Constitution and Bylaws

Download the URFA Constitution and Bylaws (PDF) (260 KB)

(Con­sti­tu­tion revised and adopt­ed on April 7, 1976; amend­ed: Octo­ber 24, 1977; June 2, 1978; April 8, 1980; May 21, 1982; April 19, 1985; Novem­ber 28, 1988; Feb­ru­ary 10, 1989; Feb­ru­ary 6, 1991; June 14, 1993; Decem­ber 8, 1995; Decem­ber 1, 2000; Novem­ber 29, 2002; Decem­ber 5, 2005; Jan­u­ary 24, 2008; Decem­ber 2, 2009; and Decem­ber 5, 2014, Jan­u­ary 12, 2016, and June 42020.)

Con­sti­tu­tion

Arti­cle I: Name

1.1 — The name of the orga­ni­za­tion shall be the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na Fac­ul­ty Asso­ci­a­tion (infor­mal­ly known as URFA”), and here­inafter referred to as the Asso­ci­a­tion.”

Arti­cle II: Pur­pose and Objectives

2.1 — The pur­pose of the Asso­ci­a­tion is:

  1. to enhance the free­dom and qual­i­ty of teach­ing, learn­ing, schol­ar­ship, debate, thought and research with­in the uni­ver­si­ty community,
  2. to improve the work­ing con­di­tions of its members;
  3. to uphold the prin­ci­ples of equal­i­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ty and human rights;
  4. to pro­mote the sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment of the University;
  5. to pro­mote the eco­log­i­cal sus­tain­abil­i­ty of the University;
  6. to pro­mote sol­i­dar­i­ty with the labour movement;
  7. to advo­cate uni­ver­si­ty affairs to all lev­els of gov­ern­ment and the broad­er community.

2.2 — The objec­tives of the Asso­ci­a­tion are:

  1. to pro­mote the wel­fare of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion, advance the stan­dards of their pro­fes­sions, and improve the qual­i­ty of high­er edu­ca­tion in Canada;
  2. to pro­tect and enhance the free­dom and qual­i­ty of teach­ing, schol­ar­ship, debate, thought, and research with­in the Uni­ver­si­ty community;
  3. to rep­re­sent its mem­bers at the Uni­ver­si­ty and its Fed­er­at­ed Col­leges for the pur­pose of bar­gain­ing col­lec­tive­ly in all mat­ters of employ­er-employ­ee rela­tions includ­ing, with­out lim­it­ing the gen­er­al­i­ty of the fore­go­ing, salaries, pen­sions, work­ing con­di­tions, leaves, pro­mo­tions, job secu­ri­ty and grievances;
  4. to main­tain con­tacts with oth­er pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions both nation­al­ly and provin­cial­ly through the Cana­di­an Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Teach­ers and the Saskatchewan Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Teach­ers; and,
  5. to deal with oth­er mat­ters com­pat­i­ble with its pur­pose or objectives.

Arti­cle III: Membership

3.1 — Mem­ber­ship in the Asso­ci­a­tion is manda­to­ry and com­prised of all those cov­ered by a col­lec­tive agree­ment between the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na Fac­ul­ty Asso­ci­a­tion and any one of: the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na; Cam­pi­on Col­lege; the First Nations Uni­ver­si­ty of Cana­da; Luther Col­lege; and here­inafter col­lec­tive­ly referred to as the Employ­ers”. Those on leave from a posi­tion so cov­ered shall remain mem­bers of the Association.

3.2 — Mem­ber­ship in the Asso­ci­a­tion is open to all aca­d­e­m­ic staff and admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al, and tech­ni­cal employ­ees employed by the employers.

3.3 — Only mem­bers in good stand­ing with the Asso­ci­a­tion may par­tic­i­pate in the Association’s gov­er­nance and activ­i­ties. A mem­ber in good stand­ing with the Asso­ci­a­tion is one whose mem­ber­ship has not been sus­pend­ed or oth­er­wise dis­ci­plined in accor­dance with the Bylaws of the Asso­ci­a­tion. All mem­bers are enti­tled to rep­re­sen­ta­tion by the Asso­ci­a­tion, are eli­gi­ble to vote on the rat­i­fi­ca­tion of their rel­e­vant col­lec­tive agree­ments and are required to pay dues to the Association.

3.4 — Indi­vid­u­als for­feit their mem­ber­ship in the Asso­ci­a­tion through i) ser­vice in an out-of-scope posi­tion, ii) mem­ber­ship on the Board of Governors/​Regents of one of the employ­ers. Indi­vid­u­als who for­feit mem­ber­ship are not required to pay dues to the Asso­ci­a­tion and may not par­tic­i­pate in its gov­er­nance dur­ing the peri­od of mem­ber­ship for­fei­ture. Upon the con­clu­sion of an individual’s ser­vice as set out in i) or ii) mem­ber­ship in the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be imme­di­ate­ly reinstated.

3.5 — No per­son shall be sus­pend­ed from mem­ber­ship, nor be assessed any fine, so long as that per­son ten­ders such mem­ber­ship fee as may be pre­scribed by the Bylaws and does not vio­late the terms of this Con­sti­tu­tion or the Bylaws.

3.6 — All mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall become mem­bers of the Cana­di­an Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Teach­ers, and any oth­er orga­ni­za­tion with which the Asso­ci­a­tion may affil­i­ate from time to time, auto­mat­i­cal­ly upon becom­ing mem­bers of the Association.

3.7 — Hon­orary mem­ber­ship may be extend­ed to mem­bers of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na Aca­d­e­m­ic and Admin­is­tra­tive Pen­sion­ers Asso­ci­a­tion (URAA­PA), who pre­vi­ous­ly held mem­ber­ship with­in the Asso­ci­a­tion and who shall have the same rights with respect to meet­ings as mem­bers have, except that the URAA­PA rep­re­sen­ta­tive shall not have any right to vote or to be elect­ed or appoint­ed to the Exec­u­tive Committee.

Arti­cle IV: Exec­u­tive Committee

4.1 — The affairs and busi­ness of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be man­aged by an Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee of the Association.

4.2 — With­out lim­it­ing the gen­er­al­i­ty of the fore­go­ing, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall be empowered:

  1. to con­duct nego­ti­a­tions with the Uni­ver­si­ty Board of Gov­er­nors and the Boards of Regents or Gov­er­nors of the Fed­er­at­ed Col­leges in mat­ters of employ­er-employ­ee rela­tions and such oth­er mat­ters as may be required for the attain­ment of the objec­tives of the Association;
  2. to par­tic­i­pate on behalf of the Asso­ci­a­tion in joint and com­mon action with the Saskatchewan Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Teach­ers, or the Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan Fac­ul­ty Asso­ci­a­tion in mat­ters deemed to be of com­mon inter­est by those Associations;
  3. to inves­ti­gate and report on any mat­ters of inter­est to the Association;
  4. to request the ser­vices of any mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion to assist in mat­ters where spe­cial or tech­ni­cal knowl­edge is required;
  5. to review and approve the Association’s annu­al bud­get, finan­cial state­ments and audit­ed finan­cial statements;
  6. to col­lect such annu­al fees and oth­er levies as may be required by the Bylaws of the Asso­ci­a­tion for the expens­es of the Association;
  7. to engage such employ­ees as it deter­mines nec­es­sary to assist in car­ry­ing out the work of the Association;
  8. to estab­lish such com­mit­tees as it shall deem appro­pri­ate to assist in car­ry­ing out its respon­si­bil­i­ties, to del­e­gate to such com­mit­tees such pow­ers as it shall deem nec­es­sary for the imple­men­ta­tion of its poli­cies, and to appoint to such com­mit­tees any per­son who nor­mal­ly will be a mem­ber or hon­orary mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion; and,
  9. to refer such mat­ters to the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives as it deems appro­pri­ate and/​or necessary.

4.3 — The Stand­ing Com­mit­tees of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall include, but are not lim­it­ed to, the APT Advo­ca­cy Com­mit­tee, the Bylaw and Res­o­lu­tion Com­mit­tee, the Equi­ty Com­mit­tee, the Finance Com­mit­tee, the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee, the Pen­sion and Ben­e­fits Com­mit­tee, the Ses­sion­al Advo­ca­cy Com­mit­tee, and the Trust Fund Committee.

  1. Mem­ber­ship, quo­rum, duties, and pro­ce­dures for selec­tion or appoint­ment to Com­mit­tees shall be pre­scribed in the terms of ref­er­ence for each committee.
  2. The Pres­i­dent of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be an ex offi­cio mem­ber of all Stand­ing Com­mit­tees of the Asso­ci­a­tion. The Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Asso­ci­a­tion, or the Exec­u­tive Director’s des­ig­nate, shall serve as a resource to all Com­mit­tees of the Asso­ci­a­tion includ­ing the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and is enti­tled to attend meet­ings with voice but no vote.

4.4 — Ses­sion­als that are appoint­ed as rep­re­sen­ta­tives to Com­mit­tees shall be paid an hon­o­rar­i­um per meet­ing attend­ed in an amount as estab­lished from time to time by the Exec­u­tive Committee.

Arti­cle V: Com­po­si­tion of the Exec­u­tive Committee

5.1 — The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall con­sist of the fol­low­ing members:

  1. Pres­i­dent;
  2. Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic);
  3. Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT);
  4. Trea­sur­er;
  5. Equi­ty Officer;
  6. Griev­ance Officer;
  7. Mem­ber-at-large (APT);
  8. Mem­ber-at-large (Aca­d­e­m­ic); and,
  9. Ses­sion­al Member.

5.2 — Quo­rum for meet­ings of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall be a min­i­mum of three (3) Offi­cers. The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall meet at least month­ly unless a quo­rum is not avail­able and shall main­tain min­utes of its meet­ings. Copies of the Min­utes shall be made avail­able to the Coun­cil of Representatives.

Arti­cle VI: Officers

6.1 — The Offi­cers of the Asso­ci­a­tion are the Pres­i­dent, the Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic), the Vice- Pres­i­dent (APT), the Trea­sur­er, the Equi­ty Offi­cer, who shall be the Chair of the Equi­ty Com­mit­tee, and the Griev­ance Offi­cer, who shall be the Chair of the Griev­ance Committee.

  1. The Pres­i­dent and Trea­sur­er of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall each hold terms of office for two (2) years and be elect­ed at large, from among all mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion, as described in Arti­cle 8.12.
  2. The Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic) shall hold a term of office for two (2) years and shall be elect­ed by and from among all vot­ing aca­d­e­m­ic mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion, as described in Arti­cle 8.12.
  3. The Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT) shall hold a term of office for two (2) years and shall be elect­ed by and from all vot­ing admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al, and tech­ni­cal mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion, as described in Arti­cle 8.12.
  4. The Equi­ty Offi­cer, the Mem­ber-at-Large (APT) and the Mem­ber-at-Large (Aca­d­e­m­ic) shall each hold terms of office for one (1) year and shall be elect­ed by and from among all vot­ing mem­bers of the Coun­cil of Representatives.
  5. The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall appoint the Griev­ance Offi­cer, fol­low­ing receipt of advice from the Griev­ance Committee.

6.2 — The Pres­i­dent or the President’s des­ig­nate shall:

  1. super­vise the gen­er­al man­age­ment of the affairs of the Asso­ci­a­tion includ­ing pro­vid­ing direc­tion to the Exec­u­tive Director;
  2. be the Chief Spokesper­son of the Association;
  3. pre­side at all meet­ings of the Association;
  4. pre­side at all meet­ings of the Exec­u­tive and the Coun­cil of Representatives;
  5. set the agen­da and send notices for meet­ings of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and the gen­er­al membership;
  6. process the cor­re­spon­dence of the Asso­ci­a­tion; and,
  7. per­form such oth­er duties as may be required by the Asso­ci­a­tion, Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, or Coun­cil of Representatives.

6.3 — The Vice-Pres­i­dents shall:

  1. per­form the duties of the Pres­i­dent as des­ig­nat­ed dur­ing the Pres­i­den­t’s tem­po­rary absence or dis­abil­i­ty. In the event that the Pres­i­dent refus­es to act and/​or fails to des­ig­nate an Offi­cer to act, the Vice-Pres­i­dent from the same con­stituen­cy as the Pres­i­dent shall per­form these duties dur­ing the absence of the Chair, or in the absence of both the Pres­i­dent and this Vice-Pres­i­dent, the remain­ing Vice-Pres­i­dent shall per­form these duties; and,
  2. per­form such oth­er duties as may be required by the Pres­i­dent, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee or the Coun­cil of Representatives.

6.4 — The Trea­sur­er shall:

  1. be respon­si­ble for the care and cus­tody of the funds and assets of the Association;
  2. present an account of the Asso­ci­a­tion’s finances to each meet­ing of the Exec­u­tive and to the Association’s gen­er­al meetings;
  3. main­tain books of account and make these avail­able to the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion on request;
  4. main­tain the mem­ber­ship list;
  5. pre­side at meet­ings of the Finance Committee;
  6. over­see the main­te­nance of the minute books of the Asso­ci­a­tion, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives; and,
  7. per­form such oth­er duties as may be required by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee includ­ing but not lim­it­ed to ful­fill­ing the role of Pres­i­dent of the Asso­ci­a­tion in the event the Pres­i­dent and the Vice-Pres­i­dents are unable to do so.

6.5 — The Equi­ty Offi­cer shall:

  1. super­vise the gen­er­al oper­a­tion of the Equi­ty Committee;
  2. pre­side at meet­ings of the Equi­ty Committee;
  3. set the agen­da and send notices for meet­ings of the Equi­ty Committee;
  4. process cor­re­spon­dence on behalf of the Equi­ty Committee;
  5. report to the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee on behalf of the Equi­ty Com­mit­tee; and,
  6. per­form such oth­er duties as may be required by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and the Equi­ty Com­mit­tee Terms of Reference.

6.6 — The Griev­ance Offi­cer shall:

  1. super­vise the gen­er­al oper­a­tion of the Griev­ance Committee;
  2. pre­side at meet­ings of the Griev­ance Committee;
  3. set the agen­da and send notices for meet­ings of the Griev­ance Committee;
  4. process cor­re­spon­dence on behalf of the Griev­ance Committee;
  5. report to the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee on behalf of the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee; and,
  6. per­form such oth­er duties as may be required by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee Terms of Reference.

Arti­cle VII: Coun­cil of Representatives

7.1 — The Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives shall pro­vide pol­i­cy advice and rec­om­men­da­tions to the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee for the ben­e­fit of the Association.

7.2 — The Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives shall meet at least quar­ter­ly and shall be com­prised of mem­bers as follows:

7.2.1 — The aca­d­e­m­ic staff of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na, hold­ing the ranks of Pro­fes­sor, Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor, Assis­tant Pro­fes­sor, Lec­tur­er, and Instruc­tor shall elect mem­bers to the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives by area, from the fol­low­ing areas and accord­ing to the max­i­mum pre­scribed num­ber set out beside each area:

  • Fac­ul­ty of Arts – three (3)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion – one (1)
  • Cen­tre for Con­tin­u­ing Edu­ca­tion (CCE) – one (1)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Edu­ca­tion — one (1)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Engi­neer­ing and Applied Sci­ences – one (1)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Fine Arts – one (1)
  • John­son-Shoya­ma Grad­u­ate School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy – one (1)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Kine­si­ol­o­gy and Health Stud­ies – one (1)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Nurs­ing — one (1)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Sci­ence – two (2)
  • Fac­ul­ty of Social Work – two (2)
  • La Cité uni­ver­si­taire fran­coph­o­ne – one (1)

7.2.2 — The aca­d­e­m­ic staff, librar­i­ans and archivists of each of the fol­low­ing Fed­er­at­ed Col­leges shall elect mem­bers to the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, by Col­lege and accord­ing to the max­i­mum pre­scribed num­ber set out beside each College:

  • Cam­pi­on Col­lege – one (1)
  • Luther Col­lege – one (1)
  • First Nations Uni­ver­si­ty of Cana­da – one (1)

7.2.3 — The librar­i­ans and archivists employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na shall elect one (1) mem­ber to the Coun­cil of Representatives.

7.2.4 — The lab­o­ra­to­ry instruc­tors employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na shall elect one (1) mem­ber to the Coun­cil of Representatives.

7.2.5 — The admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal employ­ees employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na shall elect five (5) mem­bers to the Coun­cil of Representatives.

7.2.6 — The admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal employ­ees employed by the First Nations Uni­ver­si­ty of Cana­da shall elect two (2) mem­bers to the Coun­cil of Representatives.

7.2.7 — The ses­sion­al lec­tur­ers, ses­sion­al ESL instruc­tors, ses­sion­al practicum coor­di­na­tors, ses­sion­al super­vi­sors, ses­sion­al prac­ti­ca coach­es and ses­sion­al lab­o­ra­to­ry instruc­tors employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na, Cam­pi­on Col­lege or Luther Col­lege shall elect five (5) mem­bers to the Coun­cil of Representatives.

7.2.8 — Chairs of Committees

  1. The Pres­i­dent of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be a mem­ber of and pre­side at meet­ings of the Coun­cil of Representatives.
  2. The Chair of the Equi­ty Com­mit­tee shall be a mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Representatives.
  3. The Chair of the Finance Com­mit­tee shall be a mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Representatives.
  4. The Chair of the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee shall be a mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Representatives.
  5. The Chair of the Pen­sion and Ben­e­fits Com­mit­tee shall be a mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Representatives.
  6. The Chair of the Ses­sion­al Advo­ca­cy Com­mit­tee shall be a mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Representatives.
  7. The Chair of the Bylaw and Res­o­lu­tion Com­mit­tee shall be a mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Representatives.

7.2.9 — Where no one is nom­i­nat­ed from one of the areas (here­inafter referred to as con­stituen­cies”) in sec­tions 7.2.1 through 7.2.7, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee may nom­i­nate an Asso­ci­a­tion member(s) to fill the vacant position(s).

7.2.10 — Any mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion who is a mem­ber of the Board of the Cana­di­an Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Teach­ers or an Exec­u­tive mem­ber of one of the orga­ni­za­tions to which the Asso­ci­a­tion is affil­i­at­ed shall be a mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives so long as that per­son shall hold such position.

7.2.11 — Alter­nate Representation

Those con­stituen­cies (7.2.1 to 7.2.7) that are enti­tled to one rep­re­sen­ta­tive on the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives may elect, at the time of the Com­mit­tee elec­tions, an alter­nate rep­re­sen­ta­tive. This alter­nate may serve as rep­re­sen­ta­tive for that con­stituen­cy if the elect­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tive can­not do so.

Arti­cle VIII: Elections

8.1 — Elec­tions of mem­bers to the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives described in Arti­cles 7.2.1 to 7.2.7 shall take place annu­al­ly in the month of Feb­ru­ary: these mem­bers shall be elect­ed for a two year term, com­menc­ing on the 1st day of May fol­low­ing their election.

8.2 — For the pur­pose of elec­tions to the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be divid­ed into the fol­low­ing constituencies:

  1. aca­d­e­m­ic staff employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na in the ranks of Pro­fes­sor, Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor, Assis­tant Pro­fes­sor Lec­tur­er, and Instruc­tor in each of the fol­low­ing twelve (12) sep­a­rate constituencies:
    1. Fac­ul­ty of Arts
    2. Fac­ul­ty of Busi­ness Administration
    3. Cen­tre for Con­tin­u­ing Education
    4. Fac­ul­ty of Education
    5. Fac­ul­ty of Engi­neer­ing and Applied Sciences
    6. Fac­ul­ty of Fine Arts
    7. John­son-Shoya­ma Grad­u­ate School of Pub­lic Policy
    8. Fac­ul­ty of Kine­si­ol­o­gy and Health Studies
    9. Fac­ul­ty of Nursing
    10. Fac­ul­ty of Science
    11. Fac­ul­ty of Social Work
    12. La Cité uni­ver­si­taire francophone
  2. librar­i­ans and archivists employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regina;
  3. lab­o­ra­to­ry instruc­tors employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regina;
  4. aca­d­e­m­ic staff, librar­i­ans and archivists employed by each of the Fed­er­at­ed Col­leges in the fol­low­ing three sep­a­rate constituencies:
    1. Cam­pi­on College
    2. Luther Col­lege
    3. First Nations Uni­ver­si­ty of Canada
  5. admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal employ­ees of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regina;
  6. admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal employ­ees of the First Nations Uni­ver­si­ty of Cana­da; and
  7. ses­sion­al lec­tur­ers, ses­sion­al ESL instruc­tors, ses­sion­al practicum coor­di­na­tors, ses­sion­al super­vi­sors, ses­sion­al prac­ti­ca coach­es and ses­sion­al lab­o­ra­to­ry instruc­tors employed by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Regi­na, Cam­pi­on Col­lege, or Luther College.

8.3 — Except as oth­er­wise express­ly pro­vid­ed for the in the elec­tion of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, a mem­ber shall be enti­tled to nom­i­nate mem­bers and to vote only with­in the mem­ber’s constituency.

8.4 — No per­son shall be eli­gi­ble for elec­tion to or shall be enti­tled to serve on the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee unless such per­son is a mem­ber in good stand­ing of the Asso­ci­a­tion as defined in the Bylaws.

8.5 — Mem­bers of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall be eli­gi­ble for re-elec­tion so long as they shall con­tin­ue to be mem­bers in good stand­ing of the Association.

8.6 — Elec­tions shall be under the direc­tion of a Return­ing Officer(s) who shall be a mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion and appoint­ed by the Exec­u­tive Committee.

8.7 — A nom­i­na­tion form and list of mem­bers by con­stituen­cy of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be for­ward­ed by the Return­ing Offi­cer to mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion on or before the 7th day of Jan­u­ary in each year. Nom­i­na­tions to the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives shall be sub­mit­ted to the Return­ing Offi­cer in writ­ing on or before the 1st day of Feb­ru­ary in that year. Each nom­i­na­tion paper shall bear the sig­na­tures of two mem­bers of the appro­pri­ate con­stituen­cy as spon­sors of the nom­i­nee, and in addi­tion the sig­na­ture of the nom­i­nee, to sig­ni­fy consent.

8.8 — Should a vote be required, the appro­pri­ate bal­lot shall be sub­mit­ted to the Return­ing Offi­cer on or before the date indi­cat­ed on the bal­lot for such return.

8.9 — At the com­ple­tion of the vot­ing, the Return­ing Offi­cer shall imme­di­ate­ly count and tab­u­late the votes. Each can­di­date may be present at the count­ing and tab­u­la­tion of the votes as a scru­ti­neer, or the can­di­date may appoint a rep­re­sen­ta­tive to act as scru­ti­neer in the can­di­date’s place.

8.10 — Notwith­stand­ing Arti­cle 8.1 here­of, the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives enti­tled to assume office on the 1st day of May in any year shall, on or before the 15th day of April in that year meet and elect the two (2) Mem­bers-at-Large to the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and the Equi­ty Offi­cer, from among the elect­ed mem­bers of the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. Mem­bers so elect­ed shall take Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee office on the 1st day of May fol­low­ing their election.

8.11 — Any vacan­cy on the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, except for a vacan­cy to the office(s) of Equi­ty Offi­cer, Mem­ber-at-Large (Aca­d­e­m­ic) or Mem­ber-at-Large (APT), or the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives result­ing from res­ig­na­tion, death or any oth­er cause, may be filled by appoint­ment by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee. Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee vacan­cies to the offices of Equi­ty Offi­cer, Mem­ber-at-Large (Aca­d­e­m­ic) or Mem­ber-at-Large (APT) shall be filled by appoint­ment by the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. The member(s) so appoint­ed shall hold office until mid­night of the 30th day of April fol­low­ing this appoint­ment. At the first elec­tion of the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, in the case of a vacan­cy on the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, fol­low­ing the res­ig­na­tion, death, or oth­er cause cre­at­ing such vacan­cy a mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be elect­ed by the mem­ber­ship in whole or in part as spec­i­fied in the elec­tion pro­vi­sions to fill the vacan­cy cre­at­ed by the res­ig­na­tion, death or oth­er cause.

8.12 — Elec­tion of Officers

  1. Nom­i­na­tions for Pres­i­dent and Trea­sur­er
    Any five (5) mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion may nom­i­nate mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion for the posi­tions of Pres­i­dent and Trea­sur­er of the Association.
  2. Nom­i­na­tions for Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic) and Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT)
    Any three (3) aca­d­e­m­ic mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion may nom­i­nate aca­d­e­m­ic mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion for the posi­tion of Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic). Any three (3) admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion may nom­i­nate admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion for the posi­tion of Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT).
  3. Time-frame for Nom­i­na­tions
    Nom­i­na­tions for these Offi­cer posi­tions must be made on or before March 1 of each year. If, after March 1, there are no nom­i­na­tions for these Offi­cer posi­tions from the mem­ber­ship at large, or the spe­cif­ic con­stituen­cy as the case may be, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall nom­i­nate mem­bers to fill these positions.
  4. Elec­tion
    Can­di­dates nom­i­nat­ed for elec­tion to the posi­tions of Pres­i­dent, Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic), Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT) and Trea­sur­er shall address the mem­ber­ship at the spring gen­er­al mem­ber­ship meet­ing. Imme­di­ate­ly fol­low­ing the mem­ber­ship meet­ing, an elec­tion will be held among mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion enti­tled to vote for these posi­tions. For the posi­tions of Pres­i­dent and Trea­sur­er, all mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be enti­tled to vote. Only aca­d­e­m­ic mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be enti­tled to vote for the posi­tion of Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic). Only admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be enti­tled to vote for the posi­tion of Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT).

    Regard­less of the num­ber of peo­ple who have been nom­i­nat­ed for these posi­tions, an elec­tion from among all the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion enti­tled to vote shall be held. If only one can­di­date has been nom­i­nat­ed, that can­di­date must receive a major­i­ty of the votes cast for that posi­tion in order to be elect­ed. If there are two or more can­di­dates for a posi­tion, the can­di­date for the posi­tion receiv­ing the largest num­ber of votes cast will be elect­ed.

    The term of office for the Offi­cer posi­tions of Pres­i­dent, Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic), Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT) and Trea­sur­er shall nor­mal­ly com­mence on May 1 and con­tin­ue for two (2) years, through to April 30. For the first elec­tion peri­od, if the Pres­i­dent elect­ed is an aca­d­e­m­ic mem­ber, the Vice-Pres­i­dent (Aca­d­e­m­ic) will serve only a one (1) year term; if the Pres­i­dent elect­ed is an admin­is­tra­tive, pro­fes­sion­al and tech­ni­cal mem­ber, the Vice-Pres­i­dent (APT) will serve only a one (1) year term.

    If, dur­ing the term for which an Offi­cer has been elect­ed, an Offi­cer is unable to ful­fil his or her duties for more than one-half of the term, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall nom­i­nate a new Offi­cer, and an elec­tion shall be held among the mem­ber­ship of the Asso­ci­a­tion enti­tled to vote for the Offi­cer. If the peri­od for which the Offi­cer is unable to ful­fil his or her duties is less than one-half of the term, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall appoint one of the elect­ed mem­bers to the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives to fill the vacant Offi­cer position.

Arti­cle IX: Meet­ings of the Executive

9.1 — A quo­rum at Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee meet­ings shall con­sist of three (3) or more Offi­cers of the Exec­u­tive Committee.

9.2 — Meet­ings of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee may be called on such notice as the Pres­i­dent, or, in the President’s absence the Act­ing Pres­i­dent, may deem nec­es­sary, pro­vid­ed, how­ev­er, that not less than 24 hours’ notice of the meet­ing shall be giv­en to the mem­bers of the Exec­u­tive Committee.

Arti­cle X: Meet­ings of the Coun­cil of Representatives

10.1 — A quo­rum at Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives meet­ings shall con­sist of fif­teen (15) or more mem­bers of the Coun­cil of Representatives.

10.2 — Meet­ings of the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives shall be held at least quar­ter­ly but may be called on such notice as the Pres­i­dent, or in the President’s absence the Act­ing Pres­i­dent, may deem nec­es­sary, pro­vid­ed how­ev­er that not less than 24 hours’ notice of the meet­ing shall be giv­en to the mem­bers of the Coun­cil of Representatives.

Arti­cle XI: Meet­ings of the Association

11.1 — Two (2) gen­er­al meet­ings of the mem­ber­ship of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be held in each year; one in the win­ter semes­ter and one in the fall semester.

11.2 — Spe­cial meet­ings of the mem­ber­ship of the Asso­ci­a­tion may be called at the dis­cre­tion of the Exec­u­tive Committee.

11.3 — Spe­cial meet­ings of the mem­ber­ship of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be called by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee upon writ­ten request of not less than five per­cent (5%) of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion. The time, place, and nature of the spe­cial meet­ing shall be spec­i­fied in the writ­ten request of the members.

11.4

  1. Forty-eight (48) hours’ notice in writ­ing of all spe­cial meet­ings spec­i­fy­ing the time, place and nature of the busi­ness to be con­duct­ed shall be giv­en to the mem­ber­ship of the Association.
  2. A peri­od of not less than ten days shall be allowed between the date of the send­ing of the notice and the date of the gen­er­al meetings.

11.5 — Five per­cent (5%) of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion, or twen­ty-five (25) mem­bers, whichev­er is the less­er num­ber, shall con­sti­tute a quo­rum at all meet­ings of the mem­ber­ship of the Association.

11.6 — In the event that suf­fi­cient mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion are not present to con­sti­tute a quo­rum at any meet­ing, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall have the pow­er to act on behalf of the Asso­ci­a­tion with regard to any and all mat­ters which were to have been con­sid­ered at the pro­posed meet­ing with the excep­tion of amend­ing this Con­sti­tu­tion and with the excep­tion of enact­ing or amend­ing Bylaws.

Arti­cle XII: Voting

12.1 — Except as here­in express­ly pro­vid­ed, vot­ing by the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion may be in any man­ner set forth in the Bylaws.

Arti­cle XIII: Removal of Mem­bers and Offi­cers of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and Coun­cil of Representatives

13.1 — The mem­bers of an Asso­ci­a­tion con­stituen­cy may remove their mem­ber of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee or mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives by res­o­lu­tion passed by a two-thirds major­i­ty of the con­stituen­cy mem­bers in atten­dance at a meet­ing duly called for such pur­pose, with a meet­ing quo­rum con­sti­tut­ing twen­ty-five (25) con­stituen­cy mem­bers or five per­cent (5%) of the con­stituen­cy, whichev­er is the less­er number.

13.2 — Removal of an Offi­cer. The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee may call a meet­ing of the gen­er­al mem­ber­ship, or an Officer’s con­stituen­cy as the case may be, by res­o­lu­tion approved by two-thirds of the mem­ber­ship of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, to con­sid­er removal of an Offi­cer. The removal of an Offi­cer at a meet­ing duly called for such pur­pose requires a res­o­lu­tion passed by a two-thirds major­i­ty of the con­stituen­cy mem­bers in atten­dance at said meet­ing, with a meet­ing quo­rum con­sti­tut­ing twen­ty-five (25) con­stituen­cy mem­bers or five per­cent (5%) of the con­stituen­cy, whichev­er is the less­er number.

Arti­cle XIV: Bylaws

14.1 — The Asso­ci­a­tion may enact such Bylaws, not incon­sis­tent with this Con­sti­tu­tion, as may be required for the oper­a­tion of the Asso­ci­a­tion and the attain­ment of its pur­pose and objec­tives with the con­sent of the major­i­ty of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion present at a meet­ing duly called for the pur­pose of con­sid­er­ing such Bylaws.

14.2 — Bylaws may be amend­ed or repealed with the approval of a major­i­ty of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion present at a meet­ing duly called for the pur­pose of con­sid­er­ing such Bylaws.

Arti­cle XV: Amend­ment of Constitution

15.1 — This Con­sti­tu­tion may be amend­ed only in accor­dance with the fol­low­ing procedure:

  1. A peti­tion signed by five per­cent (5%) of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion or a res­o­lu­tion of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee stat­ing the pro­posed amend­ment shall be sub­mit­ted to the President;
  2. On receiv­ing such peti­tion or res­o­lu­tion the Pres­i­dent shall forth­with send a notice of meet­ing to all mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion which notice shall state the time and place of such meet­ing and the pro­posed amend­ment to the Constitution;
  3. A peri­od of not less than ten days shall be allowed between the date of the send­ing of the notice and the date of the meeting;
  4. Any amend­ment to the Con­sti­tu­tion must be approved by a three-fifths major­i­ty of the mem­bers vot­ing after the pro­posed amend­ment has been dis­cussed at a meet­ing, pro­vid­ing that those vot­ing com­prise at least fif­teen per­cent (15%) of the total mem­bers of the Association.

Bylaws

Arti­cle I: Mem­ber­ship and Fees

1.1 — Mem­ber­ship fees shall be in such amount as rec­om­mend­ed by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee and approved by the mem­bers of the Association.

1.2 — Mem­ber in Good Stand­ing. Sta­tus of mem­ber in good stand­ing in the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be accord­ed only to those mem­bers who abide by the Con­sti­tu­tion, Bylaws, rules and reg­u­la­tions duly passed by the Asso­ci­a­tion and who pay the pre­scribed dues and assess­ments. A mem­ber in good stand­ing shall have the right to attend Asso­ci­a­tion meet­ings and oth­er func­tions, to vote and run for or hold Asso­ci­a­tion office, and oth­er­wise par­tic­i­pate in affairs of the Association.

1.3 — All mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion, and all indi­vid­u­als who are eli­gi­ble for mem­ber­ship in any of the bar­gain­ing units which are rep­re­sent­ed by the Asso­ci­a­tion, except for those who are not receiv­ing a salary from the Uni­ver­si­ty or its Fed­er­at­ed Col­leges, shall pay mem­ber­ship fees.

1.4 — Fees shall be auto­mat­i­cal­ly deduct­ed from the mem­ber’s month­ly salary in stat­ed instalments.

1.5 — The Association’s fis­cal year shall be from May 1 to April 30.

1.6 — Ses­sion­al Lec­tur­ers shall be eli­gi­ble to con­tin­ue as mem­bers in good stand­ing of the Asso­ci­a­tion for thir­teen months from the first month in which they hold a ses­sion­al appointment.

Arti­cle II: Voting

2.1 — Vot­ing of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion may be in such man­ner as the Pres­i­dent of the Asso­ci­a­tion may deem nec­es­sary, pro­vid­ed how­ev­er, that vot­ing shall be by secret bal­lot if request­ed by a major­i­ty of the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion present at any Asso­ci­a­tion meeting.

Arti­cle III: Rat­i­fi­ca­tion of Con­tracts and With­draw­al of Services

3.1 — The pro­vi­sions of this Arti­cle shall apply to all col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing agree­ments, employ­ment con­tracts or oth­er con­tracts affect­ing salaries, pen­sions, work­ing con­di­tions, leaves, pro­mo­tions, job secu­ri­ty and griev­ances nego­ti­at­ed by the Asso­ci­a­tion, on behalf of its mem­ber­ship, with the excep­tion of any con­tract apply­ing only to a sin­gle individual.

3.2 — Any col­lec­tive agree­ment or con­tract nego­ti­at­ed with an employ­er on behalf of the Asso­ci­a­tion mem­bers shall be sub­mit­ted for approval to the employ­ees of such employ­er who are mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion and the bar­gain­ing unit in ques­tion, who shall vote after the pro­posed agree­ment has been dis­cussed at a meet­ing called to con­sid­er such agree­ment. A sim­ple major­i­ty of those vot­ing shall be suf­fi­cient to approve and rat­i­fy a col­lec­tive agree­ment or con­tract, pro­vid­ed that those vot­ing com­prise at least fif­teen per­cent (15%) of the total mem­ber­ship of the Asso­ci­a­tion in the bar­gain­ing unit in question.

3.3 — Any request for author­i­ty for with­draw­al of ser­vice to an employ­er (strikes, slow downs, study ses­sions, pick­et­ing, etc.) shall be sub­mit­ted for approval to the employ­ees of such employ­er who are mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion and the bar­gain­ing unit in ques­tion, who shall vote after the pro­posed with­draw­al of ser­vice has been dis­cussed at a meet­ing called to con­sid­er such with­draw­al. A sim­ple major­i­ty of those vot­ing shall be suf­fi­cient to approve with­draw­al of ser­vice, pro­vid­ed that those vot­ing com­prise at least fif­teen per­cent (15%) of the total mem­ber­ship of the Asso­ci­a­tion in the bar­gain­ing unit in ques­tion. When with­draw­al of ser­vice is approved in this man­ner and imple­ment­ed by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, it shall be deemed bind­ing on the mem­bers of the bar­gain­ing unit. If those mem­bers lose com­pen­sa­tion from the employ­er because of with­draw­al of ser­vice, they shall be eli­gi­ble for strike pay accord­ing to a for­mu­la which shall be approved by the Exec­u­tive Committee.

3.4 — In con­duct­ing bal­lots required in Arti­cles 3.2 and 3.3, the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee may use elec­tron­ic means, the inter­nal Uni­ver­si­ty mail sys­tem or may for­ward bal­lots by pre-paid mail by Cana­da Post or may use a com­bi­na­tion of all methods.

3.5 — Pro­ce­dures relat­ing to the imple­men­ta­tion of with­draw­al of ser­vice shall be set out in a Strike Man­u­al which shall be devel­oped and main­tained by the Exec­u­tive Committee.

Arti­cle IV: Con­flict of Inter­est Rules

4.1 — The Exec­u­tive has estab­lished the fol­low­ing Con­flict of Inter­est Rules:

  1. A con­flict of inter­est exists when a mat­ter aris­es before the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee or the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee in which a com­mit­tee mem­ber, or a per­son close­ly relat­ed to a com­mit­tee mem­ber as described in para­graph 2, has a direct interest.
  2. Close­ly relat­ed per­sons include spous­es, par­ents, chil­dren, sib­lings, or per­sons who have a de fac­to rela­tion­ship with a com­mit­tee mem­ber of a sim­i­lar nature and that may, or might be per­ceived to give rise to, a con­flict of inter­est or pos­si­ble favouritism.
  3. When a con­flict of inter­est aris­es, the com­mit­tee mem­ber to whom the con­flict of inter­est relates shall dis­close its exis­tence and leave the meet­ing while the mat­ter to which the con­flict of inter­est relates is under discussion.
  4. No com­mit­tee mem­ber shall attempt in any way, whether before, dur­ing or after a meet­ing, to influ­ence the vot­ing on any ques­tion involv­ing a mat­ter in rela­tion to which he or she has a con­flict of interest.
  5. Para­graph 4 shall not be con­strued as con­strain­ing a major­i­ty of either the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee or the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee from seek­ing and obtain­ing rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion from a com­mit­tee mem­ber who has absent­ed him­self or her­self from a meet­ing in accor­dance with these rules.
  6. In these rules, the expres­sion com­mit­tee mem­ber” includes any per­sons who are ex offi­cio mem­bers of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee or of the Griev­ance Committee.

4.2 — Any mem­ber or offi­cer of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee who breach­es the Con­flict of Inter­est Rules may be removed from the com­mit­tee in accor­dance with Arti­cle XIII of the Con­sti­tu­tion of the Association.

4.3 — Any mem­ber of the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee who breach­es the Con­flict of Inter­est Rules made by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee may be removed from the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee by res­o­lu­tion passed by a major­i­ty of the mem­bers of the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee at a meet­ing duly called for that pur­pose, upon report from the Griev­ance Committee.

4.4 — A per­son who has been removed from the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee pur­suant to para­graph 4.3 may appeal that deci­sion to the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion and; the mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall decide at a meet­ing duly called for that pur­pose whether or not to uphold the deci­sion of the Exec­u­tive Committee.

Arti­cle V: Mem­ber­ship Appeals

5.1 — Any mem­ber who is alleged to have failed to abide by the Con­sti­tu­tion, Bylaws, rules and/​or reg­u­la­tions of the Asso­ci­a­tion shall be pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty to appear before an Appeals Com­mit­tee to answer to the alle­ga­tions. The alle­ga­tions (here­inafter referred to as the Com­plaint”) shall be pro­vid­ed in writ­ing to the mem­ber set­ting out the pro­vi­sions with­in the Con­sti­tu­tion and/​or Bylaws and the rules and/​or reg­u­la­tions that the mem­ber is alleged to have breached. Ser­vice of the com­plaint on the mem­ber may be done by such means as the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee deter­mines pro­vid­ed that acknowl­edg­ment of receipt by the mem­ber is obtained.

5.2 — The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee shall appoint three (3) mem­bers from the mem­ber­ship who are not serv­ing on the Exec­u­tive, Asso­ci­a­tion com­mit­tees, or the Coun­sel of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives to act as the Appeals Com­mit­tee charged to hear and deter­mine the Com­plaint. The Appeals Com­mit­tee may make rec­om­men­da­tions to the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee with respect to its find­ings and an appro­pri­ate penal­ty up to and includ­ing sus­pen­sion of mem­ber­ship if the Appeals Com­mit­tee finds that the Com­plaint is sub­stan­ti­at­ed on a bal­ance of prob­a­bil­i­ty. How­ev­er, if it is deter­mined by the Appeals Com­mit­tee that the Com­plaint is sub­stan­ti­at­ed, the mem­ber will no longer be a mem­ber in good stand­ing with the Asso­ci­a­tion. The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee is not required to fol­low the rec­om­men­da­tions if any pro­vid­ed by the Appeals Com­mit­tee and shall deter­mine the length of time the mem­ber may be sus­pend­ed from mem­ber­ship and/​or is no longer in good stand­ing with the Asso­ci­a­tion. Penal­ties imposed will depend upon the nature of the breach and can range from the impo­si­tion of a fine to a sus­pen­sion of mem­ber­ship in the Association.

5.3 — A mem­ber who is the sub­ject of a Com­plaint referred to in sec­tion 5.1 is enti­tled to receive at least thir­ty (30) days writ­ten notice in advance of a Hear­ing sched­uled by the Appeals Com­mit­tee for the pur­pose of hear­ing and deter­min­ing the Com­plaint. The mem­ber is enti­tled to bring a rep­re­sen­ta­tive to the Appeal Hear­ing to act as sup­port and/​or as an advo­cate. Any costs asso­ci­at­ed with the member’s sup­port and/​or advo­cate will be borne by the mem­ber. An Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee mem­ber will rep­re­sent the Asso­ci­a­tion in pre­sent­ing its sub­mis­sions to the Appeals Com­mit­tee. The Appeals Com­mit­tee shall fol­low the prin­ci­ples of fun­da­men­tal jus­tice and due process in the con­duct of all Appeals but oth­er­wise may deter­mine its own process includ­ing the means by which the Appeal Hear­ing may be con­duct­ed, pro­vid­ed the process does not con­tra­dict these Bylaw pro­vi­sions. The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee bears the onus of prov­ing the mem­ber is guilty of the Com­plaint. Any doc­u­men­ta­tion and writ­ten sub­mis­sions to be relied upon and /​or pre­sent­ed by the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee mem­ber in mak­ing its rep­re­sen­ta­tions to the Appeals Com­mit­tee shall be pro­vid­ed to the mem­ber at least one (1) week pri­or to the sched­uled hearing.

5.4 — A mem­ber who is the sub­ject of a Com­plaint and, upon proof of ser­vice of the Notice of Com­plaint and the Notice of Hear­ing, who fails to attend at the Hear­ing with­out per­mis­sion or jus­ti­fi­ca­tion, shall have the Com­plaint pro­ceed to be heard and deter­mined by the Appeals Com­mit­tee in the absence of the mem­ber. A mem­ber who requests that the Hear­ing be resched­uled shall be grant­ed the request pro­vid­ed that the Hear­ing takes place with­in six (6) months of the Notice of Hear­ing hav­ing been served on the member.

5.5 — A mem­ber on whose behalf the Asso­ci­a­tion has filed a griev­ance is enti­tled to appear before the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee and/​or the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee to argue that the griev­ance should pro­ceed to arbi­tra­tion. In the event the Griev­ance Com­mit­tee rec­om­mends against the griev­ance pro­ceed­ing to arbi­tra­tion and the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee accepts the rec­om­men­da­tion or if the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee deter­mines that a griev­ance will not pro­ceed to arbi­tra­tion, the mem­ber on whose behalf the griev­ance has been filed shall be enti­tled to appeal the Exec­u­tive Committee’s deci­sion to an Appeals Com­mit­tee. The same appeals process shall be uti­lized as set out in sec­tions 5.1 through 5.3 of these Bylaws, except as express­ly pro­vid­ed for in this sec­tion, with the Griev­ance Offi­cer charged with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of mak­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tion to the Appeals Com­mit­tee on behalf of the Exec­u­tive. The onus for estab­lish­ing that the griev­ance should pro­ceed to arbi­tra­tion rests with the mem­ber on a bal­ance of prob­a­bil­i­ty. Sched­ul­ing of the Appeal Hear­ing and the ren­der­ing of a deci­sion by the Appeals Com­mit­tee will bear in mind time lim­its for tak­ing the griev­ance for­ward to arbi­tra­tion as set out in the rel­e­vant col­lec­tive agree­ment. The deci­sion of the Appeals Com­mit­tee is final and bind­ing on the Exec­u­tive Committee.

Arti­cle VI: Finan­cial Man­age­ment & Borrowing

6.1 — The Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee is here­by autho­rized, from time to time:

a) to bor­row mon­ey upon the cred­it of URFA, from any bank, cor­po­ra­tion, firm, or per­son, upon such terms, covenants, and con­di­tions at such times, in such sums, to such an extend and in such man­ner as the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee in its dis­cre­tion may deem expedient.

b) to lim­it or increase the amount to be borrowed.

c) to issue or cause to be issued bonds, deben­tures, or oth­er secu­ri­ties of URFA and to pledge or sell the same for such sums, upon such terms, covenants, and con­di­tions and at such prices as may be deemed expe­di­ent by the Exec­u­tive Committee.

d) to secure any such bond, deben­tures, or oth­er secu­ri­ties, or any oth­er present or future bor­row­ing or lia­bil­i­ty of URFA, by mort­gage, hypothec, charge, or pledge of all or any cur­rent­ly owned or sub­se­quent­ly acquired real and per­son­al, mov­able, and immov­able, prop­er­ty of URFA, and the under­tak­ing and rights of URFA.