Disagreement over the number of conversions
The number of conversions is negotiated in each collective agreement and has varied over time. From its start 3 decades ago, the number of conversions in any year has ranged from 1 to 8, with periods of higher numbers of conversions followed by periods of lower numbers. The number of 8 conversions in each year of the last collective agreement was unprecedented.
The parties have also, in some collective agreements, provided for Special Renewable Contracts (SRCs) which are positions in the full time faculty but are time limited and not in the tenure stream.
The University is offering two conversions to tenure stream and six SRCs in each year of the new agreement. Just as in the last agreement this allows eight CUPE 3903 contract faculty per year to become full time faculty members.
The difference from the last agreement goes to the need for open collegial searches to be the pre-eminent means of making full-time tenure stream appointments and to the capacity our departments and Faculties have told us they have for additional conversions following the 24 in the previous collective agreement. While we have many excellent contract faculty and have offered to create a program to assist them to be competitive in open searches, we are not prepared to compromise on the principle of open collegial searches and believe that the number of conversions in our offer strikes the right balance between this principle, the capacity of the departments and Faculties to accept more conversions and the job security interests of CUPE 3903.
Tenure stream appointments represent our present and future leaders in all aspects of the University’s academic mission – teaching, learning and research—and our students expect and deserve these leaders to be from among the most outstanding candidates possible.
The Union has a different view and insists that if an individual has had a certain volume of teaching for a lengthy period of time then the University ought to move that person to a full-time tenure stream position without the competition of an open search.
Job security programs in the Unit 2 collective agreement
There are significant job security programs in the Unit 2 collective agreement and the University has made a number of proposals to strengthen those in this round of negotiations.
The Collective Agreement recognizes seniority based upon past teaching and union experience. This seniority provides preferred access to available work for which the contract faculty are qualified. Seniority-based job security is further enhanced by a program called the Continuing Sessional Standing Program and another providing Long Service Teaching Appointments. Both grant additional protections around access to work and recurring employment. We have increased the protections in both of these in this round of collective bargaining.
While we recognize the particular value that CUPE 3903 places on the conversion program, it affects a relatively small number of Unit 2 employees. Seniority and the other programs we have improved provide job security protections for a substantial portion of the membership. Further, the collective agreement already privileges higher teaching intensity contract faculty in open searches for full-time faculty positions by guaranteeing them an interview if they meet the prima facie qualifications. We have also offered the Union the creation of a funded Career Advancement Program to support our employees in their application for the tenure stream appointments both at York and elsewhere.
The main issue with Unit 3
As one of its red line strike issues, CUPE 3903 is seeking to represent Master’s students who receive the Fellowship and do not have jobs with the University. CUPE 3903 is proposing that all full-time Master’s students be required to work as a Graduate Assistant and, as a result, be a member of the union.
Starting in the fall of 2016, financial support for full-time Master’s students is provided through the York Graduate Fellowship without a requirement to work.
In addition to the Fellowship, Master’s students also receive an annual healthcare bursary of $1,000 from the University which covers the cost of their enrolment in the Graduate Student Association healthcare plan and leaves them with additional funds on top of the benefits they receive from the Plan.
Prior to the introduction of the Fellowship, many Master’s students were required to work as a Graduate Assistant (GA) for their financial support, which often involved administrative or clerical tasks unrelated to their program. CUPE 3903 characterizes the shift from the requirement to work as a GA for financial support to funding through the Fellowship without a work requirement as “cutting” 700 or 800 jobs.
We believe that the issue of how graduate students are best funded—through non-taxable financial support or through a work requirement—has no place as a strike issue by a union certified to represent employees and not students. Most importantly, our Master’s students have voiced strong support for the Fellowship and the University is not prepared to negotiate away the prioritization of these students and their success by agreeing to abandon the new funding program and add a work requirement for financial support.
GA opportunities remain under the new Fellowship model. Faculty members are able to create meaningful GA experiences with funding through external grants and post those opportunities. To help promote the creation of these opportunities, the University’s Unit 3 offer proposes a two year program to provide incentive funding for external grant holders to hire a GA.
Unit 1 funding is secure and not “under attack”
Concerns communicated by CUPE 3903 that Unit 1 funding is under attack appear to centre on a funding component in the Unit 1 collective agreement called the “Minimum Guarantee.” The University has not proposed any changes to the Minimum Guarantee language or any other funding components in the collective agreement that diminish the funding or otherwise put it “under attack.”
Simply put, Unit 1 funding remains secure. In fact, Unit 1 funding not only remains secure, but the University’s offer proposes to enhance the funding through increases of over 2% in Graduate Financial Assistance and Supplementary Graduate Assistance in each year of the new collective agreement and by providing a more even distribution of funding over the academic year.
Importantly, the University’s offer responds to CUPE 3903’s concerns over funding, mentioning the York Fellowship in the collective agreement and providing Unit 1 members with the option of receiving the Fellowship in equal amounts each term, as currently occurs, or receiving the full amount of the Fellowship in the summer term when meeting the Minimum Guarantee funding component to provide a higher amount of summer funding.
Additional Information