A week after the UPEI Board of Governors released a redacted copy of the Rubin Thomlinson report into our toxic working environment, we are still left with more questions than answers. To be clear, responsibility for answering most of these questions rests squarely with the Board and UPEI Administration. However, there are some questions that we believe we can address now, including:

• What is the UPEI Faculty Association’s role in this investigation?
• What steps has the UPEI Faculty Association taken to address our toxic workplace?
• How does the UPEI Faculty Association intend to address allegations raised in the report against its own members?

UPEIFA Role in Investigation

Since the UPEI Board of Governors announced an investigation into allegations against the former UPEI president and a review of the culture of fear and silence that has taken hold on our campus, the UPEI Faculty Association has played an active role in this investigation. This includes:

• Requesting a timeline extension so more members of the community could participate in the review
• Encouraging Rubin Thomlinson to interview everyone who requested an interview rather than just a sample
• Participating in individual and focus group interviews for the investigation
• Pressing the UPEI Board of Governors to provide the Island community with updates on the investigation
• In the absence of these updates, providing updates on the investigation/review to the campus community
• Encouraging Rubin Thomlinson to recommend that the full report be shared with the community rather than the Board’s preference for a “high-level summary.”. 

UPEIFA Engagements on Accountability, Transparency, and Workplace Toxicity

Over the last decade, many concerns have been raised about the UPEI Board of Governors’ lack of accountability, transparency, and failure to create a supportive environment for UPEI students, faculty, and staff. The following are just a few examples of the UPEI Faculty Association’s efforts to address these issues:

• In 2013, the UPEI Faculty Association asked the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) – a national organization representing Canadian post-secondary educators across the country – to conduct an investigation into the toxic working environment in the UPEI Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC). The results of that investigation are available here.
• Despite a multi-year collaboration between the Board and UPEI campus unions on an environmental scan to determine the effectiveness of interventions recommended in the AVC investigation report, the Board refused to release the final report and only under pressure agreed to provide a summary to campus workers. We are not aware of any action being taken as a result of that environmental scan.
• Negotiating language in our collective agreement that requires the Board to make its meeting minutes public. Despite the existence of this language, the Board has repeatedly failed to meet this obligation. 
• In response to concerns about workplace toxicity in a number of areas of our University, pressing a reluctant employer to conduct workplace assessments / environmental scans to address these issues. In several cases, these processes led to the departure of managers/supervisors who were found to have failed to create a healthy and safe working environment.
• Against objections from UPEI Administration, creating a mechanism for members of the campus community to make anonymous complaints of health and safety issues.
• Making several attempts, over the course of more than a decade, to update the UPEI Fair Treatment Policy, in the face of significant resistance from UPEI Administration.
• Highlighting the implications of the Board disproportional reliance on administrators who have not gone through a formal process
• Holding the Board accountable for sharing personal contact information with alleged harassers. 
• In collaboration with other campus unions including UPEISU, mounting a pressure campaign to force Administration to follow recommendations regarding washroom safety updates following their investigation of an incident of sexual violence on campus.
• In collaboration with other campus unions including the UPEISU, holding UPEI Administration to account for their failure to review and update the UPEI Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Policy, as required by provincial legislation.
• Calling for UPEI Administration to join institutions in the region and across the country in fully disclosing their employment contracts.
• Filing information requests under the PEI Freedom of information and Personal Privacy Act  to learn more about the operations of UPEI as a public body. To view the PEI Privacy Commissioner’s ruling on one of those requests, click here.
• In the recent round of collective bargaining, pushing for greater accountability, transparency, and anti-retaliation measures – proposals that were ultimately rejected by the Board.
• In light of the Rubin Thomlinson report, calling for the PEI Government to launch an investigation into potential violations of the PEI Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). To view our recent letter to the PEI Workers Compensation Board (WCB), click here.
• Supporting amendments to the PEI Ombudsperson Act that bring greater accountability and transparency to our institution. To view this letter, click here.
• Calling for concrete action to be taken in response to the report. To view that letter, click here.

FA Representation of Members

We understand that many of you are concerned, upset, and horrified not only at the behaviours described in the Rubin Thomlinson Report, but also at the fact that some of those behaviours are attributed to FA members. As individuals –  and your colleagues – we share those feelings; and more formally, the UPEI Faculty Association strongly supports the investigation of those allegations that can be investigated. 

The FA is also prepared to be a full participant, on behalf of our members, in building systems and processes that will ensure that this can never happen again. To the extent that the UPEI Faculty Association was mentioned in the report, it was praised for its work on behalf of members, and identified as an important partner in future change. However, it is important to also understand the role of the union in this context.

Under labour legislation, the elected members of a labour union have the sole and exclusive legal authority to represent their members through a range of processes including discipline, grievance, arbitration, and collective bargaining. The corollary of the union’s authority is a common law duty to exercise this authority in a fashion that is not:

• Arbitrary – failing to sufficiently investigate a matter; taking action without considering a member’s interest; serious negligence
• Discriminatory – biased or unfair treatment of a member based on illegal or prohibited grounds
• In Bad Faith – failing to adequately represent a member because of personal feelings of hostility or ill will toward the member; deceitful or dishonest conduct

Why is this important? The duty of fair representation (DFR) framework ensures that every member of a labour union is entitled to fair and equal representation regardless of their actions or views. It prevents the elected leaders of a union from providing support to those who share their views while declining to support or actively retaliating against anyone else. 

In some cases, faculty association members may behave in ways that other members find objectionable. Because employers are ultimately legally responsible for maintaining a healthy and safe working environment and unions have a duty to fairly represent their members, our mechanism for addressing allegations of inappropriate FA member behavior is to highlight our employer’s statutory or negotiated responsibilities to intervene and to ensure that FA members have access to due processes for responding to misconduct allegations. In the case of harassment, the UPEIFA provides representation for all FA members involved in an investigation.

While the UPEI Faculty Association remains deeply concerned about the allegations against our members contained in the report, it is ultimately the UPEI Board of Governors legal responsibility to maintain a healthy and safe working environment. When our employer fails to take this responsibility seriously, we have access to and have used the negotiated grievance and arbitration procedures in our collective agreement.

UPEI is facing a crisis unlike anything we have faced before. The situation we find ourselves in is terrible, but it is also an opportunity to commit to doing better, to getting to the bottom of what has happened so that we can prevent it happening again, and to work to rebuild our university so that it can be what we want it to be.

Together, we can make that happen.

Solidarity!