Katherine Weary

PHOTO: DIANA GRIER AYTON

The lowest of the low

KATHERINE WEARY | A review of the Faculty of Arts is scheduled for the next academic year. Faculty members, especially part-timers, will be watching with more than an academic interest to see how the review committee will address the problem of the gap that is growing between McGill and other Montreal universities with respect to the salaries and working conditions of part-time lecturers. It is to be hoped that action will be taken in time to stem the flow of the faculty's best-qualified part-timers to more attractive teaching positions in the city.

At the English and French Language Centre, a small department within the Faculty of Arts where much of the teaching load is carried by part-timers, class sizes continue to grow, while earnings, relative to other universities, dwindle.

Over the past four years, classes have increased by 50 per cent -- from 18-20 students in 1994 to 28-30 in 1998. Meanwhile, the salary per course at $3,625 remains $800 less than the Université de Montréal and Concordia University offer for similar three-credit second language courses.

Figured at an hourly rate, a teacher of academic writing at McGill's Language Centre earns about $10 an hour when the marking of writing assignments, essay exams, journals and exercises is added to normal preparation and teaching time. And this calculation does not include the placement test administration and staff meetings that are expected of contract lecturers at the centre. In contrast, part-timers can figure on earning at least $25 an hour at U de M or Concordia where student numbers are smaller or course loads lighter.

Moreover, without a union or effective representation on MAUT, part-time faculty lecturers at McGill can expect no protection when unforeseen events end in early termination of their contracts. For example, if fewer than 25 students are enrolled in a course at the Language Centre by the third class, the course can be cancelled. The teacher, who has run placement tests, prepared the course outline, delivered the first three lectures, and generally arranged his or her life accordingly, is let go, with no compensation whatsoever.

And if illness or injury strikes, the contract teacher has no salary insurance to fall back on. Three weeks into term last fall, I had to undergo emergency surgery necessitating several months' convalescence. As a part-time faculty lecturer at McGill, my salary was terminated effective my last teaching day. As a chargée de cours at Université de Montréal, 80% of my salary was paid until the end of the term.

As a result of financial constraints, faculty members throughout McGill are paid on average less than their counterparts elsewhere. The MAUT newsletter of November '98, giving the results of a study that compared McGill salaries with those of 10 other Canadian universities with a research orientation, reported that full professors at McGill receive 8.7% less, associate professors, 15.1% less, and assistant professors 16.8% less.

Full-time faculty lecturers, however, on average earn 31.2% less than their counterparts at other Canadian universities. The MAUT study had no figures for part-time lecturers, but it seems that the further one goes down the ladder, the greater the differential.

With a view to bringing McGill salaries closer to the group of 10 universities in the MAUT study, Vice-Principal (Academic) Bill Chan recently announced a uniform salary increase of $2,000 a year. Sadly for part-timers, however, the raise includes all ranks of faculty except sessional or course contract academics. Clearly, the poorest members of faculty have been passed over once again.

While loyalty to McGill and job satisfaction make a certain level of discrepancy acceptable, the dramatic salary difference, together with increased class sizes and lack of benefits for part-timers, is bound to adversely affect the quality of teaching in the following ways:

(1)Teachers are reducing the number of assignments in order to keep the marking load of larger classes manageable. Fewer assignments result in less mastery by the students of the subject.

(2) Part-time lecturers are taking on too many contracts. Some have as many as six teaching contracts at a variety of Montreal universities and CEGEP's. Few teachers can maintain such a pace without either burning themselves out or short-changing their students.

(3) The most sought after teachers, and especially those who prefer to channel their energy into two or three well-prepared and delivered courses, will choose to teach where the classes are smaller, the salary larger, and a modest safety net of benefits is offered.

At a time when well-qualified part-time lecturers are needed at McGill to reduce the number of costly full-time professors, it is a pity that many of the brightest and best part-timers will inevitably take their talents to other, more competitive, colleges and universities.

To prevent the deterioration of quality teaching and the loss of good teachers, the review committee might consider the following measures:

(1) Reduce class sizes. Allow a generous budget for markers/TAs for larger classes.

(2) Increase the salaries of part-timers gradually but steadily until they are competitive with other universities.

(3) Arrange for some form of salary insurance -- even 50% in case of accident or illness, with reasonable premiums to be deducted from salaries.

Most part-timers would undoubtedly elect to participate in such a plan.

(4) Budget for an honorarium to be paid to contract teachers in case of a course cancellation during the first three weeks of term.

By taking measures to ensure that the working conditions are a little less arduous, that the salary is a little more fair, and that some protection against the unforeseen exists, the faculty will be able to continue to attract and keep the kind of part-time teachers whose high standards and dedication have helped establish McGill's reputation for excellence.

Katherine Weary is a part-time faculty lecturer in the English and French Language Centre