MCGILL LEADERS and employees alike are in a grim mood over the financial situation.

Provost decries ‘assault’ on university finances

The mood on the McGill University campus these days is grim, with alarming predictions coming from university leaders about the dire financial situation and tension building among employees with the prospect of job cuts on the horizon.

McGill provost Anthony Masi called the government’s handling of university finances “an unprecedented assault on McGill” in a recent blog post, and during a meeting Wednesday with union leaders made it clear nothing — including jobs — was safe in the current unstable environment.

Some union leaders emerged from the meeting with university leaders saying head counts are being taken to prepare for possible layoffs.

“There is definitely concern about job cuts,” said David Kalant, vicepresident of finance for the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association. “They have to look at every possibility.”

While he said collective agreements can’t be opened, people without job security are at risk.

“We do have members who aren’t job secure and they’re worried,” Kalant said.

Jaime MacLean, president of the Association of McGill University Support Employees, said her 1,400 members, many of whom are stu- dents with temporary employment, are most vulnerable.

“People are really worried and it’s only worse because they haven’t given us any concrete information,” she said.

With McGill’s announcement last month that 100 arts courses would be cut next year — though this was apparently not related to recent budget cuts — the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill has already been affected by cuts, said president Lilian Radovac, who described the situation as “grim.”

“But we are worried more are to come,” she said after Wednesday’s meeting, when principal Heather

“The cuts are so extensive that there’s no place that won’t be looked at for cuts.”

ALVIN SHRIER

Munroe-Blum and vice-principal of administration and finance Michael Di Grappa met with union leaders to discuss what Masi called “the most serious financial challenge in (McGill’s) recent history.”

Still, there is always some skepticism when it comes to union-administration relations.

“While the sword of Damocles is indeed dangling, we also know that the dust has not yet settled on the issue, and that cuts to teaching and learning are not the only way to deal with the shortfall,” Radovac said.

Masi said the $124-million cut to universities in December for this fis- cal year, coming on top of cancelled tuition increases and representing about $19 million for McGill, was a huge blow.

“The coup de grace came last week when the government announced that if universities fail to make at least 50 per cent of their imposed cuts in this fiscal year, we will also lose the … last instalment on this year’s transfers,” Masi said.

For McGill, that would represent $32 million.

On campus, this message is definitely causing anxiety.

“The cuts are so extensive that there’s no place that won’t be looked at for cuts,” said Alvin Shrier, president of the McGill Association of University Teachers. “These are draconian measures.”

Masi said nearly 75 per cent of McGill’s operating budget goes to salaries and is tied up in contracts and commitments that can’t be reversed so quickly. Costs other than salaries represent only about $160 million per year, and that money has also been mostly committed so late in the fiscal year.

“The threat of holding back the last instalment comes with only 90 days left in our fiscal year,” he said. “Each week seems to bring new and worse news.”

Shrier said there is alarm across all groups on campus.

“There is a general concern across campus,” he said. “It’s about how it affects people personally, but also the impact it will have on students and learning.”