Volume 27, No. 9             Editor:  Mark Langer                April, 1997.



                          STRIKE AT YORK UNIVERSITY

 

As we go to press, York faculty and librarians continue the strike that

began on 21 March 1997.  Prominent among the issues separating York's

administration and the York University Faculty Association are

compensation, retirement and working conditions.  York's management claims

that its final offer includes an increase in base salary and benefits of

5.56% over a two year period, a further two million dollars or 2.67%

committed to base salary increments to correct salary anomalies, a renewal

of the Professional Expense Allowance of $1,025 per year, and a pension

contribution holiday of $1,900 per member to be distributed at YUFA's

discretion. Administration wants compulsory retirement at age 65 for York

faculty and librarians, and offers to undertake studies of workload. 

 

YUFA's position calls for a further 2.6% cost of living adjustment in each

of the two years of the contract, an increase in the salary anomaly fund,

and payment of normal current grid increments with adjustment for

inflation.  The union wants to retain flexible retirement options, freeze

norms for class sizes at 1992 levels, and receive guarantees of adequate

instructional, infrastructural and research support. 



Compensation is a central issue.  Management claims that York faculty are

paid at levels comparable to such universities as Carleton, Western,

Wilfrid Laurier and Queens.  YUFA points out that management figures omit

salaries at the University of Toronto, whose members' compensation average

exceeds that at York by over $10,000 per annum.  YUFA asserts that York

salaries are $2,000 below the average of Ontario universities. 

 

The York University Faculty Association has been without a contract for

almost a year.  When the previous contract expired, management

unilaterally stripped the contract of a number of its provisions,

affecting, among other things, retirement.  Management wishes to base

current negotiations on the imposed contract provisions, while the union

wishes to base them on the previous contract. 



The following is a statement from the Canadian Association of University

Teachers regarding the strike at York University: 



The strike of the faculty at York University concerns academic staff not

only at York but also across the country. The issues at stake are

profoundly important. So too is the general administrative atmosphere and

style at York which exacerbates the situation through managerial

arrogance. 



The tone of the negotiations was set last summer. The administration

decided to end negotiations and to proceed to the legally mandated

conciliation phase. They moved quickly through this phase and shortly

afterward announced that they would impose new terms in some sections of

the collective agreement. Those with some memory will recall a similar but

unsuccessful manoeuvre by the administration at Memorial University last

year. In effect, in both cases the administration said that they were

going to proceed in this unilateral manner and dared the union go on

strike. Regardless of the merits of the Union's or the Administration's

position, this decision by the Administration struck at the very core of

both collective bargaining and of collegial administration. 



This ties into the more general problem of the "increasingly centralized

and managerial" nature of decision-making at York.  More and more of the

key decisions are made in a top-down management style.  The consequences

are clear. Class sizes grow.  Expensive decisions about the use of new

technologies are made without proper negotiation.  That is why the Union

has made class size and technological change an important part of the

negotiations. The Union wants the most effective education for York

students, not just the cheapest. 

  

The York faculty are with reason angry with the Administration about

salary matters. York has dropped to 12th place in Ontario from 4th place

ten years ago.  There is no money, the administration says. However, it

has stashed money away in a series of funds for use at the discretion of

the Board.  It has also repeatedly announced misleading salary figures.

For instance, although it is offering zero on scale, it tells the public

that it is offering 8%. It gets to that figure by adding up the automatic

steps on the salary grid, the salary that the university would have to pay

in any event including the step for the current academic year which is

nearly over.  Other employers such as school boards do not include the

annual steps in any announcement of salary increases unless, of course,

the steps have been increased, which they have not in this case. 

Furthermore, at York University in the past two years operating revenues

have exceeded operating expenditures by $15.6 million, not counting the

special funds noted above. The Administration has said that it has decided

to spend the money on other priorities.  Is it any wonder the faculty are

insulted by the transparently obvious magic arithmetic and by the

arrogance and remoteness of an administration that announces that it will

decide these issues of academic priorities?  Nothing could more clearly

underline the need for governance changes at York. 

  

The university administration should treat the negotiations seriously.

They should come to the bargaining table both with the authority to

negotiate and a desire to find solutions to the problems facing the

university. To date all we have seen is stonewalling.  That posture is not

likely to impress the students and the other members of the academic

community at York who expect better of their academic administrators. 

  

As this Communique went to press, details emerged from the two day

intensive mediation between the faculty association and administration. 

Administration had asked the association to suspend mediation efforts with

the Ministry of Labour and turn instead to an intensive mediation. 

Throughout the two day session, the administration made NO OFFERS while

YUFA indicated it was prepared to be flexible in the key areas of

retirement (where the administration had stripped the contract and imposed

its own article) and of compensation.  The reason given by York's

administration for its stance was that they had reached their mandate

before the mediation started and had no intention of changing it. 



The question is why did York ask YUFA to enter this mediation if they were

not willing to talk.  A reasonable conclusion is that they had intended

this procedure to fail from the beginning in the expectation that the

morale of YUFA members would be negatively affected by the failure of

mediation. 



At the Annual General Meeting on April 9, in response to YUFA's request

for financial strike support, the membership of CUASA granted YUFA $3090. 



Up to date news on the strike can be obtained at YUFA's web site at

http://www.yorku.ca/org/yufa/





                                HOUSING NOTICES

   

CUASA provides a list of housing notices as a service to its members. 

Notices must be submitted to the CUASA office in writing, either by mail,

by fax or by email.  Housing notices will not be accepted over the phone. 

CUASA cannot guarantee the placement of notices.  Previous issues are

available on the web at the CUASA Web page under the heading CUASA

Resources. 



Professional couple seeks furnished home rental starting summer 97 in

Manotick-Kars-Barrhaven-Richmond area.  University of Ottawa Professor. 

References available.  (613) 489-2581.