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OPSEU Local 560 |
| To: | All Members of OPSEU Local 560 |
| From: | OPSEU Local 560 President Ted Montgomery |
| Date: | March 20, 2000 |
| Subject: | Updates |
SPECIAL NOTICE:
Locals 560 &
561 recently switched to a different telephone service provider and have
learned that callers have been getting a message advising that the voice
box is full. This is not the case, and I have contacted the provider
to fix the problem or we will end our contract with them. I apologize
for any inconvenience. If you run into this problem please call 491-5050,
Ext. 2208 so that we can pick up your message there. Thanks to those
who brought this to my attention, and again, I apologize to anyone who
has run into this problem. It will be fixed ASAP.
FUNDING FOR THE
COLLEGES
You likely noticed
the government’s announcements for colleges and universities in the papers.
The provincial government announced a 3% increase. But this is just
not so.
The total operating
grants for this year are $722.3 million.
| General Purpose Grants | $632.1 million |
| KPI (Key Performance Indicators) funding | $14 million |
| Special Purpose Grants | $59.1 million |
| ATOP (special technology-related grants) | $17.1 million |
| Total | $722.3 million |
Last Year’s grants
according to the Ministry documents were as follows:
| General Purpose Grants | $ 625.1 million |
| KPI funding | $0 |
| Special Purpose Grants | $67.7 million |
| ATOP Ongoing | $13.1 million |
| ATOP Startup | $22.6 million |
| Year 2000 Support | $6.9 million |
| Total | $735.5 million |
So, while the General Purpose Grant has increased by $7 million, and another $14 million is available as KPI money, the overall operating allocations to the college system have decreased by $13.2 million.
Monies allocated through the SuperBuild funds do not include operating funding support.
Re KPI-based funding, the Toronto Star article (March 15) quoted Howard Rundle, President of Fanshawe College in London, and of the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (ACAATO) as saying that, "while colleges welcome the success-linked funding —which they have been championing — the limits on tuition will leave them strapped for cash leading up to a bulge in enrolment." On the other hand, "Paul Davenport, head of the Council of Ontario Universities, said the universities have to embark on intensive hiring before those students are due to arrive in 2003." " ‘We’d like to start hiring those professors now’, he said, adding that enrolment pressures are already being felt."
President Quinlan was quoted by the Star on March 16th — "This model pits one institution against another, which I think many of our presidents would say is an inappropriate model."
While some element of marketplace response may well make sense for the colleges, the KPI-based system of funding is folly. Colleges in areas of the province where there is a hiring downturn, are left high and dry and further disadvantaged as their funds are cut. They are rendered less able to make any changes that would help students in that area. This short-sighted approach will not lead to increased quality but only further the decline already established by study after study.
UNION-COLLEGE
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
One venue for discussion
of issues between college and faculty representatives is the Union-College
Committee. One of the objectives of this body set out in the Collective
Agreement is to clarify "procedures or conditions causing misunderstandings
or grievances." We have initiated two meetings of this committee
this semester to bring to the College’s attention certain concerns.
One concern was about the conduct of a manager. The Union representatives raised issues concerning communication between a Chair and a faculty member, as well as the release of a partial-load employee by that Chair. At a follow-up meeting, we advised the College that the Chair had set out a position which reflects an anti-union attitude and that this in itself, when expressed or acted upon, could well be deemed a violation of our contract.
Also, we have requested rationale for the assignment of all partial-load position in the Faculty of Business, and for a review of staffing in Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship.
NEW CHARTER FOR
THE COLLEGES
I mentioned in a
February update the Seneca College website’s questions regarding ACAATO’s
position regarding a "new charter" for the colleges. The ACAATO position
has already been established since June of 1999, and the efforts being
made by ACAATO, which is a lobbying body, are simply to buttress that position.
In a nutshell, there
seems now to be no consensus among the colleges as to what they are seeking.
Some want de-centralized bargaining, getting rid of the Council of Regents,
and having as many as 25 Collective Agreements. Other colleges are
dead against this idea which seems to run directly contrary to the government’s
own position of consolidation.
The colleges are seeking mandates for "increased institutional flexibility," and "increased credentials," including the right to grant degrees or applied degrees. As for the former, it is a standard cry from institutions seeking to increase part-time and so-called "just-in-time" workers. It will damage quality as it has in other education systems that have gone this route. As for the latter – degrees – the right to grant degrees is based in large part on having a faculty with the time and resources to develop and deliver curriculum at that level. We have the skills, but the resources must be freed up for the faculty to accomplish what is necessary.
I will keep you posted as the ‘New Charter’ project of ACAATO develops.
LOCAL 560 WEBSITE
Just a reminder
for those who use the internet to have a look at the Local 560 website
which you can find at:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~opseu560/
Ted
Montgomery, President OPSEU Local 560
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