YORK UNIVERSITY FACULTY UNION FORCES BREAK-DOWN OF TALKS TO PROTECT RICHEST RETIREMENT PACKAGE IN THE PROVINCE<p>

YORK UNIVERSITY FACULTY UNION FORCES BREAK-DOWN OF TALKS TO PROTECT RICHEST RETIREMENT PACKAGE IN THE PROVINCE

TORONTO, April 7, 1997 -- After four mediators, 14 months of negotiating, and 19 days on the picket line, the York University Faculty Association (YUFA) is refusing to return to the classroom because it wants to protect its retirement packages and boost its base salary by more than 13 per cent over two years.

"We profoundly regret that the union is insisting on continuing a strike to pursue monetary objectives that are totally out of touch with the budgetary realities of the university," said Vice-President (Academic Affairs) Michael Stevenson after mediator Kevin Burkett broke off talks late Monday.

"The university has choices to make about how it achieves its academic priorities. It can spend students' money on hiring new professors and paying them fairly and competitively, buying new books, or creating new programs. Or it can spend it on luxurious retirement packages for retiring professors who are already at the top of their earning power," said Stevenson.

The union is fighting to retain retirement provisions that provide the following:

Right to teach to age 69, full time, full salary, capped at the average salary for each age group;

Right to elect to retire early and receive a retirement payment of : at age 60: 2 1/4 X base salary*; at age 61: 2 X base salary*; at age 62: 1.5 X base salary*; at age 63: 1 X base salary*; at age 64: .5 X base salary* (* capped at the average salary for each age group.);

Right to teach one course on a part-time basis in each of the six years following retirement at a sliding rate of between $16,355 and $21,839 (about twice the regular part-time rate);

Right to accumulate and cash in sabbatical credits upon early retirement (earned at a rate of 1/6 credit per year) to a maximum of one full sabbatical value. (Six credits give you one full sabbatical year, during which time professors earn 80% of their salaries.);

The right to accumulate sabbatical credits and take as a sabbatical if continue past age 65.

Stevenson said the administration had to curtail these costs so that it could afford to fund its offer of more than eight per cent increase in base salary over two years. Even with the administration's reforms to the retirement provisions, the package remains one of the most generous in the province, he said.

YUFA is looking for an increase of more than 13 per cent to base salary, apart from its demands on the retirement package. In compensation alone, YUFA's proposal would cost $4 million more than the university's best offer. Accepting YUFA's compensation and retirement proposals would lead to further base budget cuts of 4% on top of the 6% cuts already planned for the next two years, he said.

"YUFA clearly has no appetite for a settlement. It's unfortunate that the executive is willing to allow this strike to continue over a disagreement about university finances. And as much as the administration wants to end this strike, it cannot agree to terms which would inevitably lead to the dilution of the university's academic excellence," said Stevenson, adding that the administration remains committed to bargaining a fair and reasonable settlement.

Stevenson explained that the union's insistence on having an outside arbitrator rule on Article 14 (the retirement package) is unacceptable. For example, an outside arbitrator is not responsible for ensuring that academic priorities can be met. He or she does not have to consider whether his or her ruling would affect the University's ability to hire new professors or offer new programs. An arbitrator does not have to consider the financial impact of his or her decision.

"Do we really want to put in the hands of an outside arbitrator the power to determine what this University's priorities will be?" asked Stevenson. "I hope that we will be able to come together again -- and soon -- around the table to seriously grapple with real issues in a reasonable and responsible way. There is too much at stake not to."

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
YU/036/97

| Welcome to York University | Latest Release | Release Archives |