program or about personal leaves and other supports available to all faculty in distress.

We hope for peace and healing for all our relations in the days to come.

Dory Nason,
On behalf of the Executive Committee

For those members needing assistance, please email the Faculty Association at [email protected].

IRP Payment Errors Resolved

The Faculty Association’s Income Replacement Program (IRP) provides partial salary coverage for faculty who are unable to return to the workplace at full time after illness or injury following a six month qualifying period. It is a critical part of the benefits plan provided to our members and the Association strives to ensure that it functions properly and efficiently. In October 2022, Association members advised us that they had not received their September payment from the IRP provider, Sun Life. Our professional staff alerted the University’s Benefits Manager  who immediately contacted Sun Life to address the concern.

Bargaining Updates

Bargaining Stalled

The last meeting between the University’s negotiating team and the Faculty Association’s team was Thursday, February 2nd. As a result of that meeting, negotiations have now stalled.

Objection Sustained

There might well be no aspect of collegial governance that matters more to faculty members than our ability to participate as experts in the appointing, reappointing, tenuring, and promoting (henceforth, ARPT processes) of our colleagues.  The Faculty Association has tendered four proposals that are directly concerned with ARPT processes.

One Way or Another

We have told UBC that we would give them until Dec 1st to see if we could achieve a tentative settlement at the table.  If that didn’t happen, we said we would move toward Interest Arbitration.  We are now at that moment.

Here’s how Interest Arbitration works.

Our General Wage Proposal

This post focuses on the top bargaining issue for most of us: the Faculty Association’s proposal for a general wage increase in response to current inflation trends.

Collective Agreement

Collective Agreement – Compendium

The new collective agreement (CA) came into effect earlier this year and has been posted to our site. In June of this year, we updated the membership on the finalization of the agreement and posted a compendium explaining the changes that were agreed to at the bargaining table. The compendium is available at this link

Issues in Depth

Special Notice from Campus and Community Planning: Campus Vision 2050

Good morning,

As part of the process to amend the Land Use Plan (LUP) for the Vancouver campus, a legislatively required public hearing was held November 7, 2023. The purpose of the public hearing was to give everyone with an interest in the LUP an opportunity to share comments. It was the final phase in an 18+ month Campus Vision 2050 public engagement process that included opportunities for UBC community members and campus residents to give input, share ideas and raise concerns through workshops, a design charrette, open houses, meetings, and surveys, resulting in over 13,000 engagement touchpoints.

A Special Message from the Executive Committee on supports for those impacted by violence in Israel and Gaza

The UBC Faculty Association Executive Committee is deeply saddened by the unimaginable suffering and innocent human loss in Israel and Gaza. The Executive would like to acknowledge that many of our members have family, kin and colleagues directly impacted by the ongoing conflict and violence. Many are worried for their loved ones or in deep distress for all those who are suffering, making it difficult to fulfill faculty duties. These members may need information and assistance on navigating work at this difficult time.

Please reach out to the Faculty Association if you need information on supports available to you through the Employee and Family Assistance Program or about personal leaves and other supports available to all faculty in distress.

We hope for peace and healing for all our relations in the days to come.

Dory Nason,
On behalf of the Executive Committee

For those members needing assistance, please email the Faculty Association at [email protected].

2022 Annual Report

Our 2021 Annual Report is available for view with our Annual General Meeting coming up Wednesday, June 28th.

PWIAS Academic Freedom & Collegial Governance – Report and Responses

The Report of the Ad Hoc Investigatory Committee: Academic Freedom & Collegial Governance at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia was released by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) in October 2021. Professor Santa Ono, President and Vice-Chancellor, UBC, responded to the release of the Report with a letter to David Robinson, Executive Director, CAUT. The UBC Faculty Association has written to the University on the issue. The Report and correspondence are available through the links below:

  1. Report of the Ad Hoc Investigatory Committee: Academic Freedom & Collegial Governance at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia
  2. Letter from Professor Ono to David Robinson
  3. Letter from the UBC Faculty Association to Nancy McKenzie, Chair, UBC Board of Governors; Professor Santa Ono;  Professor Moura Quayle, Chair, PWIAS Board of Trustees, Professor Vanessa Andreaottie, Interim Director, PWIAS