YUFA
Communiqué
YUFA
Communiqué
2001
YUFA
bargaining newsletter
23 July 2001
In
this issue ...
MANOEUVRINGS
ON MONEY
YUFA
has been working hard to produce momentum in bargaining on monetary
issues. The union’s top monetary priorities are to reduce workloads and
make them more consistent, to increase salaries meaningfully, and to
improve retirees’ benefits.
“Moves
on our part have been used to encourage counterproposals by the management
team,” said Penni Stewart, YUFA’s Acting Chairperson.
“This
approach has been especially successful on retiree benefits, where the
parties are now $250 000 apart, down from $700 000 just a few weeks ago.
On salary and workload, we’re now applying the same strategy.”
According
to Stewart, progress is now more rapid than it had been by July, when the
parties last negotiated in 1999. Both YUFA and management have stated that
they are committed to reaching a tentative settlement by month’s end.
Workload
YUFA’s
workload proposals in three main areas — librarians’ research time and
complement, undergraduate teaching, and graduate teaching — have
monetary implications.
Only
a small gap remains between the parties’ positions on librarians’
entitlement to research days. In the latest of a series of proposals and
counterproposals, YUFA now seeks one additional research day for each of
the 36 librarians, while management would have the librarians compete for
a pool of 20 additional research days. YUFA proposes an increase of three
in the librarian complement, but the Employer has not moved on this issue.
In
its earlier proposals on faculty workload, YUFA sought blanket
improvements for faculty teaching large classes, co-ordinating large
numbers of TAs, or preparing internet courses. YUFA has recently revised
its faculty workload language to specify that a $1 million funds be spent
to address issues related to undergraduate teaching load.
YUFA’s
new model also addresses the Employer’s concern that units retain
discretion in how to calculate “normal” teaching loads. In response,
the Employer has broken its long silence on workload issues related to
undergraduate teaching by proposing improvements worth some $175 000.
On
graduate supervision, YUFA proposes an equity adjustment to the teaching
loads of faculty members who receive no credit for graduate supervision.
In units with normal teaching loads in excess of 2.5 courses, such members
would receive a half course reduction for involvement in graduate
programmes.
However,
the Employer has been proposing a ‘fee for service’ model. For each primary
supervision, faculty members with normal course loads of 3.0 would receive
a 0.125 course reduction.
Salary
Exchanges
of new counter-proposals on salary issues have just gotten underway. On
base salaries, YUFA is currently proposing 5.7%, spread over two years.
Management has increased its base salary offer from 1.0% per year to 1.5%
per year, while signalling that there is room for movement “to conclude
a deal.”
“The
Employer’s most recent salary offer is still abysmally low,” Stewart
comments, “but we have been able to induce some improvement.”
The
management proposals continue to emphasize funds to be distributed at the
Employer’s discretion, such as marketability and merit funds.
Retiree
benefits
For
retiree benefits funding, YUFA has recently scaled its demand down from $1
million to $700 000. This amount would suffice to extend benefits to those
who retire in the next two years and to improve substantially the
available benefits.
The
Employer had initially refused to increase retiree benefits funding beyond
the existing $300 000. In response to YUFA’s move, management has now
offered $450 000 — enough to fund benefits for new retirees, but not yet
enough to cover any improvements.
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SOLID
PROGRESS ON MOST NON-$ ISSUES
Bargaining
teams for YUFA and management are nearing tentative agreement on most
non-monetary issues, with the exception health & safety.
“Progress
here has been steady,” said Penni Stewart, YUFA’s Acting Chairperson.
“On almost all non-monetary issues, and particularly those falling under
the broad rubric of equity issues, the Employer has shown a real
willingness to take up YUFA’s substantive concerns.”
However
on health & safety, Stewart characterized the Employer as “balking
completely.”
Lorna
Erwin, Vice Chair External, is YUFA’s health & safety expert. She
explains what recent legislative changes by the Ontario government mean
for members.
“With
Bill 57, government gave up its responsibility for enforcing critical
aspects of health & safety.
“It
is therefore imperative,” said Erwin, “that YUFA negotiate new health
& safety language. Without it, we will have less control over our
conditions of work and greater difficulty holding the employer
responsible.”
YUFA
and the Employer have now agreed tentatively to:
-
· update parental leave provisions to take into account changes to Employment Insurance
-
· specify that extraordinary elder/child care can be grounds for a short-term leave
-
· allow junior librarians to apply to funding for research support
-
· establish a committee that will address workload issues arising from e-mail and other electronic contact with students
-
· protect probationary employees from the requirement that they teaching in consecutive summers
-
· set 10 as the maximum number of consecutive months for required teaching assignments
The
parties continue their work on procedures for addressing sexual harassment
complaints, creation of a funded Task Force on Inclusivity &
Diversity, and improvements to the accommodations guaranteed for persons
with disabilities.
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NOTES
Get
the facts
Negotiating
FactSheets on Toronto’s cost of living, health & safety issues, and
workload problems and proposals are available at – http://www.yufa.org/cb/index.html#issues
Watch
the website for upcoming fact sheets on YUFA’s salary proposals and
retiree benefits issues.
‘Dear
Bargaining Team’
YUFA’s
Collective Bargaining Team would appreciate hearing your thoughts on
bargaining. Drop them a line at –
bargaining@yufa.org
Equity
input
The
Executive Committee thanks Jody Warner (Chair, Equity Committee) for
consulting with the Bargaining Team on the sexual harassment policy
proposal.
New
bargaining supporters
Welcome
to Harry Smaller (Education), a new member of the Bargaining Support
Committee. The committee also thanks Walter Giesbrecht (Library) for his
research on cost-of-living statistics.
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MASTHEAD
Communiqué
YUFA
bargaining newsletter
Kathy
Bischoping
Information Officer
Production:
CUPE 1281
Smail:
4700, 241SSB, M3J2R6
Email: yufa@yorku.ca
Telephone: 416 736 5236
Fax: 416 736 5850
Web: www.yufa.org