The last meeting between the University’s negotiating team and the Faculty Association’s team was Thursday, February 2nd. As a result of that meeting, negotiations have now stalled.
The last meeting between the University’s negotiating team and the Faculty Association’s team was Thursday, February 2nd. As a result of that meeting, negotiations have now stalled.
This post focuses on the top bargaining issue for most of us: the Faculty Association’s proposal for a general wage increase in response to current inflation trends.
On Friday, January 17, 2020, the bargaining teams for UBC and the Faculty Association reached an agreement for a new Collective Agreement for the period July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022. Both the Faculty Association and the University worked hard over the past year to reach this mutually agreeable settlement.
When the Faculty Association negotiates a new Collective Agreement with UBC, one of the issues that often seems intuitive and straightforward is actually an important part of our work to help our members: a General Wage Increase (GWI). There are four main factors that contribute to the core importance of negotiating a strong GWI.
The purpose of the general wage increase (GWI), as Arbitrator Taylor put it, is “to keep pace with inflation and the general state of salaries elsewhere.” [2013 arbitration decision, UBC vs UBCFA, paragraph 111, page 51]. The Collective Agreement Part 1, Article 11.02eii)actually refers to two different price inflation rates: changes in the Vancouver and Canadian Consumer Price Indices. However for purposes of analysis and prediction it is sufficient to look only at a single index. We explain our proposed general increase below.
In our bargaining blog this week, we discussed our proposal to remove the contract-specific dates on which PTR increases (CPI, Merit, and PSA) are implemented so that faculty members would receive anticipated annual salary increases even when we have not finished negotiating the next collective agreement. While the University has not agreed to this proposal, President Gupta has assured the Faculty Association that interest accrued on our delayed salary increases has nothing to do with the University’s position on this issue. We accept unequivocally his assurances.
You will have noticed increases on your October 15 paycheque, as the University paid out the salary increases they owed you for 2012-2013. The increases they owe you for 2013-2014 will likely start to show up on the December 15 paycheque.
On July 25, 2013, the Faculty Association and the University sent out a joint memorandum describing the details of the arbitration award for the years 2012 – 2014. We also linked to the actual award so that members could read it in its entirety. However many members have found the entire award a bit much to internalize and have asked us for a short, non-technical, explanation of the reasoning behind the salary settlement. Here it is.
On July 25, 2013, the Faculty Association and the University sent out a joint memorandum describing the details of the arbitration award for the years 2012 – 2014. We also linked to the actual award so that members could read it in its entirety. However many members have found the entire award a bit much to internalize and have asked us for a short, non-technical, explanation of the reasoning behind the salary settlement. Here it is.
The salary structure of every university in Canada comprises, to a greater or lesser extent, two major components; across-the-board increases (Bargaining Blog 2012 – Salaries at Comparator Institutions) previously discussed), and progress through the ranks (PTR), which at UBC is also called the career advancement plan (CAP).
What is our primary objective in looking at a salary increase for 2012-2014? Our primary objective is to achieve a sufficient across-the-board (ATB) salary increase to protect the entire salary structure of our members from the effects of inflation, and to ensure that salaries at UBC maintain pace with salaries at other Canadian universities of comparable academic quality and size.
Just before midnight on Friday, November 19th the bargaining teams for UBC and the Faculty Association reached a tentative agreement to conclude a new Collective Agreement for the period July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2012.
The UBC administration has recently released a bargaining communiqué, dated Thursday, November 4th. The communiqué contains a series of misleading statements, some of which might charitably be described as “spin” and some of which are completely false.
On October 12, 2010, Arbitrator Martin Teplitsky released his decision in the interest arbitration between the University of Toronto and the University of Toronto Faculty Association.
Today the Faculty Association made a compensation proposal to the University covering the period July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. Our compensation proposal was delayed because the University only recently received its budget letter. The budget letter plays a crucial role in negotiations at UBC, both formally and substantively.
