YUFA EMBA Arbitration

As the letter explains, YUFA grieved the new program when the Employer refused to negotiate the terms & conditions of employment for YUFA members who were to teach in the new program.

The YUFA Executive voted to move to arbitration in August after seven months of unsuccessful attempts to convince the Employer to negotiate.

The Executive MBA is a joint program of Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management and York's Schulich School of Business. The 2-year, $85 000 degree is aimed at Canadian business executives.

The case is important to all YUFA members as it reveals difficulties academic unions face in the current environment of privatization and deregulation in Canadian post-secondary education.

To: YUFA Members of the Schulich School of Business
From: Susan Dimock, President YUFA
Date: October 1, 2002
Re: Compensation for Teaching in the Schulich-Kellogg Executive MBA Program

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to inform you that the YUFA Executive has voted to proceed to arbitration over the issue of compensation paid to/offered to YUFA members teaching modules in the joint Schulich-Kellogg Executive MBA Program. We have taken this decision after failing to reach a satisfactory settlement of the issue with the employer through discussions at the Joint Committee on the Administration of the Agreement (JCOAA) and the use of other grievance mechanisms in the Collective Agreement (CA) between YUFA and the York University Board of Governors. The YUFA Executive has not taken the decision to proceed to arbitration lightly, and I would like to take the time to explain briefly our reasons for doing so. I will confine myself to the issue of compensation for YUFA members teaching modules in the Executive MBA Program.

The matter at issue is the compensation level offered to/paid to YUFA members for teaching modules (15 hours of in-class teaching) in the Executive MBA Program. Such teaching has been variously described as "overload" or "off load". The rate of pay offered for teaching such modules is approximately $24,000 per course.

Two clauses of our CA are especially relevant to YUFA's understanding of this issue. First, YUFA is "the sole and exclusive bargaining agent of the members of the bargaining unit", as recognized under Article 2. As such, YUFA is responsible for and empowered to negotiate rates of pay with the employer, subject to ratification by the YUFA membership, for all bargaining unit work. Such work includes, but is not confined to, teaching in any degree-granting program at York University. As such, the teaching done by YUFA members for the Executive MBA falls squarely within the CA.

Second, Article 25 of the CA specifies how rates of compensation are to be set. A member's base salary includes all compensation for carrying out his or her normal workload, including normal teaching load (together with research, scholarly or creative activity, and service to the University). Article 25.09 specifies the rate of compensation for "overload" teaching. The rate for overload teaching, for Course Directors, is currently $8316. All course directorships by YUFA members in degree granting programs offered by York University fall within the categories of either part of "normal teaching load" or "overload". There are no further categories corresponding to "off load" or other forms of paid teaching performed by YUFA members for York University.

It is YUFA's position that the employer is barred from altering the terms of employment, workload or levels of compensation paid to members of the bargaining unit outside of the terms of the CA. Such alterations must be negotiated with YUFA at the bargaining table. Plans for the Executive MBA were made, moreover, within a time frame that allowed the employer (in the spring and summer of 2001) to negotiate exceptional rates of pay for YUFA members participating in the program. YUFA has in the past recognized that extraordinary circumstances or need justify making exceptions to the provisions generally specified in the CA, and we have negotiated such exceptions with the employer for the benefit of our members. Yet the Administration did not bring the issue of extra pay for bargaining unit members who were to participate in the Executive MBA program to the table when the parties were bargaining to renew the Collective Agreement in 2001. Instead, they unilaterally offered a rate of pay that far exceeds any recognized within the CA to select members of the faculty in Schulich, informing YUFA of the rate of pay in January '02.

We must protest such a blatant violation of the Collective Agreement, the failure to use legally available means to establish salary rates, and the disregard for YUFA as the exclusive bargaining agent for its members. YUFA must be concerned in such a case to preserve its exclusive and statutory right and duty to bargain on behalf of its members, including pay rates and equitable distribution of work. It is important to note, moreover, that the interests of individual members and the Association are not in opposition in this case. YUFA does not want to deny a significant benefit to its members. Rather, we want to ensure that such benefits are enjoyed as widely as possible. And, crucially, we want to ensure that when the employer relies upon extraordinary circumstances in order to create inequality within the faculty, that the need really does justify the exception, that the benefit is attached to positions that are wholly voluntary and open to all qualified candidates on terms that are fair and equitable. The concern that such wages will be distributed arbitrarily and inequitably is a real concern, not only at YUFA but among some colleagues at Schulich as well.

We know that this matter has caused considerable anxiety among some of our members at Schulich. We regret that the employer choose to violate the CA rather than negotiate with us as it was required to do under The Ontario Labour Relations Act, thus creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and stress that is detrimental to the well-being of our colleagues. We also know that some members of YUFA have performed the work offered by the employer, with the expectation that they would be paid the rate of $24,000 per module. In March '02, YUFA proposed, as a potential settlement of the grievance, that we would grandparent those people who taught modules at the promised rate of $24,000 with the understanding that the employer would acknowledge that teaching in the Executive MBA program, like all other teaching by YUFA members, is governed by the CA. The employer rejected YUFA's proposal in May. Knowing that YUFA members had already taught modules in the program, and had not yet been paid, YUFA informed the employer that those members must be paid at the overload rate and that the employer could not continue to withhold payment.

Despite ongoing discussions between January and August, YUFA and the employer failed to reach a settlement. In August '02, therefore, the YUFA Executive voted to proceed to arbitration. In seeking a remedy for the employer's violation of the CA through arbitration, we shall be seeking an end to this situation, and will insist that all YUFA members be paid in accordance with the terms of the CA. We are seeking the earliest possible dates for a hearing of this matter, though it is unlikely that such dates will be available before early in 2003.

Yours, in solidarity,

Susan Dimock
President, YUFA

Grievances