March 12, 1999

AAS:UA President Wayne Renke correctly advises that recruitment of the best academic staff is difficult when prospective faculty are made aware of this sorry statistic. I am also concerned about the other two issues described by Mr. Renke: retention and fairness. In 1994 our salaries were rolled back and frozen for three years. I confess to have been na‹ve enough to have believed that the provincial government would restore all rollbacks to the base of their 1994 level before we opened negotiations with university administration. This never happened, and we were left with a permanent 5.5 per cent reduction in our monthly paycheques. Fairness and retention do not seem to me to be a concern of university administration in regards to continuing staff, but rather, only to incoming staff.

In McMaster's article, Fran Trehearne, to a degree, defends our current salary position. While I agree that Alberta has no sales tax, Alberta has quietly introduced dozens of user fees to compensate for this. Reading Mr. Trehearne's comments, I was struck by what I believe to be a largely unnoticed but continuing trend, which is the aforementioned concern for recruiting the best possible new staff at the expense (no pun intended) of those of us who have worked here for years. Said staff have been left with a lowered salary, which as Mr. Renke correctly points out is in effect a permanent tax about which we can do nothing. Mr. Trehearne says, "The question is what we need to pay to get the very best people here, and that may be somewhat less that Toronto or Vancouver." That's fine with me, but again, where is concern and follow-up from Mr. Trehearne and university administration for existing continuing staff?

There are other indications of this. In the brochure describing the U of A's fundraising campaign, there is a section called "Q&A: Why should I give to the U of A?" The first sentence under the heading, "The U of A has lots of money. Why do you need more?" reads: "Our professors are paid less than their counterparts in Toronto and Vancouver." If I was a potential donor, this would imply to me that some of the funds raised would go into existing salaries to adjust for this difference. Subsequent investigations confirmed that in fact, none of the funds raised will be applied to our existing salary levels. Why is this statement in the brochure? It is false advertising and very misleading.

In the Sept. 4, 1998 issue of Folio, Mr. Eric Newell, chair of the Board of Governors, notes: "We want to attract outstanding faculty and keep the compensation for faculty competitive." It was encouraging to read this, but I have yet to read or hear about any initiatives that might have an impact on our compensation. Mr. Newell says that the answer is to expand the university's source of funding. I agree 100 per cent, but wonder how an expanded revenue source might affect our salaries, currently locked into a binding agreement with the Board of Governors?

I have worked at the U of A since September, 1983. I am grateful to work with outstanding colleagues, and proud to be a part of an exciting, vibrant campus. I take none of this for granted. But for those of us who are not part of faculty or staff renewal, I am left wondering if we no longer matter to university administration or the board. I read or hear expressions of concern about our low salaries from members of administration and the board. Can we expect anything to change, or can we simply expect more rhetoric and sound bites?

Sincerely,
Randy Reichardt
Reference Librarian
Science and Technology Library

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