YUFA
Contract & Grievance
An
Update on SRC Appointments
Two days of
arbitration on the SRC grievance were held on April 24 and 25.
Four more days are scheduled over May, June and July. YUFA and the
Employer signed off agreement on two of the four issues.
For the
person over age 60 appointed with a five-year contract, YUFA was
successful in ensuring that Article 14.01 will apply and the final years
of the five-year contract (after this first year and a full year 100% pay
sabbatical the second year) will be at irrevocable reduced load (from 1/3
to 2/3 at the option of the individual) at reduced salary and full pension
contributions. This is the standard clause for any YUFA member retiring
with a low pension. There will also be the continuing right, like any YUFA
member, to teach overload courses at YUFA overload rates.
The right
of SRCs to teach an overload course has been grandfathered in for the full
five years of the current contracts for all those appointed last summer.
It will not be offered to new appointees (unless there are further
negotiations and an agreement with YUFA). However, all SRCs will retain the standard rights of YUFA
members to apply for overload teaching and will share the current right to
teach one course in the summer.
The
arbitrator investigated, effectively as a mediator, to see if there was
room for settlement on the following two remaining issues of workload and
salaries. YUFA’s position is that the workload of SRCs should be the
same as that of regular YUFA members and not a higher workload (which has
existed for some CLAs in Atkinson, etc. and over which we have filed a
separate grievance). With respect to these two issues the Employer only
moved as far as considering a one-time only payment and rejected a
proposal for salaries at least in line with those of alternate stream folk
of comparable experience - about $8,000 to $12,000 more per year. This
would eliminate the need for teaching a YUFA overload course to reach
appropriate salaries.
YUFA
introduced some evidence on the second day but the process thereafter was
painfully slow. The Employer did not accept YUFA’s proposal to a joint
agreement on a number of facts and documents, which would have saved at
least a day of testimony.
At a
subsequent meeting of C&G Chairs with Academic Staff Relations we
raised the further issue that SRCs should receive the same level of
support as YUFA tenure-stream people with respect to the implementation of
the proposed computer support / leasing arrangements. [We also raised the
question of appropriate support for CLAs as well.]
Initial information from Arts contained language about 'tenure
stream faculty' which raised doubts about the support that would be
offered.
As a final
piece of information, the first meeting of the Tripartite Committee of
YUFA, CUPE and the Employer on the process and criteria for renewal of SRC
contracts after the first five years was held.
While we receive our mandates from the YUFA Executive we will keep
in touch with the current appointees and the next five as soon as they are
announced. The next round of
five SRC appointments is now on the desks of the Deans and should come out
earlier than last year. We would also welcome input from YUFA members
regarding any concerns you may have. The session was fairly broad ranging,
holding in reserve the very real questions of whether the changed CUPE
language from last January applies to people appointed under the old CUPE
contract (the original eight) or even those appointed under the existing
YUFA contract (the next five). We
anticipate that the Employer will bring the changed CUPE language to the
YUFA bargaining table in the next months. We broached the possibility of
several models - from a full range of teaching, service and research, to
an 'alternate stream' model concentrating on teaching and service.
Explicit statements were made about the possibility that 'research' could
be broad enough to be satisfied by contributions in course development and
research related to teaching in the subject, or even in particular types
of courses, etc. No
agreements were reached.
I believe
there was an understanding that any process that could lead to nonrenewal
would include progressive warnings, and that expectations are not
unilaterally fixed by the unit, either at time of appointment, now, or
(even worse) at time of renewal.
We will
meet again in a few weeks. Suggestions regarding documentation, more
specific expectations and criteria in the three areas (or in an alternate
model, in two areas) would be useful.
The YUFA
representatives are Walter Whiteley, Leslie Sanders (VP internal) and John
Bell (an SRC and incoming member of C&G from Atkinson).
Walter
Whiteley
Co-chair YUFA Contract and Grievance.