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The effects of on-the-job stress

Mental health risks unclear to Concordia associate vice-president of human resources Carolina Willsher and spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr (also pictured: vice-provost of faculty relations, Nadia Hardy). Photo by Kirubel Mehari

When asked if the stressful work instability experienced by part-time faculty union members at Concordia could improve, Carolina Willsher, the associate vice-president of human resources, declined to answer.

According to the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Union (CUPFA) chair of communications, Laurie Milner, job security is the main stressor for members of the union. In an interview with The Concordian, university spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr and Willsher said it was unclear if workload and on-the-job stress can be linked to mental health issues.

“We all bring something to the table. We are the product of our experiences and the baggage that we bring, positive or negative,” Willsher answered.

The same question was asked to the vice-provost of faculty relations, Nadia Hardy, who didn’t directly answer the question. “If the situation of part-time faculty members can be improved with respect to how many contracts they can foresee in the future, it’s a year-to-year calculation,” she responded.

In a May 2014 survey, British newspaper The Guardian asked 2,500 respondents, ranging from PhD students to vice-chancellors in the United Kingdom, if their mental health problems were a direct result of their university job. The survey found that two-thirds of the respondents said their job was the cause of their illness, citing, among other concerns, heavy workloads.

Hardy said the workload for academics is fairly consistent across Canada. “If there’s an issue that comes from workload, this is across the board and not specific to Concordia,” Hardy told The Concordian.

According to Hardy, it’s not possible for members of a specific department to have a different workload than the rest of the university. “Workload is described in the collective agreement we have, so it’s not the chair who decides on the workload in the unit,” Hardy said.

Concordia’s last collective agreement with the Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA) stated that “teaching load for each member shall be determined in a fair and equitable manner by the dean.”

Hardy explained that the university communicates to its chairs, deans and administrators how to handle a situation when a university employee identifies an issue, “but not to solve [the problem] or enter a discussion about what’s happening.”

“Managers and chairs are not trained […] to be psychologists, but they are trained and informed about how to recognize somebody who may be in distress and then refer them to the resources that they may need to be able to assist them,” Willsher added.

At a faculty of fine arts council steering committee meeting in September, Dean Rebecca Duclos named mental health as one of the issues that needed to be addressed by the faculty as a whole, Milner told The Concordian.

“I’d say that our deans are aware of the situation, letting people know that if there are issues, please come forward and we can help,” Willsher said.

Although recent studies have found that the number of Canadian post-secondary students with mental health issues has increased, statistics concerning professors and faculty have never been published at Concordia.

Willsher said her department receives annual reports detailing the number of people who have accessed the university’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The program––an external health service provided by the Canadian company Homeweb––is confidential, meaning the university doesn’t know who among the faculty and staff have accessed the service.

“It’s been fairly consistent in terms of the access” Willsher said, without referring to a specific time frame.

Milner said, although Homeweb is available to CUPFA members, she doesn’t think “that’s quite the same as a psychologist that you’re choosing and you’re meeting with.”

Avenues for university professors

Hardy said faculty members who have mental health issues usually reach out to their chair or dean. Hardy, who acts as a point of contact between the faculties and the university’s human resources department, added that some faculty members may come to her directly.

“Depending on where they work and the relationships that they have built across the university, they may choose to speak to their chair or to their dean or to someone in human resources,” Hardy said. “They also have the possibility to reach the Office of Rights and Responsibilities or to come to the provost office.”

In April, Maclean’s magazine surveyed 17,000 students at almost all the university campuses around Canada. Students were asked to rate the quality of their school’s mental health services. Concordia wasn’t ranked in the top 15 universities and 51.8 per cent of students said they felt overwhelmed on a daily or weekly basis in a separate question.

“We’re constantly benchmarking ourselves against other organizations,” Wilsher said. “I think Concordia is very different today than it was five to 10 years ago because we continue to improve, make sure that we are current and meeting the needs of our population.”

Photo by Kirubel Mehari

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An agreement in the works

In their first meeting since they voted in favour of an unlimited strike mandate, the Concordia University Faculty Association has come to a tentative agreement with the university following 16 months of collective bargaining.

On March 18, CUFA met with university administration for a full day and night of conciliation where it was agreed by a majority vote of approximately 80 per cent that the tentative agreement had to be submitted to the membership for ratification.

In accordance with article 12.5 of the CUFA constitution, CUFA met again on March 28 to vote on a motion presented by the executive to recommend the negotiated collective agreement for confirmation.

“We hope that the membership will follow the recommendation of both the CUFA executive and the CUFA council and vote in favour of the collective agreement,” said CUFA President Lucie Lequin.

CUFA released a statement listing gains made in conciliation which were addressed early in the month as issues. These gains include increased stipends for department chairs and extra teaching, compensation for extended-term faculty professors for excessive number of course preparations and an increased professional development allowance.

The union did hope for a better agreement but said that it “is in our view, the best deal possible at this point in time.” In the same statement, it is noted that the cuts to post-secondary education made by the provincial government are “draconian.”

Following the special meeting, two more meetings for the entire membership will be held on April 4. The meetings will be taking place on each campus, to elaborate on the different elements of the deal and to answer any questions or concerns.

This will be followed on the same day by a secret ballot which is to be conducted electronically over the course of five working days. This will constitute the third and last step, according to Lequin.

“We understand that the agreement in principle is going through the CUFA ratification process over the coming days,” said university spokesperson Chris Mota. “And we look forward to receiving the results.”

This tentative agreements comes after 74 per cent of CUFA’s union membership voted on an unlimited strike mandate. This vote allows the union to go on strike with 48-hours notice.

Concordia President Alan Shepard told The Concordian that he hopes future labour relations will improve with additional staff to “provide proper engagement” since management was significantly understaffed during this round of negotiations.

“I would love us to embark on a bit of a new era at Concordia where we find common ground with our unions and other associations and look for projects that we can do together so that we can continue to have a positive climate,” Shepard said. “We need to figure out collectively, ‘how can we do collective bargaining in a faster way that doesn’t drag it out for years?’ because I don’t think that serves anyone’s interests.”

With files from Marilla Steuter-Martin

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A lesson in bargaining

Photo by Madelayne Hajek
Photo by Madelayne Hajek

The Concordia University Faculty Association voted 74 per cent in favour of an unlimited strike mandate, should collective bargaining negotiations fail.

After 15 months of contract negotiations, CUFA voted in favour of a strike mandate, citing that negotiations shouldn’t have lasted longer than approximately six months. It is the first time the full-time members of CUFA have ever voted to hold an unlimited strike mandate which grants CUFA the ability to strike if they provide 48-hour notice.

“We stand strong or tall together,” Lucie Lequin, president of CUFA said. “It is not only members involved in union that matters but collectively members who seek respect for all in regard to working conditions and remuneration.”

CUFA negotiations began on Dec.15, 2011, and the teams have met on more than 35 occasions.

“We are in conciliation,” university spokesperson Chris Mota said. “We remain committed to a fair settlement. We’re working hard for that and we know that CUFA is doing so as well.”

Mota explained that there are still three meetings scheduled this month with CUFA on the 18, 21 and 27 of March.

Lequin hopes to a have a fair and reasonable settlement.

“We are not frustrated only by monetary matters,” said Lequin. “But also by such elements as quality of teaching and workload.”

CUFA met on March 1 for their last conciliation meeting. According to Lequin, the meeting indicated that the negotiations will be ongoing with further discussions but that the chief negotiator for Concordia reached the end of his mandate.

In early November, the Concordia University Part-time Faculty Association voted 95 per cent in favour of an unlimited strike mandate.

“I’m dismayed that the only thing that moves at Concordia is brinkmanship,” Maria Peluso, president of CUPFA said. “I’m not surprised that the full-time faculty has succeeded a strike mandate, something they clearly needed.”

Peluso stated that there are a lot of misunderstandings at Concordia and that there seems to be a costly pattern with negations. CUPFA negotiations lasted seven years, according to Peluso.

“You never stop negotiations with Concordia,” said Peluso. “Even after you sign an agreement, they don’t implement what you sign and this is a problem.”

Eddy Ginocchi, president of the steelworkers union, claims he had problems with the negotiation process at Concordia as well. According to Ginocchi, money is a central issue since workers are underpaid and people who are doing the same jobs elsewhere are getting paid differently.

The contract for the downtown campus employees ended May 31, 2008, while the Loyola contract ended a year later. Previously, the downtown group went through four years of negotiations with the administrative team while Loyola went through a three year process. The next meeting is with the Loyola group on April 25, while the Sir George Williams workers have yet to set a date. Ginocchi said that the administration isn’t very forthcoming with collective bargaining and remains unwilling to discuss it.

“We are wasting time and money with negotiations, they’re always dragging on, and the amount of money being spent is unbelievable,” Ginocchi said.

Concordia Student Union Councillor Gonzo Nieto believes that CUFA’s grievances have not being taken seriously by the university, which is why it has come to a strike mandate.

“Hopefully the university and CUFA come to an agreement on full-time salaries,” Nieto said.

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CUFA holding a vote to strike

After more than 15 months of contract negotiations, Concordia University Faculty Association has been voting throughout the week on an unlimited strike mandate.

Due to their constitution the vote began on Feb. 28 and will continue online for five days, with results likely to be available by March 7 or the morning of March 8, according to Lucie Lequin, president of CUFA.

“The administration team, most of the time, came to the table not prepared and used some of the time set aside for negotiations to prepare while the CUFA team had to wait and waste time and money,” Lequin said.

If the motion is approved members of CUFA will begin actions that could include a full strike, but for a strike vote to pass it requires 60 per cent in favour.

“We are still in negotiations,” university spokesperson Chris Mota said. “We don’t want to reveal any information but there are meetings set up to meet with representatives from both CUPFA and CUFA.”

Lequin stated that negotiations should not last more than six months approximately.

“That is never the case at Concordia,” Lequin said. “This Concordia style of negotiations is very costly financially and does not create a climate of respect.”

CUFA negotiations began on Dec. 15, 2011, and the teams have met on more than 35 occasions. In December 2012, the university requested the assistance of a conciliator

from the Ministry of Labour. The parties met in January and February and further meetings are scheduled for March 1, 18, 21 and 27.

“It is really a pity that negotiations have dragged for so long without reaching an agreement acceptable to both parties,” said full-time mathematics and statistics professor at Concordia University, Jose Garrido. “ The university needs negotiations carried out in good faith, between parties acting in a responsible collegial way. We seem to be very far from that right now.”

In November, the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association voted 95 per cent in favour of an unlimited strike mandate should collective bargaining negotiations fail, but have not yet taken any strike action.

The most recent contract of CUPFA expired Aug. 31 and part-time faculty members were not satisfied with the proposal offered by the university. They took action by holding a special General Assembly pressuring the administration to further amendments to the collective agreement. Similarly, CUFA called a special meeting in early December where councillors unanimously voted for the executive to hold a strike vote.

Lequin said that normally the relationships of the CUFA office with those in the administration that deal with CUFA affairs are usually respectful and collaborative.

“Why is it so different when both sides reach the negotiations table is a mystery; we think it is a question of style that we called old-fashioned negotiations,” said Lequin.

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