Still not understanding the SFSS lockout?
For those of you who have been confused by those folks with the “locked out” signs strapped around their necks — trust me, you are not the only one. After two years of contract negotiations, the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) board of directors gave lockout notice to their 12 permanent employees and approximately five student and temporary staff employed through the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), local 3338. The staff would be barred from returning to work if the union could not make a satisfactory cost-saving proposal within the following 72 hours. This is where the “locked out” signs might start making more sense to you.
The SFSS has no money:
The student society is currently running a structural deficit of approximately $800,000. This, of course, has been passed along for years from previous boards which makes it tricky to play the blame game in this situation. Thanks to a number of issues, including the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) lawsuit, the grads leaving the society to form the Graduate Student Society, and the health plan reform, the current board is left with the task of creating a fiscally balanced student society. After cutting $100,000 from clubs, departmental student unions (DSU), the Women’s Centre and Out on Campus libraries, along with the $10,000 student bursary, the board feels the need to look elsewhere for funds: the staff.
The collective agreement:
The contract between the SFSS and CUPE 3338 currently requires a wage of $30.48 per hour for permanent staff and $21.64 for student employees. These wages are adjusted quarterly for increased cost of living, as dictated by the most recent StatsCan CPI for Vancouver. The staff positions are all unique, requiring a diverse skill set and different amounts of training, varying from running the copy centre to processing financial information. The SFSS proposes that instead of paying staff at a flat rate, employees should be compensated based on their skills and training — a concept that is commonly accepted in the job market. This would result in some staff, such as the co-ordinators at Out on Campus and the Women’s Centre, facing a dramatic pay decrease. The union, on the other hand, believes that all positions should be valued as equal. This line of thinking is not uncommon within unions and can be illustrated through the wages of sanitation workers: garbage pickup is an invaluable service for most cities, and the compensation that these employees receive reflect that.
According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the family living wage in Vancouver for 2010 is $18.17. This is based on two parents working full-time with two small children, and takes into account costs of basic necessities as well as other expenses such as transit. This budget, however, does not allow for retirement or post-secondary education savings, nor home ownership. While many of the proposed wages after decreases will still sit above the living wage, some — such as student wages — could potentially fall to $13 per hour.
On top of decreasing wages, the SFSS board would also like to reduce the number of minimum employees required by the collective agreement. Currently, they are mandated to employ the equivalent of 12.4 full-time positions, which is the level employed now. The SFSS would like to decrease this minimum down to the equivalent of seven full-time positions so that they have the option to eliminate positions or reduce hours if necessary. This is difficult for the union to swallow because such an agreement would likely result in the termination of a number of employees, who they — along with students who may use their services — regard as valuable.
The current collective agreement also includes many benefits for employees. For instance, the SFSS is required to pay for the equivalent of up to 15 undergraduate SFU credits requested by permanent staff for their own personal development. These courses can be completed at any accredited institution. Furthermore, an employee of two years receives three weeks of paid vacation — which continues to increase up until 10 years of employment, when staff receive eight weeks of paid vacation time. Up to two weeks of unused vacation time can be rolled over to the following year. So, putting this in context, a staff member who has been employed for over 10 years can technically take close to the full 13-week semester off while still being paid. While the SFSS board has previously proposed that these benefits be reformed, their recent proposals suggest that they are more willing to accept these terms.
These benefits aside, the staff don’t receive a pension — only a RRSP contribution, which is a much lower payment.
One year to learn it all:
The SFSS executive directors are systematically put at a disadvantage when it comes to maintaining fiscal order, largely due to the fact that they are only elected for one-year terms. The continuity and holistic understanding that the staff provide then is hugely beneficial for the often inexperienced incoming directors. However, you can see how having the institutional memory of the organization held by the employees — not the employers — has the potential to be problematic when it comes to negotiating a new collective agreement. The current board has six returning directors to help in providing this institutional memory.
Combine a lack of institutional memory with a lack of negotiating skills, and these directors — who are all undergraduates — are historically ill-equipped to manage bargaining with the union’s full-time professional negotiator. The current board has hired a lawyer to assist with the negotiating process, and is also being advised by a non-unionized manager for the society. However, not all boards have had such assistance with negotiating a collective agreement.
Activity fee:
The union staff have suggested an increase in the activity fee charged by the society in order to increase revenue and allow the employees to return to work under similar conditions for compensation, theoretically ensuring that the SFSS maintains the level of services that these workers provide. At the moment, full-time undergraduates are paying $24.35 per semester into the operational budget of the student society. This fund is responsible for financing most of what the SFSS provides to students, including food and beverage services like the Ladle or the Highland Pub, counselling services such as Out on Campus and the Women’s Centre, miscellaneous services like the food bank, and staff wages and benefits. A recent referendum added a student fee of $1 per semester of targeted funding for clubs — which used to be funded through the activity fee — and therefore increased revenue. Aside from this, the fees used towards operations have not increased for approximately 15 years, despite inflation and increased costs such as added board positions for new faculty representatives. UVIC, a school with an undergraduate enrolment slightly smaller than SFU’s, requires an undergraduate contribution to its society’s operations of approximately $30 per semester, which could suggest that an increase for the SFSS activity fee is necessary. However, the current SFSS board of directors argue that they shouldn’t have to raise student fees when they have an annual revenue of approximately $1.7 million to draw from.
Space expansion fund:
The space expansion fund, formed through a student referendum in 1989, is a locked fund that is restricted to funding renovations or expansions to SFSS space. With full-time undergraduates contributing $15 per semester, generating around $915,000 per year, the space expansion fund currently sits at approximately $2.7 million. The union has suggested that since the board has shown limited interest in increasing the student activity fee, a portion of student contributions to the fund should be reallocated to the operational budget.
The board argues that the close of the 30-year lease on the Maggie Benston Centre is looming, and renewing this lease could potentially cost the student society $8 million. However, the SFSS recently spent approximately $800,000 on the pub renovations, and are planning to build a food court in the Atrium cafeteria, and renovate the bottom floor of the Maggie Benston Centre. These renovations are all costly, the board argues, because they must employ SFU facilities staff to perform them. Plus, all new furniture must meet SFU quality standards, which might explain why the SFSS spent $500 per chair in the new Undergrounds student space.
The space expansion fund has already been put to use in finding extra funding, however: for the past several years, rather than borrowing money from outside the organization in order to pay for their annual deficits, the SFSS has borrowed money from the Fund. The current $800,000 deficit is owed to this fund, and unless cuts to expenses or increases in revenues are realized, the space expansion fund will be needed to cover future deficts.
Food and beverage services:
The food and beverage services provided by the SFSS which includes the Ladle, the Highland Pub, and Higher Grounds coffee shop, as well as catering services, is another previously underexplored source of revenue. In 2010, these services combined generated a profit of $131,064. The current board, however, is seeking to improve these numbers by taking an active interest in their profitability.
Your SFSS:
In the end, you — the undergraduate students of SFU — pay for the SFSS. The board of directors represents you, the employer of the locked out staff. Whether you agree or disagree with the lockout, you should let your board of directors know so that they can accurately represent you.
