The department(s) where you hold a Unit 1 appointment(s) keeps track of the seniority points for all CUPE Local 3904 Unit 1 members who teach in that department. In Unit 1, seniority points are department specific, but not course specific. The seniority list for each department is required, under the new Collective Agreement, to be made public on the job postings for each semester. If you do not know how many seniority points you have accrued in the department(s) in which you teach, you should ask your Department Chair or Department Assistant to inform you of your seniority points.
The Unit 1 Collective Agreement has always allowed for university management to load additional students above and beyond the existing class size limit. The Unit 1 Collective Agreement designates that the Contract Lecturer is to be paid $80 for each of the additional 33 students over the class size limit and $90 for each additional student after the 33 additional students, or use this money to have their department/school hire a marker/grader to handle the additional marking and workload of these extra students, or a combination of part marker/grader and part extra student pay based on the choice of the Contract Lecturer.
Contract Lecturers can also decide to take a portion of extra student pay and use the remaining portion towards a marker/grader. However, in doing so this means the Contract Lecturer is required to do some of the extra student marking themselves in addition to the marking for all of the students up to the class size limit soft cap.
In cases where the course is deemed TAGA academically required, the Unit 1 member is required to have marker/grader support and does not have a choice to opt for extra student pay. The department/school can determine, based on the curriculum, whether TAGA support is academically required in order to provide all students in all sections of a particular course with the same pedagogical experience.
In the case where TAGA support is academically required, the Unit 1 member is paid an extra student pay of 20% for managing and overseeing their TAGAs.
Extra student pay, whether in its entirety or at the rate of 20%, is paid in one lump sum after the designated student count dates in the Unit 1 Collective Agreement. For Fall semester, the designated date is November 1st and for Winter semester the designated date is February 1st. Extra student pay is paid through your bi-weekly pay. Human Resources at Toronto Metropolitan University or your Department/School Assistant generally sends out an email notifying all Unit 1 members who are eligible for this money what pay date to expect this lump sum.
Please note: Extra student pay is based on an aggregate number of students across all of one’s Unit 1 courses. This means that in order to determine if you are eligible for extra student pay, you need to add the number of students enrolled in all of your Unit 1 courses/sections in the same term together. The soft cap maximum is 60 students for one course/section, 55 students for two courses/sections (for a total of 110 students), and 50 students for three, four and five courses/sections (for a total of 150, 200 or 250 students). Extra student pay is calculated based on the November 1st student enrollment date in Fall term and the February 1st student enrollment date in Winter term and only reflects the extra number of students based on the aggregate student enrollment across all of a Contract Lecturer’s courses/sections in a term, not individual courses/sections.
Once a Contract Lecturer begins to accrue a full seniority point and reach the top of the Unit 1 pay scale, they become eligible for Service Adjustment Pay. Service Adjustment Pay is paid every time you accrue a full seniority point once you have hit the maximum pay on the Unit 1 pay scale. Unit 1 members holding full time and reduced sessional appointments receive Service Adjustment Pay after two consecutive terms. Unit 1 members holding part-time sessional appointments receive Service Adjustment Pay after three consecutive terms. Service Adjustment Pay is paid at the beginning of the term, either in the first or second pay, in which you accrue a full seniority point. We encourage our members to read their pay stubs with each pay to ensure that they are being appropriately compensated. Service Adjustment Pay is reported on your pay stub as a separate line from your Unit 1 bi-weekly pay. Service Adjustment Pay shows, for those teaching a full 15 hour per week Unit 1 course load, as a gross amount of $2,500.00 for the academic year or $1,250.00 gross per term. For those teaching a reduced or part-time sessional appointment, the Service Adjustment Pay is an adjusted amount to reflect their part-time or reduced appointment workload.
For any questions or information regarding your regular pay and/or your Service Adjustment Pay, please contact Human Resources directly through the AskHR portal in their my.torontomu.ca account or through the AskHR website: https://www.torontomu.ca/human-resources/askhr/
If something in your workplace is happening that seems unfair to you, contact your department steward or your unit VP on the CUPE Local 3904 Executive. Your department steward, Unit VP or other Executive Officers will be able to discuss and assess the situation in order to help you deal with it in the most efficient and appropriate manner.
Sometimes intervention other than a grievance may be more effective and will therefore be used.