THE VARSITY The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
January 22, 2024
Vol. CXLIV, No. XV
U of T librarians’ 45-year battle for updated labour policies has come to an end The UTFA reached a settlement with s U of T’ governing council in December
Tom Law Labour Correspondent
On December 18, 2023, U of T’s librarians received what seems like an early Christmas present — a negotiated settlement that saw a retroactive pay rise, increased job security, and improvements in working conditions. The settlement marks the culmination of six years’ worth of negotiations between the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) and the university’s Governing Council and a broader, decades-long fight to improve librarians’ contractual rights. The settlement also marks the first time that U of T has updated its Policies for Librarians (PFL) since the policies’ establishment in 1978. It would seem that these updates are long overdue. “Academic libraries are dynamic and constantly evolving in response to changes
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in technology, education, research practices, changing societal perspectives and user needs,” wrote Harriet Sonne de Torrens, chair of the UTFA Librarians Committee, to The Varsity. The long fight The UTFA Librarians Committee has been looking into how their employment terms compare to librarians at other Canadian universities since 2006, as part of their quest to improve their working terms, Sonne de Torrens wrote. By 2021, U of T librarians secured some key victories under the leadership of UTFA Lead Negotiator Kathleen Scheaffer. These victories included updating three documents: Principles for Consultation, which Sonne de Torrens noted made the process of amending annual performance assessments more “collegial;” an updated vacation policy; and an agreement on
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professional development days that defined, for the first time, what constitutes librarians’ “research days” — activities that can include self-directed research, workshops, and conferences. At the same time, many of the UTFA’s negotiations with U of T were still ongoing, and not just over the PFL. University librarians’ employment terms are enshrined in a bundle of disparate agreements. Part of this is the result of how vast U of T’s library system is, covering 40 libraries across three campuses and hundreds of student programs. But this lack of centralized labour terms also paints a scattergun picture of U of T’s approach to collective negotiations with the UTFA. Continued on page 5.
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SCSU appoints new vice-president equity
General election nomination period begins, Winter General Meeting date confirmed James Bullanoff UTSC Bureau Chief
On January 17, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) held its monthly Board of Directors (BOD) meeting. To fill the vacancy on the union’s executive team, directors elected Vyshnavi Kanagarajamuthaly as its new vice president (VP) equity in a contested election. The BOD also scheduled the union’s Winter General Meeting for March 25. New VP Equity During an in-camera portion of the meeting that wasn’t available to the press, the SCSU executive team presented two candidates for VP equity to the board. Later, the board
voted in Kanagarajamuthaly as the new VP. The union’s former VP Equity Denise Nmashie stepped down from her role in December to better pursue her academic goals. “I definitely love the work that SCSU has been doing thus far,” said Kanagarajamuthaly in an interview with The Varsity, noting her excitement to work with the rest of the executive committee for the next four months. Kanagarajamuthaly — a fourth-year student studying international development studies and public policy — previously worked as president of the International Development Studies Students’ Association (IDSSA) at UTSC but stepped down to fulfill her new role. She also previously served as a part-time director for the union.
According to David, during an interview the SCSU conducted with Kanagarajamuthaly, she said that she’s interested in working alongside the Palestinian Cultural Club, as well as other organizations serving racialized or otherwise marginalized students, to ensure that they are given a platform. She also hopes to work on providing accommodations for international students from countries that have suffered from war. “It is really imperative that we have a VP equity that’s making the different issues affecting different populations across the UTSC community heard, seen, and represented properly,” she told The Varsity. The SCSU hoped to appoint a new VP equity in time to plan Black History Month programming, and the union has
already begun planning different events. Kanagarajamuthaly told The Varsity that she views Black History Month as “of the utmost importance,” particularly given the large Black and African diasporic community at UTSC. “I’m really excited about the new VP equity’s appointment,” said David. “I’ve seen the increase in student engagement as well as the work that she’s been putting in within the IDSSA, as well as for equity issues on campus.” Kanagarajamuthaly will serve as VP equity until April 2024, when a new set of executives — to be elected during the union’s spring general elections — will take office. Continued on page 2.