What should I tell my stakeholders (students, external and internal colleagues, allies, etc.) about work-to-rule?

Here is an example of messaging you can use. You should tailor your response to any specific role(s), responsibilities, and availability restrictions you may have, such as committee leads, program coordinators, etc. So please adapt this message as needed:

  • At the moment, all college faculty (Librarians, Counsellors, Professors and Instructors) are engaging in labour action called Work to Rule. This means that I will be working strictly as assigned on my workload formula. Starting January 10, it means I have 6 hours per week to tend to out of class assistance to students and administrative work, including emails, meetings, and regular contact with students and external stakeholders. I am also attributed no more than 5.4 minutes per week to grade each student’s work and provide feedback. The workload formula which gives these numbers hasn’t changed in almost forty years!
    Any work/emails which take longer than the time that I have been attributed for each week will be deferred to the following calendar week. Please encourage President Whitaker and the College Employer Council to return to the bargaining table to resolve these issues. If your matter is urgent, please contact my Associate Dean, [Name of AD] by email at [AD’s Humber email address]. I appreciate your understanding in this matter.