Introducing the 2021 WUFA Negotiating Team

February 2, 2021

Ramaswami Balachandar,
Civil & Environmental Engineering

Ramaswami (Ram), has been a member of the University of Windsor academic community since 2003.   Following almost a dozen years of being in administrative roles, he has returned to the bargaining unit.  This prompted his interest to return to an active role in WUFA. 

Ram currently serves as a WUFA representative on the Board of Governors Investment Committee and Pension Committee, D.2 Retirement Committee and WUFA’s Retirement and Benefits Committee.

While in his current role on the Contract Committee, Ram decided to become involved in negotiations.  As a member of WUFA’s Retirement and Benefits Committee his focus is on the contributions to, and the returns on the Faculty Pension Plan.

Pierre Boulos, Co-Chief Negotiator,
Centre for Teaching and Learning/Argumentation Studies PhD Program

In addition to sitting on the 2021 Negotiating Team, Pierre is currently a member of WUFA Executive (Contract Chair), Chair of the Contract Committee, a grievance officer, and an equity assessor for both the UCAPT and the UCRPPLM. He is a philosopher and the director (acting) of the Argumentation Studies PhD program for 2020-2021.

During the last round of bargaining (2017) Pierre served on the Contract Committee and was the Co-Chief Negotiator on the Negotiating Team. He has experience in drafting, analyzing, and synthesizing contract language as well as the experience of being at the bargaining table.  Pierre has served on three contract committees, twice on the negotiating team, and serves on OCUFA’s Collective Bargaining Committee.

Between 2008 and 2021, Pierre served in many other roles within the Faculty Association, including WUFA Faculty Councillor, and a member of WUFA Executive as Contract Chair, Director-at-Large, VP-Internal, and VP-External.

Pierre served in various capacities in higher education: sessional instructor, limited-term faculty appointment, and currently Learning Specialist with tenure.  His training in math, logic and philosophy of science allows him to bring analytic skills to the Team.  As past-Chair of the Research and Ethics Board, he has seen first-hand the breadth of research carried out on campus.  Pierre also serves as a panellist on the Tri-Council Agencies Panel on Research Ethics.
 

John Deukmedjian,
Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

John has been teaching at the University of Windsor for seventeen years as a full-time professor, twelve years tenured.  He was a national director for the RCMP evaluation of alternative dispute resolution.  He served on Senate and understands the challenges professors and instructors face with increasing workloads and teaching online.

He walked the picket lines in 2008 as a picket captain and would like to make a difference this time as part of the team that will fight for equity, intellectual rights and freedoms and equitable pay. His interest in becoming a member of the Negotiating Team has largely been propelled by the multitude of issues we will face in upcoming bargaining.   
 

Chris Fredette, Co-Chief Negotiator,
Associate Professor of Management and Strategy
Odette School of Business

Chris is a faculty member in the Odette School of Business who currently sits on WUFA Executive as VP External (2018-2022) and has served on WUFA Executive as Director-at-Large (2014-2016), and WUFA Faculty Council (2014-2022), twice a member of Senate, CAUT Defence Fund (2018-2022) and the OCUFA (2018-2022) Board of Directors.  Chris is also a member of the Contract Committee and was a member of the 2017 WUFA Negotiating Team.
 

Brandi Lucier,
Women's and Gender Studies

Brandi Lucier started teaching at the University of Windsor in the Labour Studies program as a sessional instructor in 2005. She has been a Sessional Lecturer II (teaching primarily in the new Work and Employment Issues Certificate) in Women’s and Gender Studies since the Fall 2014 term. Prof. Lucier has a M.A. in History (University of Windsor) and her Ph.D. studies (ABD McMaster University) focus on the intersection between the labour and human rights movements in Canada. Prof. Lucier teaches labour law and workers’ rights, worker health and safety, and conflict resolution.

In 2013 Prof. Lucier was appointed to the Board at the Windsor Occupational Health Information Service (WOHIS) – a community-based organization that provides health and safety information to employees, employers, agencies, and students. As a member of the WOHIS Board she is directly involved in the WOHIS-OHCOW Preparing Youth in Windsor/Essex County for the Workplace initiative; a for-youth-by-youth engagement program that prepares students for the workplace by educating them on their employment standards and health and safety rights.

Prof. Lucier is also holds certification from the Ministry of Labour in: Violence and Harassment (2017), Globally Harmonized WHMIS (2016), and Basic Health and Safety and has taken the Canadian Labour Congress “Facing Management Effectively” workshop (2016). She also holds certificates in Alternative Dispute Resolution/Principled Negotiation and Dealing with Difficult People from the Stitt, Feld, Handy Group, Toronto (2019).

Prof. Lucier served on the 2015-2017 Contract Committee and the 2017 Negotiating Team. She currently serves as Chair of the Status of Women, Diversity, and Equity Action Committee and holds the VP-Status of Women, Diversity, and Equity position on WUFA Executive and has been nominated for a second term in this position. She currently represents WUFA Executive on the Contract Committee.
 

Tamsin Bacon,
 Library

Tamsin Bacon has been a librarian at the University of Windsor since 2005, specializing in the area of information literacy. She currently serves as Head (Acting) of the Information Services department. Additionally, she teaches the Mentorship & Learning course in FAHSS, and coordinates the B.A (Hons) Aeronautics Leadership Program.

Tamsin has been a member of the WUFA Contract Committee three times, serving during the 2014, 2017 and 2021 bargaining rounds. This is her first time on the WUFA Negotiating Team.

Rajesh Seth,
Civil & Environmental Engineering

Rajesh joined the University of Windsor as a full-time faculty member in 2002.  He has been actively involved with WUFA in a variety of roles since 2004.  Between 2004-2016, he served as a Grievance Officer, followed by several years as a member of the Grievance Committee. Since then, he continues to assist members to meetings with administration as a WUFA representative.  He is also a current WUFA Faculty Council member as the Faculty of Engineering representative, a position he has served on since 2018.

In his involvements with WUFA Rajesh has become intimately aware of the complex and diverse composition of WUFA, including the various needs and issues of several groups within the Association.  His interest in choosing to serve on the Negotiating Teams is to work together with others to find a balance between the needs for all the groups and sub-groups within WUFA.  

Click here for more information regarding WUFA preparations for Negotiations 2021