Dear Colleagues,
We hope that your term is off to a good start.
This Friday, September 26, most UTFA members will receive the salary adjustments arising from Arbitrator Gedalof’s award dated July 3, 2025. The implementation will include the July 1, 2025, PTR/Merit increases and the awarded retroactive pay increases for July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024. (Please see below to learn more about which members are being denied these salary increases by the University Administration.) See here for our Executive summary of the award, the substance of which falls well short of ensuring that our current salary, benefits, and workload reflect the unparalleled value that UTFA members bring to our University.
You may have received, or are about to receive, your Salary Information Letter from your unit. As a result of our advocacy, UTFA and the Administration finalized a Q&A and an Annotated Pay Statement. These documents are intended to support faculty members and librarians with their understanding of the retroactive salary increases. As a matter of fairness, UTFA requested that the Administration distribute these documents to all UTFA members. Regrettably, and at the last minute, the Administration revised its position and advised UTFA that the documents would be shared with members only if the Deans' Offices elected to do so. This contravenes the parties’ good-faith agreement. In light of the reversal of the Administration’s position, UTFA is sharing those documents with you so that you can access all the relevant information.
UTFA is disputing two of the Administration’s interpretations of Arbitrator Gedalof’s award that is leading them to withhold salary increases from some of our members and former members. First, while there are no caveats or restrictions in the award, the Administration holds the view that new faculty and librarian hires who obtained a new appointment during the term of the agreement (July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025) will not receive an ATB and PTR adjustment during the first year of their employment. These members have received offer letters that contain some variation of the following statement:
This is a firm salary offer and will not be affected by any salary increase effective July 1, 20XX that may occur as a result of negotiations between the University and the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA), unless your salary falls below the applicable minimum amount in which case your salary will be increased to that minimum.
The second issue is that the Administration intends to withhold retroactive compensation from any members no longer employed as of June 30, 2025, with the notable exception of retirees. This means that any members who resigned, came to the end of a limited-term contract, were terminated, or passed away during the Award period would not receive retroactive adjustments for the period they were actively employed at UofT.
We disagree with these interpretations of Gedalof’s award and are bringing these issues forward to Arbitrator Gedalof. Both issues engage fundamental questions of fairness for faculty and librarians. UTFA’s position in bargaining and at arbitration has been that the ATB increase applies to all matters of compensation, without any exclusions. Arbitrator Gedalof’s decision did not limit the scope of the ATB increase. Junior faculty, in particular, are expressing great concern about the career impacts of the Administration’s position.
If you have any questions or concerns about your salary adjustment, please contact the Business Officer or Financial Manager in your academic unit. If they cannot provide you with a satisfactory response, please contact UTFA at advice@utfa.org with your questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jun Nogami
UTFA Vice-President, Salary, Benefits, Pensions & Workload
Terezia Zorić
UTFA President