The Organizing and Communications Committee needs you!

Are you passionate about making a difference? Do you have ideas and a great enthusiasm to share them? Do you have a knack for organizing social events? Maybe you're passionate about politics and want to see elected officials do more for post-secondary education.

Now is the perfect time for you to join one of the UMFA Organizing and Communications Committees. Choose from the Listening Tour Sub-committee, Election Action Sub-committee, Social Events Sub-committee, the SafeAir Sub-committee, and the Bargaining Sub-committee.

Listening Tour Sub-committee

The best way to keep your colleagues connected to the Association is to talk to them one-on-one. Members of the OCC Listening Tour Sub-committee will be reaching out to UMFA Members throughout the year to hear what they have to say about their workplaces, and about how working conditions can be improved. Training and support provided!

Social Events Sub-committee

Have a knack for organizing social events? Join this OCC Sub-committee and help get your colleagues together for coffee, conversation, and other social activities.

Safe Air (formerly the COVID-19) Sub-committee

The Safe Air sub-committee works to educate and advocate for safe, clean air for everyone on our campuses. We advocate for improved ventilation to reduce transmission of airborne viruses and pathogens, create materials to support precautions in our workplace (masking, COVID-19 Teaching FAQ) and work together to advocate for a future of safe air on campus that goes beyond the current and on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

Bargaining Sub-committee

This committee is a new initiative to help support the bargaining team, Collective Agreement Committee (CAC) and Executive with member mobilization initiatives.

Whether you're a seasoned expert or you just want to bring a fresh perspective to the table, your unique skills and ideas are valuable assets that can help shape the committees' initiatives.

For information on how to get involved and for more details on each sub-committee, contact OCC Chair Jenna Tichon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Committee meetings are open to all members. The dates for each are on the website here: https://www.umfa.ca/news/meetings-events.

Education for All Campaign

The Education for All campaign is a joint initiative of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the National Union of Public General and Public Employees. Together, our combined memberships of more than one million students and workers are putting forward a vision of a more affordable, accessible, high quality, publicly-funded post-secondary education system in Canada; a system that is ready to take on the challenges of today and tomorrow.

MFL campaign against Bill 16 - The Labour Relations Amendment Act

The Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL) has started a campaign against the Pallister government's proposed changes to the Labour Relations Act. Bill 16 (The Labour Relations Amendment Act) seeks to change collective bargaining rules in Manitoba, in ways that will negatively impact workers including eliminating the tool that triggers binding arbitration after 60 days of a strike or lockout. For more details, see the links below.

Canadian Federation of Students MB Campaign Against Bill 33

The Pallister government introduced Bill 33, The Advanced Education Administration Amendment Act, which will greatly increase government control over tuition and student fees within our universities and colleges. If passed, this Bill could also see a reduction, or total elimination of services that students rely on. For details, see the links below.

Call for Nominations for MOFA Committees

The Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations (MOFA) is seeking membership participation in several new committees as we begin the implementation and design of our Higher Education Works campaign. The committees will be responsible for working with and directing the MOFA campaign director in their work. The committees will operate in a consensus-based decision-making process. Should items before the committee require voting to determine the future direction, the committees shall allocate one vote for each institution participating in the committee.

Interested members should contact UMFA Executive Director Greg Flemming (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) before March 29^th, 2021.

Committee Roles and Responsibilities

Finance and Operations Committee

The purpose of the committee shall be to meet to review MOFA’s finances while representing the constituent faculty associations who have made financial contributions to the MOFA campaign.

The committee will also be responsible for approving any incidental costs for the campaign, provided in writing by the campaign coordinator. Any costs above $100 must be approved in advance by the committee.

Political Action, Solidarity and Community Outreach Committee

The purpose of the committee shall be to plan, coordinate and authorize any external political action for MOFA relating to our “Higher Education Works” campaign.

The committee shall identify opportunities for MOFA to support other unions and social movements as well as community initiatives.

The committee shall proactively identify opportunities for MOFA to engage in acts of solidarity and coalition development.

The committee will approve all outgoing communications for the MOFA website, CAUT campaign site, and external actions.

Membership Outreach Committee

The purpose of the committee shall be to serve as an organizing group in regard to MOFA’s internal campaign.

The committee shall review the ongoing work of the MOFA campaign co-ordinator in reaching out and identifying support on each campus.

The committee members shall make themselves available to speak with members of their own institutions as well as other institutions with MOFA members in order to build cross-campus solidarity and to provide support for the co-ordinator.