Non-Monetary Negotiations are Over
At mediation, the Administration declined to continue to discuss the Association’s non-monetary issues unless the Association would first agree to fully accept the Administration’s monetary offer with no further negotiation (that is, “as is”). Non-monetary issues include tenure, promotion and reappointment concerns where, during the earlier October mediation session, the Association presented comparisons against the same 20 other Canadian universities that the Administration wanted to use as “comparable institutions.” Other institutions in Canada have some form of third-party investigation/oversight in those cases where the Administration overrules the recommendation of the relevant university-level tenure/promotion/reappointment appeal committee and simply denies reappointment, tenure or promotion; the University of Victoria does not.
At this point, then, the old Framework Agreement is automatically renewed for two years, subject only to those small changes agreed to at the negotiating table and at mediation thus far. These changes were ratified by the members by a vote of 345 to 11. For a list of changes, click here. This is the first time in the history of the Association that the Association and the Administration have not signed a four-year agreement.
Monetary Matters to Go to Arbitration
In the absence of an agreed-upon Salary Settlement, all outstanding monetary matters will go to arbitration, which will be held September 24-27. The mediator will now become the arbitrator for monetary matters. This has been a long, drawn out process which has led members of the Team to believe that the process in place at UVic for resolving salary matters is in need of change. Mediation took place in late October, after which a mediator’s report was issued. For further information regarding this report, including a copy of the report itself, click here.
After the mediator’s report was issued, a further mediation session took place on January 15, but resolved nothing. At mediation, the Administration declined to continue to discuss the Association’s non-monetary issues unless the Association would first agree to fully accept the Administration’s monetary offer with no further negotiation (that is, “as is”).
Further Behind….
During negotiations, the Association presented the administration with Statistics Canada data indicating that salaries here are not only significantly below the national average, but are, in fact, among the lowest of all research universities in Canada. The only two comparator universities with lower average salaries are the University of Manitoba, and the University of New Brunswick. The administration declined to discuss these data.
During the October phase of mediation, the administration offered a 2% raise in each of the agreement's two years. Manitoba had a 2.9% increase for 2012; New Brunswick has 3.5% increases for each of 2012 and 2013. If we had accepted the administration's offer, the consequence would be that UVic's average salary would be the lowest, without exception, among the 21 schools that the administration views as our comparators. We would also have fallen further behind at least 17 of these comparator institutions. For more details on the comparisons, click here.
2012-2013 Negotations Bargaining Bulletins
Bargaining Bulletin #1 - October 28, 2011 The Bargaining Process at UVic
Bargaining Bulletin #2 - November 30, 2011 Merit discussion
Bargaining Bulletin #3 - January 20, 2012 Comparison of Salaries with other Institutions
Bargaining Bulletin #4 - March 9, 2012 Defects in the Tenure, Promotion and Reappointment Process
Bargaining Bulletin #5 - March 19, 2012 University Finances and your Salary
Bargaining Bulletin #6 - March 30, 2012 The Membership Survey
Bargaining Bulletin #7 - May 1, 2012 Summary of UVicFA positions at the Negotiating Table
Bargaining Bulletin #8 - June 11, 2012 The salary non-offer
Bargaining Bulletin #9 - September 7, 2012 How Much Further Behind will UVic Be?
Bargaining Bulletin #10 – September 14, 2012 Fairness in Tenure, Reappointment and
Promotion Processes
Bargaining Bulletin #11 - September 21, 2012 Tuition Waiver for Members, Dependents and Spousess
Bargaining Bulletin #12 – October 1, 2012 It’s Your Money! LTD Premiums at UVic.
Bargaining Bulletin #13 – January 3, 2013 Phased-in Retirement Programs:
Why is the Administration Adverse to Co-operative Cost Saving Measures?
Bargaining Bulletin #14 – January 21, 2013 Last mediation session ends. What is next?
Bargaining Bulletin #15 – February 14, 2013 "Someone has to be Last."
Bargaining Bulletin #16 - April 5, 2013 "Gender Equity, Parental Benefits and Daycare".
Bargaining Bulletin #17 - May 14, 2013 "Will Long Term Disability Plan Trustees Move to Increase LTD Premiums?"
Questions or Comments
If you have have questions or comments for the 2012 negotiating team, please address them to Doug Baer, Chief Negotiator: uvcfaccb@uvic.ca
