Deal includes salary raises, flex-credit hikes: UWOFA
The new faculty collective contract, agreed to on Dec. 5 achieved important gains in compensation and benefits, job security for contract faculty and the use of student questionnaires on courses and teaching.
The 2018-2022 collective agreement, approved by the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA), includes scale increases of 1.5 per cent for full-time members in years one through three and a 1.75 per cent scale increase in the fourth year.
Full-time faculty members will also receive substantial lump-sum increases to their base salary in the first three years of the new agreement, as well as merit pay increases in all four years. A career trajectory fund will be established in the fourth year — first to correct gender-based anomalies, then any remaining funds will be allocated to those whose salaries are below a trajectory appropriate to their career stage compared to similar faculty members at comparable universities, said the union.
Part-time faculty members’ base salary will increase by 2.2 per cent in each year of the four-year agreement, said UWOFA.
Flex credits for full-time members will increase to $2,250 in the first year of the new agreement and to $2,500 in years two, three and four, said the union.
Members with a limited-term appointment will now be eligible for limited-term no-end-date status after 12 years of continuous appointment. The threshold was previously at 14 years, said UWOFA.
The new contract also provides for the creation of at least 12 teaching scholar positions. These teaching-focused faculty positions will be recruited internally and are intended to provide job security for contract-faculty members. The positions are full-time continuing-teaching appointments with a scholarship workload component, rather than short-term contract positions, said the union.
