McMaster University Faculty Association
  Brief on Faculty Remuneration for the Period
  July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 

1.  MUFA remains committed to the “Principles for Negotiation of Faculty Remuneration” as agreed to by the Joint Committee.

2.  This brief builds on those elements of last year’s brief that MUFA was unable to obtain in the agreement of March 2005.

3.  MUFA proposes a one year contract (July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007).

4.  MUFA proposes an Across-the-Board (ATB) increase of 5.2%.  As in the past, it is understood that the ATB increase will be applied to floor salaries, overload stipends, par merit increments and CP/M breakpoints.  This proposal is discussed in Appendix A of this document.

5.  The most recent agreement finally lifted the Assistant Professor floor salary above $50,000 to $51,357.  However it is still much lower than the floor salaries at many other universities.  (For example, the corresponding floor at the University of Western Ontario is currently $57,680 and at the University of Waterloo it is $59,914.)  MUFA therefore repeats its proposal from last year that all salary floors (including the Lecturer floor of $41,456, the Associate Professor Floor of $66,389 and the Full Professor floor of $84,048) be raised by 3.3% in addition to the ATB increase discussed above.

6.  The Assistant Professor floor salary is a key parameter in the Career Progress/Merit (CP/M) Scheme as the breakpoints where the value of par increments is decreased are set at 1.8, 2.2 and 2.35 times the Assistant Professor floor.  Hence the increase discussed above would also improve the CP/M Scheme and further enhance its built-in ability to reward disproportionately those faculty with relatively low salaries.  To help achieve this same goal, MUFA also proposes an increase in the number of par increments to 130, with 110 awarded at the department level.  This would allow departments to reward a member for an outstanding year more easily without necessarily giving some other department member a below par increment.  Finally, MUFA has a concern that the CP/M Scheme has become almost irrelevant to those at the upper end of the salary profile.  Hence MUFA repeats its proposal from last year to remove the highest breakpoint  in the scheme so that no member would ever be eligible for a par increment less than half the Range 1 increment.

Appendix A of the agreement of the Joint Committee on November 1, 2000 (which describes the CP/M Plan and procedures) states the CP/M Plan’s target  for a faculty member hired at the Assistant Professor floor salary who performs “satisfactorily”  for  35  years  and  then retires is “roughly” 2.5 times initial salary (abstracting from ATB increases).  However if “satisfactorily” is acknowledged to be the same as par, the target of 2.5 is not achieved with current CP/M parameters.  This shortfall would be virtually eliminated if the highest breakpoint were  removed.

7.  Despite recent increases by the Canada Revenue Agency to the maximum pension payable, MUFA still believes that current pension arrangements will become increasingly insufficient as over time more of our members will earn more than maximum pensionable earnings.  This will create difficulties for the University in recruitment and retention and is inefficient from a personal income tax perspective.  MUFA therefore proposes a supplementary pension plan modelled after the arrangements at either the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo or Trent University. The essence of these plans is that the faculty member would pay contributions on her or his entire salary up to some ceiling such as $150,000 at the University of Toronto, but that total pension (regular pension plus supplementary pension) would then be based on the entire salary (up to the ceiling).

8.  McMaster’s position as “Research University of the Year” suggests that part of any remuneration package should help give faculty the time and resources required for research.  In last year’s agreement, research leaves previously granted at 85% of salary were converted to 90% of salary. MUFA continues to propose 100% of salary.  Second, MUFA proposes an increase in the Professional Development Allowance (that sustains research and other professional activities) from the current $1,550 to $1,800 per year.

9.  Vision, hearing aid and paramedical benefits are a small fraction of McMaster’s payroll.  For example, MUFA estimates that even with the improvements in the most recent agreement, paramedical benefits are less than 0.05% of payroll.  Yet such benefits are a tax-effective form of compensation that most faculty will access some time in their working lives or during retirement. Appendix B contains some proposals to improve these benefits as well as a modest improvement in dental benefits.

Appendix A
MUFA’s Proposal for an Across-the-Board (ATB) Increase of 5.2%

Since the Social Contract in 1991, Across-the-Board (ATB) increases neither kept pace with inflation nor the average rate of wage and salary increase in the economy.  Hence MUFA proposes that the ATB consist of a component to compensate for inflation (estimated at 3.0%)  plus a catch-up component of 2.2%.

MUFA/Administration negotiations have traditionally been based on the previous year’s December to December inflation rate as measured by the all-items Consumer Price Index for Canada as a whole.  The December 2004 to December 2005 inflation rate is likely to be approximately 3.0%.  (This is a forecast: the October 2004 to October 2005 inflation rate was 2.6%.)  We will adjust this aspect of our proposal when the December 2004 to December 2005 inflation rate becomes known.

The catch-up proposal is based on Table 1 below.  It can be seen that a restoration of the salary level prevailing in 1991 (without any allowance for the general increase in real wages in the economy) would require an additional one-time increase of 8.9%.  It seems reasonable to close this gap by the year 2010, four years from now and some twenty years after the gap first appeared.  Hence we propose a one-year catch-up of 2.2%.

 

TABLE ONE
HISTORY of ATB and CP/M  at McMASTER, 1991-2005


YEAR (1)
December to December Inflation Rate (Previous Year)1		 (2)
ATB Paid to Faculty at McMaster2		  (3)
Cumulative Real Decrease in Salaries		 (4)
Catch-up Required to Attain 1991 Real Level		 (5)
CP/M Paid at McMaster (par units per 100 faculty)
           From 1991 until most recent agreement:
1991/92 5.0% 5.0%  - - 120
1992/93
 3.8%
 2.0% 
1.7% 
1.7%
120
1993/94
  2.1%   0.0%   3.8%  3.9%  110
1994/95
  1.7%   -0.5%   5.8%   6.2%   110
1995/96
   0.2%  0.0%   6.0%  6.4%   55 + 553
1996/97
  1.7%  0.0%  7.6%
 8.2% 
  80 + 303
1997/98
  2.2%  0.0%  9.6% 10.6% 120
1998/99
   .7%   1.0%4  9.3%   10.3%  120
1999/00
  1.0%  1.25%5   9.2%  10.1%  120
2000/01
   2.6%  0.5% 11.0%  12.4%   120
2001/02
  3.2%  1.25%6  12.7%  14.6%  120
2002/03
  .7% 
 3.6%7 
 10.2% 
11.4% 
  120 
2003/04
3.9%
3.6%7
10.4%
11.7%
120
2004/05
2.0%
3.6%7
9.0%
10.0%
120
           Most recent agreement (March 4, 2005):
2005/06    2.1%   3.0%    8.2%   8.9%   120 
Notes:
1.  Based on Consumer Price Index, Canada, All items, not seasonally adjusted.
2.  Figures in this column do not include one-time salary cuts in the form of unpaid days, or one-time payments.
3.  Payment of the second portion of 1994 and 1995 merit (85 of 110 par units) began January 1, 1999.
4.  Scale increase of 1% on May 1, 1999.
5.  November 1999.
6.  October 2001.
7.  Approximation: actual faculty increase was 3.0% across the board plus $500.

Appendix B
Proposed Benefit Increases

1.  Paramedical services:  This benefit is currently for services provided to a faculty member or her/his dependents by licensed speech therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, massage therapists, naturopaths, Christian Science Practitioners, osteopaths, chiropractors, podiatrists and chiropodists, with the last four grouped as a single category.  For each of these categories, the benefit is limited to $20 per visit and $300 per person per year, although for speech therapists there is no per visit limit but the annual ceiling is $300 per person.  While these limits were raised by the most recent agreement, before then they had in most cases not changed since  1982.  MUFA proposes that the per visit limit be increased to $30 and the ceiling $450. This seems particularly appropriate in light of the delisting of services provided by physiotherapists and chiropractors.  In addition MUFA proposes an additional eighth category of occupational therapy and a ninth category of acupuncture.

2.  The Visioncare benefit was substantially improved in the most recent agreement. However the limit of $250 per employee and per family member per rolling 24 months is still well below the typical costs to those accessing the benefits, particularly given the  delisting of examinations.  MUFA continues to propose extending the benefit to $450 per employee and per family member.

3.  MUFA proposes that the Hearing aid benefit  be  increased  from  a  maximum of $500 per ear every three years to $1,000 per ear every three years.

4.  After some improvements in the most recent agreement,  Major restorative services (crowns, dentures, bridges and implants) are now covered at a rate of 70% up to a per person annual limit of $2,500 and orthodontic services are currently covered at a rate of 50% up to a lifetime limit of $2,500 per covered person.  However, it remains unclear why these major dental services receive less coverage than basic dental procedures.  Accordingly, MUFA repeats its proposal from last year that the benefit rates in both cases be increased to 85% with the dollar limits increased to $3,000.  In addition, MUFA proposes that coverage for implants be extended to retirees.

5.  The university offers Tuition bursaries of up to $3,150 per year to dependents of its employees who attend McMaster.  MUFA proposes that a new equal dollar bursary be introduced for dependents of faculty and librarians.  Eligibility would be determined in the same manner as the bursary tenable at McMaster but the new benefit would instead be tenable at other universities and colleges.

6.  MUFA proposes a Childcare benefit broadly similar to that recently adopted at the University of Alberta, equal to a maximum of $2,000 per year per eligible child (up to age 6) towards the expense of attending a childcare or nursery school facility.
 



Joint Committee
December 15, 2005