Top U of A profs urge reversal of stand against pay cuts

Concessions needed to save jobs, science chairs argue

Top professors with the University of Alberta’s science faculty are pushing to reopen salary negotiations and cut their own pay to avoid job losses they say will damage the university.

A letter from all seven department chairs asks the Association of Academic Staff University of Alberta (AASUA) to reconsider last month’s decision not to reexamine compensation. The University of Alberta recently asked both faculty and support staff to help the institution balance its budget by reopening and reducing both compensation packages.

The quality of the university’s teaching and research will deteriorate unless faculty agree to cut their own salaries and benefits to help the university save money, the letter from science department chairs suggests. If faculty members refuse to compromise, “the institution will be severely damaged,” the letter says.

“Imagine a world where faculty have to do everything that support staff do now, plus teach more courses to cover for the loss of contract academic staff,” says the Aug. 8 letter to AASUA president Kevin Kane.

“As department chairs we see the damage done by past and projected budget cuts firsthand. We need to emphasize that we cannot absorb the projected budget cuts without doing severe and long-term damage to the quality of our teaching and research.”

The letter says faculty members should vote on whether to give up part of their salary to maintain working conditions. If academic staff vote yes, the AASUA should use that financial contribution “to mitigate the damage to the teaching and research mission of the institution.”

The letter laments the provincial government’s demand the university slash spending quickly. “We all agree this is an unreasonable, capricious and short-sighted request.”

The university is looking for $56 million in cuts to its operating budget over the next two years. About 76 per cent of that operating budget is spent on salaries and benefits.

The university announced last week it is taking steps to reduce the number of professors through voluntary buyouts, with some expected to leave as early as December.

Last month, the AASUA rejected the university’s request to re-examine its two-year compensation deal, which is in place through June 30, 2015. The deal covers about 4,400 academic staff, such as professors and librarians, and includes a 1.65 per cent salary increase in each year of the agreement.

The Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA) intends to hold a vote this month on whether to re-examine its deal that covers 6,000 support staff until April 1, 2015. NASA’s executive is recommending support staff reject the proposal.

The AASUA’s executive decided in July not to reopen the agreement, but the AASUA’s council, about 80 people who represent the 4,400 members, will look at the question again at a meeting in September, Kane said in an interview Tuesday.

“All possibilities are there,” he said.

The university needs to be more transparent in how it is budgeting with a financial clear plan, Kane said. “You could make huge concessions and then it turns out that next year, we’re no better off, and then what?”