IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION BETWEEN:
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
(“University” or “UBC”)
AND:
FACULTY ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
(“Faculty Association” or “Association”)
INTEREST ARBITRATION 2013
[111] I also accept the Association’s submission that PTR rewards individuals’ career advancement; it is not a substitute for a general wage increase to keep pace with inflation and the general state of salaries elsewhere. As noted by Arbitrator Burkett in The University of Toronto and the University of Toronto Faculty Association, unreported, June 3, 1982:
The P.T.R. increases received by a faculty member over time are given in recognition of his increasing contribution to the University. … The purpose of the P.T.R. increase, therefore is not to advance the salary ranges but to recognize merit by moving individual faculty members through the salary ranges. Upward movement of the salary ranges is achieved by means of, and in the amount of, the annual economic increase. It follows that only the amount of economic increase should be included for purposes of determining how faculty salary ranges have fared over time. (para.27)
[104] Nonetheless, the overall picture that emerges is that salaries at UBC have fallen somewhat behind its relative place in terms of academic quality (or, perhaps more accurately, UBC’s academic quality has risen faster than its salaries). This factor tends to provide some support for an increase.
[121] Weighing the four enumerated factors based on all the information provided, I conclude that the factor of CPI would tend to support an annual increase of 1.5%. The second factor, general wage increases, would tend to support an annual increase of 2.5%. Taken together therefore, these two of the four factors would tend to support an annual increase of 2.0%.
To access the full document, please follow this link: Arbitrator Award
