YUFA
Contract
3 Mar 11 – Teaching workload has been a concern of the membership for many years, through several iterations of bargaining. The desire to contractually rebalance teaching and research workload has been a longstanding one. At the bargaining table in the last round of negotiations, YUFA's proposal was for a normal teaching load decrease for those units whose normal teaching load for the Professorial, tenure-stream was greater than 2.0 FCEs; the Employer refused to consider it, citing costs primarily. Appendix R was the best we could do at the time.
The YUFA representatives on the Joint Long Range Planning Subcommittee on Workload have reached a tentative agreement (link provided below) with the Employer on teaching load reductions for Professorial, tenure-stream faculty in units whose normal teaching load is greater than 2.0 FCEs. Additionally, at the initiative of the Employer, final agreement of this program will be conditional upon YUFA and the Employer reaching agreement on a new Teaching Stream category of full time faculty employment (within YUFA). Any agreements on teaching load reduction and on the introduction of a Teaching Stream would each require ratification by the YUFA membership. A summary of the tentative agreement on teaching load reduction is provided followed by a presentation of the details. It is provided for update and discussion at the Stewards’ Council meeting on 4 March 2011 and the General Membership meeting on 6 April 2011.
Summary: A sum of 1.5 million dollars assigned to the 2011-2012 salary increase was set aside to fund a reduction in teaching load to 2.0 FCEs. (Should the tentative agreement not be ratified, then the 1.5 million dollars will be paid as a base salary increment, effective for 2011-2012.) The tentative agreement is to provide, as a minimum, a 0.5 FCE course release on a two-year cycle for Professorial, tenure-stream faculty in units whose normal teaching load is greater than 2.0 FCE. Units would develop eligibility criteria in a collegial manner for approval of teaching load reductions. These eligibility criteria are subject to the approval of the Dean/Principal. Professorial, tenure-stream faculty members in these units will be invited by the Dean/Principal to request a teaching load reduction. This would not be a competitive process and all Professorial, tenure-stream faculty members meeting these criteria would be eligible to receive teaching load reductions. Should a teaching load reduction request not be approved, the Dean/Principal must provide a written explanation and the decision may be grieved on procedural grounds.
Details: The following is a discussion of details of the agreement. All quotations are from the tentative agreement.
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Reduction in Teaching Load: The tentative agreement would provide eligible Professorial, tenure-stream faculty “a reduction in teaching load to 2.0 FCEs over a period not to exceed two years”. Thus, the minimum teaching load reduction would result in a 2.0 FCE teaching load every second year. Reductions in teaching load have been incremental. In the previous Collective Agreement, for example, there was a reduction of the teaching loads of tenure-stream faculty in those units whose normal teaching load was 3.0 FCEs to 2.5 FCEs (Article 18.08.2 of the current Collective Agreement).
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Rationale: “The intention of this framework is to enhance the research/scholarly/creative capacity of eligible York faculty and thus enable greater research/scholarly/creative activity.”
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Eligibility Criteria: Appendix R of the Collective Agreement mandates development of eligibility criteria. Individual units will develop the eligibility criteria, which will be provided to the Dean/Principal for approval. Eligibility criteria will include “clearly identified eligibility criteria for research activity” that “recognize research and professional contributions in an equitable way … acknowledging diverse career paths, traditions and values” as well as service criteria. Further, the “research criteria are intended to characterize or define a reasonable standard of activity expected of Professorial tenure-stream faculty members” active in their field(s).
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Costing: A sum of 1.5 million dollars was set aside to partially cover the cost of teaching load reduction. The cost of the tentative agreement would significantly exceed 1.5 million dollars and the Employer is committed to provide the additional funding. However, there is provision in the tentative agreement for review of the costing and in the unforeseen event that the cost of implementation “is less in a given year than the combined amount of $1.5 million dollars and the value of Appendix O in the 2009-10 academic year, the difference will be made available to the Association and the parties shall promptly meet to determine how to best distribute the monies to employees in the bargaining unit”.
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Timing of Implementation: Teaching load reductions under this framework would be implemented in 2012-2013. For 2011-2012, a one-time-only payment of the 1.5 million dollars will be made to YUFA members. Should the tentative agreement not be ratified, then the 1.5 million dollars will be paid as a base salary increment, effective for 2011-2012.
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Relationship to Appendix O (Graduate Supervision): If the tentative agreement is ratified, then Appendix O will be removed from the renewal Collective Agreement and “Revised workload documents must make transparent how activities related to the supervision and advising of graduate students, including supervisory activities for which credit was previously given under paragraphs 5 and 6 of Appendix O, will be weighted within the unit in calculating normal teaching load by FCEs.”
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Relationship to Proposed Teaching Stream: As noted above, the final approval of the tentative agreement would be conditional on YUFA and the Employer reaching agreement on a new Teaching Stream category of full-time faculty appointments within YUFA. The Employer proposes that a Teaching Stream has the potential to provide an important means of supporting 2.0 FCE teaching load opportunities provided by the agreement while at the same time addressing the issue of casualization of academic work.
This tentative workload framework has the potential to increase transparency and reduce disparities in teaching loads across units and Faculties in the Professorial, tenure-stream. It creates a mechanism by which an estimated 600+ Professorial, tenure-stream faculty members would be potentially eligible for a 0.5 FCE reduction in their normal teaching load every second year.
The Executive has just received a proposal from the Employer for the Teaching Stream and will be discussing it at the next executive meeting. In negotiating a Teaching Stream as an amendment to the Collective Agreement, either party can withdraw at any time and any negotiated amendment would require ratification by the general membership. We will discuss the Teaching Stream proposal at the Stewards’ Council meeting on 1 April 2011 and at the Annual General Meeting on 6 April 2011. If a tentative agreement on the Teaching Stream is reached, it will be provided to the membership and then brought to a membership meeting, followed by a ratification vote.