SMUFU BARGAINING SURVEY
Salary Issues
What minimum salary increase do you think is reasonable in each year of a three-year agreement? (i.e., percentage increase applied to the salary scale without including increases from promotion or additional years of service?) Cost of living increases are running at about 2.7% per year.
Are you willing to strike to achieve your minimum increase?
4. Yes ________ No __________
In previous rounds of bargaining we began to restructure the salary scale by removing steps at the bottom of the scale and by making all remaining step increases full-steps (some steps at the top of the scales are partial steps that do not provide full increments). This restructuring results in greater career earnings and benefits the majority of our faculty. Removing the lower steps also makes the starting salaries more competitive with other universities. Are you in favour of continuing this process?
5. Yes ________ No __________
Are you willing to strike to achieve salary restructuring?
6. Yes ________ No __________
The University pays market supplements to faculty in certain disciplines; that is, the faculty are paid over the minimum mandated by their appropriate step on the salary scale. At present the supplement is totally under control of the President of the University with supplements costing more than 5% of the salary mass, about $1.2 million. Recognizing that overscales may be necessary to attract quality faculty in those areas, they can be problematic in the sense that they are often used as merit supplements rather than market supplements and cause salary inversion with less experienced faculty in a Department receiving much more in terms of the supplements than their older colleagues. Below are some ways that other university faculties have dealt with market supplements. Do you agree or disagree with each of the different alternatives.
7. Maintain the existing system, i.e. status quo.
Strongly Disagree _____ Disagree ______ Neutral ______ Agree _______ Strongly Agree_____
8. Establish a University wide committee, similar to the Appointments or Review committees, to review the appropriateness of market supplements.
Strongly Disagree _____ Disagree ______ Neutral ______ Agree _______ Strongly Agree_____
9. Limit the amount of the salary mass that can be spent by the Administration on market supplements.
Strongly Disagree _____ Disagree ______ Neutral ______ Agree _______ Strongly Agree_____
10. Ensure that market supplements reflect the market and are not used to favour faculty seen to be more meritorious than others.
Strongly Disagree _____ Disagree ______ Neutral ______ Agree _______ Strongly Agree_____
11. Require the same market supplement to be paid to all members of a discipline
Strongly Disagree _____ Disagree ______ Neutral ______ Agree _______ Strongly Agree_____
12. Require periodic review, and revision, of supplements to ensure they reflect the current market value.
Strongly Disagree _____ Disagree ______ Neutral ______ Agree _______ Strongly Agree_____
13. Are you willing to strike to achieve positions you agreed with?
Yes ________ No __________
Benefits
In the last round of negotiations we established the SMUFU Health and Wellness Trust that assumed responsibility for our benefits. The Employer currently contributes 2.4% of the salary mass to the Trust. The Trust would like to see this contribution increased to allow improvement in the benefits package with no cost t faculty or a reduction in the premiums paid by faculty. Contributions to the Trust by the employer are tax free while faculty pay for their share of the premiums with after tax dollars.
Since we are likely to negotiate from a total compensation framework where all dollar increases are costed together, whether salary or other items., we need to know the increase in the Employer’s contribution to the benefit Trust that you would support.
I would support the following increase to the current payment of 2.4% of the salary mass:
14. Increase the payment to 2.7% over three years; that is, an increase of 0.3%
Yes _________ No____________
15. Increase the payment to 3.0% over three years; that is, an increase of 0.6%
Yes _________ No____________
16. Increase the payment to 3.3% over three years that is, an increase of 0.9%
Yes _________ No____________
17. I would like the contribution increased to _____________ % over three years.
18. Are you willing to strike to achieve the benefit contribution you endorsed?
Yes ________ No __________
19. Is there any improvement or addition to benefits that you would like to see? Keep in mind that changes to the benefits are determined by the Trust. We will compile and forward these issues to the Trust for their consideration. Please be specific
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One important issue is the payment of health and dental benefits for retired members. Since retirees receive no salary, they are not included in the salary mass and the Employer’s contribution must be made up by the Trust in addition to any premiums the retirees might pay.
20. Are you in favour of negotiating a payment from the Employer on behalf of retirees, recognizing that any contribution will be part of our total compensation?
Yes ________ No __________
21. Are you in favour of the Trust extending health and dental benefits, in some form, to retirees, regardless of an Employer contribution on their behalf?
Yes ________ No __________
22. Are you willing to strike to achieve the retiree benefit contributions?
Yes ________ No __________
Workload
Another issue that may be contentious is the issue of workload. Please indicate how important you feel the following issues are:
Very Somewhat Not at all
Important Important Important
12. Increased faculty complements 1 2 3 4 5
13. Decreased or limited class sizes 1 2 3 4 5
14. Making the 3-2 load automatic 1 2 3 4 5
15. Reduced teaching for new hires 1 2 3 4 5
16. Better recognition for service 1 2 3 4 5
(e.g., course reductions)
17. Better recognition for thesis supervision 1 2 3 4 5
18. Better recognition for Chairs 1 2 3 4 5
19. Better recognition for Coordinators 1 2 3 4 5
20. Other workload issue(s) important to you (Please specify) ___________________________________________________________________________
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20. Which workload issue is MOST important to you? __________________________________
21. Are you willing to go on strike if the University won’t agree to these workload issues?
Yes ________ No _________
In past negotiations, the University proposed special lecturer, primarily teaching positions with little or no administration or research responsibilities; these positions had separate pay scales. It is possible that the University will make this suggestion again, as these types of positions exist at other universities.
22. Do you support the creation of a limited number of teaching only
positions where the instructor was responsible for teaching up to 10 courses
per calendar year? Yes ________ No ________
23. Do you support teaching only positions where the instructor’s duties are limited to teaching laboratories and introductory classes?
Yes ________ No ________
24. Do you support teaching only positions if they can only be created with the consent of the department where the position is housed?
Yes ________ No ________
25. I am opposed to any
type of teaching only position.
Yes
_________ No ________
26. I am willing to strike to prevent the creation of teaching only positions. Yes _____ No _____
Retirement Issues
The Nova Scotia Government has abolished mandatory retirement effective July 1, 2009. In the last round of negotiations we established an Early Retirement Incentive Plan and made provision for faculty to stay on for up to three years post-65. Please answer the following questions related to retirement.
Strongly Somewhat Strongly
Support Support Oppose
27. Early retirement incentives should be improved
to make it possible for more people to retire earlier than
age 65. 1 2 3 4 5
28. Faculty presently working past age 65 on July 1, 2009
should be restored to full salary and rights. 1 2 3 4 5
29. Faculty working past age 65 should receive pension
contributions to the legal maximum age. 1 2 3 4 5
30. I am willing to go on strike in support of my positions Yes ___ __ No________
Pension
We have a defined contribution pension plan where each pay a fixed percentage of money is placed in a member’s account. On retirement, your pension is whatever you can negotiate in the market with the money that has accumulated. The pension savings are also at the mercy of market fluctuations with value increasing or decreasing with the stock market. Defined contribution plans place all the risk on the backs of the plan members. One alternative is a defined benefit plan where the employer is obligated to pay a certain percentage of an employee’s salary upon retirement. This type of plan places all the responsibility on the Employer. There are pros and cons to both types of plans. Another type of plan is a hybrid plan where the base plan is a defined contribution plan s we have now, but there is a guarantee by the employer of a minimum pension for the member, should the defined contribution plan not achieve a targeted percentage of salary as a pension for the member.
31. Are you in favour of the
Yes __ No______
Collegial Governance
A recurring issue of the last couple of years, one that has become increasingly problematic for faculty members, is the distinct erosion of the collegial process at the University. As you may be aware, the Collective Agreement has a clause, which outlines the principle of collegiality and affirms that the University is supposed to operate in this manner. However, many faculty believe that the Executive Management Group (the President and the three Vice-Presidents) have increasingly managed the University with a corporate mentality rather than in a collegial manner. We made collegiality an issue in the last round of negotiations. We would be particularly interested in hearing about any experiences you may have had with changes in how the university is being administered, and how this affects your work.
32. Has collegiality improved over the past three years?
33. Please tell us what collegiality issues you would like to see improved.
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34. Last chance: Are there any other issues you would like to draw to our attention?
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