U of M profs not worried about gov’t cuts

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This article was published 04/08/2016 (3653 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

University of Manitoba professors aren’t sweating over warnings from their colleagues at the University of Winnipeg of looming government austerity.

“I haven’t seen any signals that postsecondary education is on the chopping block in a significant way,” U of M Faculty Association president Prof. Mark Hudson said in an interview.

Hudson said that UMFA does not share the concerns which led to the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association accepting a 7.5 per cent raise last week over 4.5 years, a deal running until September of 2020. Both schools saw their previous contracts expire this past March.

UWFA urged its membership to grab the money on the table — the union leadership warned that the Pallister government plans major spending cuts and predicted public sector workers will be offered nothing better than a wage freeze if they don’t act fast. And, said the UWFA leadership, if professors go on strike, Premier Brian Pallister will just legislate them back to work.

“We haven’t seen any signal to that effect,” Hudson said.

Hudson said his union will not discuss the settlement at the U of W.

“The University of Manitoba has its own distinct financial position,” he said. “We’re looking at the comparatives the university uses, which is the U15,” a formal organization of Canada’s 15 largest universities.

Settlements at the large universities this year and last have ranged from 1.5 to 4.7 per cent annually, he said. “I haven’t seen any freezes.

“We’ve been in full-scale negotiations since April,” and continue to bargain two or three days a week through summer, Hudson said. Even so, neither side is talking money yet: “We haven’t gotten into the specifics of salary proposals.”

Meanwhile, U of M president David Barnard declared this week in a message to the campus on the university website: “The University of Manitoba is in a healthy financial position.”

Barnard acknowledged that the university has curtailed or reduced spending in some areas — budget projections for coming academic years called for four per cent spending cuts — but he credited employees and students with pulling it all together while allowing the university to focus on its priorities, including indigenous education and research.

“I know that when we ask for faculties and units to make incremental budget adjustments it also impacts the work environment, including necessitating that some positions might remain vacant, or even be discontinued. And I recognize the difficulties that come with that,” Barnard said.

He told the campus that employees deserve to be rewarded for their hard work, and noted that the U of M has been able to make “competitive, albeit modest, increases to salaries and benefits.”

Provincial legislation limits tuition increases to the cost of living.

Hudson said UMFA is aware that the Conservatives are considering whether to alter or remove that cap, but the union wants to ensure that any change to produce more revenue does not adversely affect students’ ability to afford to go to university.

“We need to make sure that education is not rationed on the basis of income,” the union leader said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca