ACADEMIC YEAR means the twelve-month period commencing on July 1 each year.

AGREEMENT means the Collective Agreement between the Employer and the Union contained herein.

COLLEGE means an academic sub-unit of the University headed by a Dean. For the purposes of this Agreement, college shall also mean the Distance Education Unit.

DEAN means the head of a college or the person designated to act on behalf of a Dean. 

DEPARTMENT means an administrative subdivision of a college, including a school, as established by the University Council and Senate.

DEPARTMENT HEAD means the head of a department or the director of a school or the person designated to act on behalf of a department head or director.

EMPLOYEE means those persons within the scope of the Certification Order of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board dated July 26, 1995, including persons holding appointments as sessional lecturers, applied music instructors, and teaching associates (subject to the terms and conditions contained in the Memorandum of Agreement signed November 4, 1996 and amended on       December 11, 1996). Effective January 1995, employee shall also mean persons teaching as University of Saskatchewan sessional lecturers for SUNTEP.

EMPLOYER means the University of Saskatchewan in the same sense used in the Certification Order of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board as amended July 26, 1995.

FISCAL YEAR means the twelve (12) month period commencing May 1 each year.

GRIEVANCE means any dispute that arises between the Employer and the Union respecting the interpretation, application or alleged violation of any provisions of the Agreement. 

PLURAL REFERENCES in this Agreement shall be considered to refer to any member of the bargaining unit where the context so requires.

PRIORITY POINTS means the total service points the sessional lecturer has earned in the department or non-departmentalized college since August 31, 1981, when the sessional lecturer has the right of first refusal on at least one course in the department or non-departmentalized college. Priority points determine priority of appointment as set out in Article 16.02.

REGULAR SESSION means the session that runs from September through April, consisting of two thirteen-week terms (Fall Term 1 and Winter Term 2).

REPRESENTATIVE means a departmental or college representative of the Union.

SERVICE POINTS provide a measure of the teaching performed as an employee at the University of Saskatchewan and are used to determine the appropriate basic stipend. Each service point represents six (6) credit units of teaching as the principal instructor of a credit course or courses and may include, but is not limited to, teaching as:

  1. A sessional lecturer,
  2. An applied music instructor (See Article 16.04),
  3. A member of faculty in a term position as set out in Article 14.01, or,
  4. An administrative or professional staff member at the University of Saskatchewan.
  5. At the discretion of the department head and approval of the Dean, sessional lecturers with prior experience at other tertiary institutions may be granted five (5) service points upon initial hire; the granting of service points allows for the provision of compensation at the Level II Stipend in accordance with Schedule 'A' Rates of Pay, and shall not be unreasonably denied.

Sessional lecturers who have accumulated up to five (5) (but not equal to five (5)) service points will be paid at a Level I rate; sessional lecturers who have accumulated five (5) and up to ten (10) (but not equal to ten (10)) service points will be paid at a Level ll rate; and sessional lecturers who have accumulated ten (10) or more service points, and retired faculty members appointed as sessional lecturers, will be paid at a Level III rate.

SESSIONAL LECTURER means an employee of the University of Saskatchewan within the scope of the Certification Order of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board as amended July 26, 1995 and includes all employees of the University of Saskatchewan who are responsible for teaching a credit course and remunerated on a per course basis: 

  1. Excluding all holders of Graduate Teaching Fellowships, adjunct professors, professors without term, clinicians and clinical appointments in the Departments of Medicine, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine and Dentistry, all academic student assistants and all employees represented for the purpose of collective bargaining by the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association;
  2. Including persons employed as applied music instructors;
  3. Including persons employed to teach courses for ITEP;
  4. Excluding persons employed to teach courses for NORTEP, NORPAC, and the Northwest Territories Education Program (amended January 1995);
  5. Including persons employed as University of Saskatchewan sessional lecturers for SUNTEP (amended January 1995);
  6. Excluding persons employed as teaching associates in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology;
  7. Excluding doctoral students and holders of Post-Doctoral Fellowships who are employed in the following exempt course assignments:
    • Up to a maximum of fifteen (15) courses per academic year (five (5) three (3) credit unit courses during each term of Fall and Winter Session, and five (5) three (3) credit unit courses during Spring and Summer Session).
    • The College of Graduate Studies and Research will determine the complement and distribution of these courses. In all cases, the Employer shall provide in writing, to the Union, courses and section numbers exempted in each term.
    • No more than one exemption shall be applied to a graduate program in any academic year.
    • The exemptions will not apply to any program in any year in which a total of five (5) sessional courses or less are available
  8. If new programs are identified, the Employer and the Union will hold discussions before adding them to this article.

SPRING AND SUMMER SESSION means the session that runs from May through August, consisting of two 7-week terms (Spring Term 1 and Summer Term 2). 

TERM means the normal academic period in which a three (3) credit unit course is taken and completed. The Fall and Winter Session consists of two 13-week terms, from September to April. The Spring and Summer Session consists of two 7-week terms, from May to August.

UNION means Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3287.

UNIVERSITY means the University of Saskatchewan as defined in the University of Saskatchewan Act, 1974, as amended up to and including the date of the execution of this Agreement.