New Collective agreement - suggestion

["Abraham Punnen" <apunnen@sfu.ca>]

 One of the effective parts in the UNB collective agreement is how the
periodic review of faculty is handled. Perhaps, we might think of something
similar for our new collective agreement. Here is my suggestion (mostly
taken from UNB collective agreement) and would like to hear from others.

1. The salary increase is fixed (1 step per year) for all faculty members
and discontinue the current biennial review process. 
2. A fund for merit awards will be in place. It is a one-time payment, say
$3500, based on exceptional performance. There will be limits on the number
of consecutive merit awards one can get. The award can be taken as a
research grant (no tax implications) or cash (taxable income). This offers
some reward for exceptional performers while maintaining a well balanced
salary structure for all. Merit awards are decided by a faculty wide
committee, based on departmental recommendations. Individuals can also self
nominate for the merit award.
3. Our current average step increment is 1.32 per year. Since everyone gets
1 step automatically, the amount equivalent to 0.32 step times number of
faculty members in each faculty will constitute the available pool for the
merit award. 
4. The university can ask for a performance review of any faculty member any
time. If the performance is satisfactory after such a special review, then
the faculty must be compensated by an amount equal to a merit award. This
money however will not be from the merit award pool.  (This is to deter
calling for review of faculty very often but at the same time it offers some
provisions for quality control).  If there are serious issues in
performance, appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken.

I believe this (in some modified form) is a good format to get out of the
biannual review process which is labor intensive and have the potential for
unwanted conflicts. 

Abraham

-----------------------
Abraham Punnen
http://www.sfu.ca/~apunnen/