UPDATE: Union Response to Pay Date Change Fiasco

Dear Members,

Yesterday, we asked you for your stories and I’ve spent the past day reading so many distressing stories about you were affected in the aftermath of the Pay Date Change.  I learned that a substantial number of our members have suffered negative financial consequences from being improperly informed and underprepared for the shift to “Pay in Arrears.”   

It became clear from your stories if everyone fully understood the situation, a much greater number of faculty would have taken the loan option and are now struggling to manage.  This is more evidence of how severely our members are affected by inflationary pressures and regional unaffordability.  Dozens of faculty members living paycheque to paycheque are teetering on the brink of financial disaster from just one week’s gap in pay.  

When this was brought to the Union’s attention, we felt enough members raised this issue to warrant an official Union response.  Since learning of so many members being in similar situations, the union requested, and Lane Trotter has agreed, that the College will reinstate the loan option through the end of February to all employees affected by the change.  We know that this is too little and far too late but we hope that it helps in a small way.  Almost nothing can be done from a legal perspective, but everyone who has shared their story (no names will be used) helps us form an important narrative about increasing financial precarity and how our wages aren’t keeping up, which we plan to use during bargaining.

By sharing your stories, together we were able to hold the College accountable for not providing clear communication on such a crucial issue.  As a further result, the Union has also been invited to provide feedback on the “Employee Life Cycle” and HR restructuring projects, so we want to know more about if you are having issues with either.  While reinstating the loan might help to mitigate some of the financial damage already done to our members, we’ve informed the College that the emotional and relational damage that’s been done will require much more to heal. 

This is why we need to demonstrate our solidarity and your presence during bargaining will help.  We have three days of bargaining scheduled during Reading Break: February 21, 22, and 23.   If you are interested in observing on any of these days, contact Kelly Pitman at ac.nusomac@namtip. We need the employer’s agreement to bring observers, so please let us know before reading week if you are interested.