Dear colleagues,
As you are likely aware, today - November 28th - is the day that most of you should receive your long-awaited across-the-board (ATB) 7% pay increase. (Note that the Administration first proposed 0%, and then 1.75% in bargaining.) We invite you to join us in marking the important work of your UTFA 2020-2023 Negotiating Team, who fought hard against the effects of the unconstitutional Bill 124 (and the Administration’s proposals) to get back on track toward catching up with inflation. This increase is in addition to the 3% ATB increases previously achieved in bargaining with the Administration, resulting in a cumulative total of 10% ATB (as compared to the Administration’s proposed 4.75% cumulative ATB) for the 2020-2023 Agreement.
In recent discussions with the Administration, UTFA insisted that the Administration provide you with transparent information about your salary calculations, including how your retroactive pay amount was determined. Despite our entreaties that they provide a clear means of accounting, the Administration insisted that your November pay statement would already be simple and intuitive to understand.
We advised the Administration that it is difficult for UTFA members to verify the accuracy of the calculations, including their gross retroactive payment amount. Neither the salary letter nor the pay statement includes the gross retroactive amount (only the net retroactive amount), and there are no details provided for members to confirm the retroactive amount. We have not yet seen how pension increases, due in February for retired faculty and librarians who were still employed in the 2022-2023 academic year, will be calculated.
While we can assure you that we will continue to push for the clarity you deserve, the Administration has asked us to suggest that you bring your questions to your unit’s Business Officer for clarification; we would add that, if you are not able to resolve your concerns that way, to please write to UTFA.
Finally, as mentioned above, we are currently bargaining with the Administration for our next agreement commencing July 1, 2023. Our Team opened this round of negotiations in September with proposals geared specifically toward cultivating more collaborative and collegial relations at the bargaining table. However, we (acutely!) feel the limits of the tools provided to us in our Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). In a separate communication to follow, we will provide you with further updates related to the current round of bargaining.
As ever, we welcome your thoughts, questions and feedback at faculty@utfa.org.
Sincerely,
Deb Cowen
Chair, Membership Committee
Ariel Katz
Vice-President, Salary, Pensions, Benefits, and Workload
Terezia Zorić
UTFA President