As most of you know, UTFA and the University administration formally negotiate a limited range of terms and conditions of employment on behalf of faculty and librarians at the University, within the framework of the existing Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) prescribing UTFA’s role in representing you. The items currently negotiable are salaries, benefits, pensions, and workload. Our last agreement expired on June 30, 2014. UTFA and the University administration are currently in negotiations but as of yet we do not have a new agreement. This note provides a very brief update and answers to some questions about the process. A more detailed update containing specific bargaining issues will follow in the coming weeks.
ATB (Across-the-Board salary increase)
The ATB for 2014–2015 has not yet been agreed. In past bargaining rounds, when the parties were not agreed on the ATB by July 1 (as is the case this year), ATB increases have been retroactive to July 1. We have no reason to expect that this will not be the case in the current round.
PTR (Progress through the Ranks)
PTR for the current year is based on last year’s salary and performance, and originates in the agreement that expired on June 30, 2014. For that reason, PTR can be (and has been) calculated and distributed even when bargaining over ATB hasn’t been concluded. Each UTFA member should have received a PTR letter in July informing her or him of the PTR increase awarded, and that increase should now be included in your pay.
PERA (Professional Expense Reimbursement Allowance)
The PERA amounts for 2014–15 have not yet been agreed. The Administration, however, is in the process of distributing to most units funds equal to the 2013–14 PERA amounts. Any increase to PERA agreed in the current round of bargaining will be added to your 2014–15 account upon settlement.
Pensions and Other Issues
UTFA is steadfast in its commitment that current and future retirees are served by a stable, robust pension plan. In that vein, we are collaborating with other campus employee groups to ensure that a substantive discussion takes place about the future design and management of our existing employer-sponsored defined benefit plan.
Other issues that are likely to be addressed in this round of negotiations include some benefits provisions and workload policy revisions.
We welcome your feedback or questions at: bargaining@utfa.org. Additional information will be posted to the UTFA website throughout negotiations. Information from previous rounds of negotiations can be found here.
Please note that the Salary, Benefits and Pensions (SBP) negotiations described above are separate and distinct from the Special Joint Advisory Committee (SJAC) negotiations that have been taking place since 2012. Those negotiations involve revisiting the current MoA with an eye to modernizing it. For information about the SJAC negotiations, please click here.
Your SBP negotiating team in this round is:
Paul Downes – Associate Professor, Department of English; UTFA Vice-President Salaries, Benefits and Pensions
Paul Hamel – Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology; UTFA Executive Member
Cynthia Messenger – Senior Lecturer, Director of the Writing and Rhetoric Program, Innis College; UTFA Vice-President Grievances
Scott Prudham – Professor, Department of Geography and School of the Environment; UTFA President
Bobby Glushko – Scholarly Communications and Copyright Librarian
George Milbrandt – Retired Professor, Faculty of Education
Katharine Rankin – Associate Professor, Department of Geography; UTFA Council member
Linda Kohn – Professor, UTM Biology; UTFA Vice-President, University and External Affairs
Phani Radhakrishnan – Senior Lecturer, UTSC Management & Economics; UTFA Council member
