SWF workload issues

Volume 27, Issue 4
April 2017

stacey merritt, 1st vice president

 

Spring/Summer Semester

a) If you were given a SWF: By the time you read this article, many of you will have received SWFs that formalize your workload for the May and June period. Those SWFs were to be given to you by no later than March 24. If you did receive a SWF, hopefully you reviewed it for accuracy. In the past, it was common for faculty not to teach classes in May and June and instead focus on issues such as course outline and curriculum review, course preparation for the fall, professional development, etc. In recent years however, the college has increasingly had faculty teach during that period. Our collective agreement says that faculty can teach up to 36 weeks in a year. Therefore, with Humber operating 15 week semesters in the fall and winter, the college is permitted to have faculty teach an additional six weeks in May and June. This also allows the college to formally assign additional projects on the second page of faculty SWFs. Unfortunately, the hours spent preparing for your fall courses is often not included on your SWF, which means that work must be done on your own time. However, it also likely means that activities such as program specific or school-wide meetings are not mandatory, unless they are placed on your SW

b) If you were not given a SWF: This means you are not teaching during May and June and therefore the college cannot arbitrarily “assign” work that you must perform. They can only do that when you are teaching and have a SWF. In this case, since you do not have a SWF, May and June constitute a “non-teaching period.” Article 11.08 of the collective agreement addresses these periods. You are expected to work, but the tasks you perform are to be mutually agreed to by you and your academic manager. If you feel you are being directed to do certain jobs without discussion or your consent, please speak to your union steward or one of the union officers for assistance. Do not sign a memo or other document that states tasks the college is expecting you to do.

Fall 2017 Semester SWFs

They should be provided to you no later than May 12, 2017. A couple of things about that:

  • Your academic manager should work collaboratively with you when developing your SWF. Please let us know if that does not happen because we are working with the college to ensure that a collaborative approach is taken when SWFs are being written.
  • When you receive your SWF, carefully inspect it for accuracy and immediately address any concerns with your manager.