Workload & Why It Matters

A tale as old as time, “This is the way it is because it is the way we’ve always done it.” Or this one, “If anyone says something, it could actually get worse for all of us, just wait until you’re continuing.” And the worst one yet, “it’s only happening to the Term faculty.”

We promote Fair Employment Week each October, but I say we should focus on it all month—all year—and especially when bargaining for our next contract. Why, you ask? Because fairness matters. It matters a lot.

Look around at your colleagues. Does everyone have the same workload? Is everyone enjoying the same opportunities? Let me tell you, the answer we’ve been learning is NO. Not by a long shot. And it isn’t ok.

A tale as old as time…

“We’ve always done it this way” isn’t an excuse or a defence against violating the collective agreement. And our employer just recently learned why that’s the case in our recent Arbitration Award win “Nursing Department Part-time Percentage Workload Calculations” arbitration award, “the Dorsey Award.” See, we grieved that our employer was underpaying part-time (also Term) faculty members – by A LOT. They claimed that they had been gratuitously overpaying full-time faculty. (Sound familiar?) And they LOST. They lost by a lot. Here’s why:

• Our employer can’t pay members of the same department different amounts for the same work (or assign different % of FTE).
• Established course combinations permissible for full-time workloads must be equal when the same work is assigned to part-time and term members.

How they are getting away with it…

The employer keeps us in the dark. We get copies of Term contracts and notice of when you regularize, but not much else. Do you know what we NEVER get? We don’t see the full-time work assignments of continuing faculty members. We don’t know when they deny your regularization. We don’t see when they turn you down for Right of First Refusal, and unless you tell us, we don’t see it when you are assigned overloads or shortchanged on FTE. What do I mean?

• Your contract has been written for just below 50%, or above 90%, but never 100%.
• Available work in your department has been fractioned below 50% to multiple people.
• Contact hours have exclusively been used calculate workload, or you’ve been told that certain workloads are “less” than other assignments even though you’re teaching the same course.
• “Magic Dust” is used to account for any workload discrepancy you’ve noticed (aka as “just the way we do it”.)
• Always has been done this way.

Well, none of these are legitimate defenses according the the Dorsey Award, and I quote,

When can the Union file a grievance?

Whenever we become aware of an issue! That means we need YOU to tell us when this is happening to you or your colleagues. The Dorsey Award clearly states that even though we get your contracts, we don’t have constructive knowledge of your departmental workload allocation calculations. AND our not knowing (and therefore not grieving) is not a defence of the employer’s violations. Even if your department has been doing it this way FOREVER, we can still grieve and still win.

• We can’t be expected to know what is going on in your departments, you have to tell us!
• We can grieve disparities whenever they come to our attention!
• Generally speaking, the employer is held to account for the length of the current contract.

Why does this matter so much now?

Two main reasons. # 1 Everyone’s workload is too much. (Seriously, it’s 9:30 PM on a STAT and I’m writing this blog post about how all of our workload is too much.) # 2 It is a bargaining year. That means we need everyone to tell us what’s going on with workload in your area. We have two main ways of changing the status quo.

• Grieve ALL violations.
• Bargain for better language & protections.

We need to be doing both. We need to all work together to succeed at both. So, be on the alert! You can always email us if you think your workload is wonky compared to your colleagues and we’ll be happy to review it with you. Be sure to fill out the Bargaining Survey when you can. We’re coming to your department meeting, and you can get the link during our Fall General Meeting.

Wanna read the deets?

Here’s the Dorsey Award in all its glory, followed by the settlement we obtained for the Nursing Department (which included back pay) and the Letter of Agreement, which establishes the workload percentages for all assigned courses in the department going forward. Let me be clear it is far from perfect. Longtime work patterns have been disrupted and there are many challenges to overcome. However, since the practice began based on the percentages alone, we have estimated that the college saved over a million dollars in wages and understaffed the department by 9 FTE.

Don’t let this happen in your department!

Nursing Department Part-time Percentage Workload Calculations

Nursing Department Settlement & Letter of Agreement