54 million bonus to university teachers
Salary bonuses are widespread among Quebec university professors. More than 3,570 of them benefited in 2017-2018 with a total amount of USD 54 million. In that year, the basic salary bonus was 4.7% of the salary fund of the teaching staff of Quebec universities.
The data comes from an October 2018 survey conducted by the Federation of Quebec University Professors (FQPPU) of 8,000 members at 18 institutions. The document identifies four main types of salary bonuses paid to faculty members—for program leadership; for performance; for a research chair or to compensate for high salaries in a field of work.
Professors at McGill University captured the bulk (46%) of these financial benefits, with bonuses totaling $25 million to 1,448 professors. The University of Montreal is in second place, with 20% of bonuses paid to Quebec professors. Another 16 Quebec universities shared the last third of their salary bonuses (but two institutions, HEC Montreal and UQAM, did not submit their data to the FQPPU).
FQPPU is pleased with this financial recognition of the work done by its members, but wants more transparency and fairness in the distribution of salary bonuses. Professors in subjects that offer high salaries outside academia, such as law, medicine, engineering or finance, enjoy enviable salary bonuses that can exceed $50,000 per year, while teachers in subjects such as literature, humanities or the arts, for example, are often covered by collective bargaining agreements. they have to make do with the wages they receive.
Campus units
These disparities create tension on the college campus Position friday A 25% bonus awarded to professors at the University of Montreal (UdeM) Faculty of Law over two decades is dividing the university community.
UdeM replaced these bonuses and the bonuses of all its professors with a new directive that creates transparent and independently allocated performance and attractive bonuses.
The new directive came into effect in June 2020, but the grievance arbitrator ruled in favor of the UdeM law professors last week: the institution’s management could not cancel these 25% bonuses without consultation. Arbitrator Jean-Guy Ménard invites the two parties to jointly determine the future of these salary bonuses.
The General Union of Professors and Professors of the University of Montreal (SGPUM) is “pleased with this decision, which clearly reminds the employer that it cannot unilaterally change the working conditions of teaching staff”. Be forced Fasal Kanouté, president of the association.
This arbitration award “sets an important precedent for respect for all teachers and their rights. The SGPUM hopes that the employer will take this into account and the latter will cooperate with the SGPUM both for the implementation of this decision and for the files that the SGPUM actually requests to be recognized as a contact person to ensure compliance with the requirements. working conditions and a healthy environment for its members,” he added.
For its part, the leadership of UdeM is studying the verdict before deciding whether to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
Beware of the “boys club”.
The Federation, which represents 8,000 Quebec university professors, said it wants the rewards shared collectively to avoid individual deals given to the loudest speakers or their members. boys club “.
The FQPPU study notes that “there is a gender imbalance, particularly in the distribution of salaries and management responsibilities”.
FQPPU notes that several university programs have a majority of female students, but women remain a minority among faculty. Women represent just over a third (38%) of professors at Quebec universities. Their number is less to hold the position of full professor, i.e. 12.4% of the teaching body in 2016-2017.
In Quebec, the proportion of women earning an annual salary of $150,000 or more is about 3.5 times lower than that of men (8.1% of teaching staff for men in 2016-2017 vs. 2.3% for women), FQPPU emphasizes.
