Ontario Community Newspapers

Whitby Free Press, 21 May 1986, p. 3

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College teachers negotiate more pay for less work By JAN DODGE Free Press Staff Durham College teachers will have less work and more money. Last Thfiursday 96 percent 6f theýcollege's 170 teachers voted to accept the contract offered by the Council of Regents, compared to an average acceptance vote 0f 83 percent at ail. 22 Ontario community colleges. Arthur Smith, president of Local 354 0f the Ontario Public Servants Employees Union, said the major change was a decrease in workload. Teachers who teach post secondary students now will have 18 contact hours per wêek (hours spent teaching in classroom) compared to an average Of 19 ""reviously; those who teach non post secondary students will have 20 contact hours, downfrom 21 hours. Some teachers, such as in nursing, have been reclassified as teaching post secondary, thus they will have 18 hours, down from 21. The total time a teacher is expected to work including not only contact hours, but meetings, evaluation "of students,* office hours, meetings with students, etc. is now set at 44 hours per week. "This effectively restricts the numrber of students a teacher can see and the number of other duties he can take on," Smith said. "Where previously a teacher could have 125 students in a class for 19 hours a week, the college will have to reduce either the size of the class or the number of hours the teacher is teaching. There wil also be a four percent increase in salary retroactive to Sept. 1 of 1985 and a three percent in- crease in salary this Sep- tember, Smith said. This will bring the average teacher's salary to $37,500. "This is just keeping up with inflation, " he said. "The new contract is a good start," Smith said. "lIt goes a long way to reducing workload, particularly for nurses, who have had a heavy workload, and for people who have had large classes. " In October, 1984 com- munity college teachers were on strike for three weeks because of the work- load issue. New contract with teachers will be costly for college Duirham College may haveý trouble fulfilling the *.terms of the new contract ,accepted last Thursday by _its 170,teachers. The -contract substan- -11tially decreased wôrkload .*zas well as increased pay by four percent over the past school yeaýr, and will fur- ther increase pay by three percentý this September. Decreased workload both -in and out of class will mean more teachers need to be hired. "To satisfy the new con- tract w e need between 50 and 74 new teachers, but it could be more depending on enrolment,"' Dr. Peter Zakarow, chairman of the Durham College Board of Governors, said. The board is uncertain how the costs for addlitional staffing can be met. 'Zakarow estimated the ad- ditional cost at $2.3 million,. of which the college will need to get $1.4 million fromn governent. Although the council has 1iacted on behalf of the 'Miýnistry of Colleges and Universities to negotiate a contract with the teachers' union, the ministry has not as yet come up with the ex- tra money to, cover these new terms. Salaries must be paid by the colleges, and without government help, the problem. will be theirs. .If the college doesn't get that extra funding Zakarow said it would need "to clip into the reserves, and there's not much there." Another alternative would lie to freeze enrolment, Zakarow said. However, with Durham~ showing increasec enrolment while many other colleges are showing declining enrolment, this is - not a desireable solution. 1 "In the last decade we've had a 143 percent increase in enrolment," Zakarovw said. > "It may require a name change (of the college) to idraw attention to the iproblem." Zakarow said the ministry still thinks of Durham as a small college north of Oshawa'. Gover- nment is unawar e of the changes that have taken place, he said, including new programs and new growth in the community which has led to growth at the college. Like the Durham Board of Education and the Roman Catholie Separate School Board,, Durham Colle ge has an accom- modation problem. The board of governors has asked government for 20 portable classrooms to lie put together as a unit for use as office space and for labs. Zakarow said the ministry sent an environ- mental control services team to the college to determine space requiremnents. They repor- ted the college needed another 60,000. square feet, to look after the additional staff, new enrolment plus new programs being of- fered by the college this year. Zakarow said gover- nment has $3 million in a float for eventualities in the college system, but noted with 22 colleges after i assistance thiat wouldn't go J far. r"In the nieantime we have to have teaching staff sin place by August. 1,'" he said. a Although some colleges tcould cut back on their un- isuccessful programs, Zakarow said Durham didn't have that option, because they are alI suc- cessful. 1 Colleges across the board 1will need in excess of 1,200 teachers, he said. Norm Williams, chair- man of the Council of iRegents, doubted the num- ber of new teachers required would be that high, but said the council was in the process . of trying to determine what the costs would be. He said that cost would relate not only to numbers 0f new staff, but to their qualifications, and the number of adininistrators required in the various colleges. Increased cost due to the new contract, he said, divide into three areas: i) the cost of implementing the decrease in workload; ii) the capital costs for in- creasing office space for these teachers; and iii) the $7.5 million cost 0f retroac- tive salaries. These costs will be under consideration 1y the Treasury Board over the next two weeks. Williams said there are two, questions that need to be answered: i) how much the government will make available, ii) how much is needed by the colleges. "I think they will be the same," and he added, "they better be." WHJTBY FREEPRE$,.WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1986 PAGE 3 Helen E. Brooks and Robert G. Whittington are pleased to announce the opening of their law offices BROOKS, WH ITTINGTON Barriste rs, Solicitors & Notaries, Public at 101 Mary Street West, Whitby, Ontario LiN 2R4 (416) 430-1755 *ST QUAILITTI Now In our 10TH YEAR of serving thr.o communltrns',Msc<&Deve Bloom owners 0f. t h. 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