Fleming College contract faculty get fewer work hours and lose benefits in wake of program cuts, union says

Many contract faculty at Fleming College are seeing their work hours and paycheques shrink this fall in the aftermath of the college’s decision to cancel more than one in five of its programs earlier this year, according to the union that represents faculty.

The program cuts and the federal government’s international student cap mean there are fewer students to teach at Fleming this fall. As a result, many contract instructors are only being offered six or fewer teaching hours per week, putting them below the threshold that would entitle them to union membership, according to Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 352 president Victoria Maystruk Falls.

Instructors who teach no more than six hours per week lose out on employee benefits and get a lower pay rate in addition to being excluded from the union, Maystruk Falls explained. In September 2023, 274 contract instructors exceeded the six hour per week threshold to receive union membership, according to figures provided by the union. But this fall, the number of those more-enticing contracts has plummeted by more than 60 percent, to 107.

Contract faculty make up a large portion of Fleming’s teaching staff. The college has 202 full-time faculty and 107 unionized contract faculty this fall, according to the union. The union did not provide figures on the number of contract faculty who do not currently meet the threshold for union membership.

One Fleming contract instructor told Peterborough Currents he expects to earn about $20,000 this year, after being assigned six teaching hours per week. That’s less than half the amount he was paid last academic year for teaching 12 hours a week, he said. He asked not to be identified because he fears losing his employment for speaking out.

The instructor said some of his colleagues did not return to Fleming this fall because they can’t support their families on a smaller contract.

”There are several people I know of here who have gone elsewhere to work… because they could not afford to work that little,” he said. “It’s destroyed the great community of teachers here in many ways.”

He said the college’s decision to cut the number of better-paying contracts was made “purely on a financial basis” and didn’t consider the impact on “morale,” “collegiality,” and “the overall student experience.”

“It’s very damaging long term,” he said. “You’ve got disgruntled employees. You’ve lost some good people to other places.”

He questioned why Fleming is cutting the number of unionized contracts when the college had a “pretty healthy surplus” of $40.1 million at the end of the 2023/2024 fiscal year, according to its financial statement.

The instructor also said that with fewer work hours, contract faculty will be less available to meet with students outside of class. “When you only have six hours a week, you’re not on campus as much, and so students have a harder time accessing your support,” he said. Contract instructors are only paid for in-class hours, not for marking and preparation time.

Back in July, Maystruk Falls wrote an email to Fleming president Maureen Adamson, saying the union is “unequivocally against” the college’s decision to reduce unionized teaching contracts. The email was also addressed to Alan Lambert, executive vice president of human resources and organizational development.

The college’s move demonstrates a “truly shocking” lack of respect for staff, Maystruk Falls wrote. “We worry about what it signals as far as a desire for respectful relationships moving forward.”

“The short-term financial benefits the college stands to gain may be strongly outweighed by individual legal challenges for severance, a surge of last-minute contract cancellations as faculty find alternative employment after their current contracts end, a permanent loss of long-term qualified staff, and an overall loss of productivity and resiliency on the academic side,” the email reads.

The union’s understanding is that Fleming is cutting the number of better-paid contracts so it can retain as many faculty as possible while the college tries to “rebuild student enrolment numbers,” Maystruk Falls wrote. However, “trying to maintain all contract faculty during a time of scarcity is not equitable and further disadvantages … precarious and vulnerable workers.”

Maystruk argues in her email that the college should focus on preserving better-paid contracts with more than six teaching hours a week and prioritize instructors with seniority for those positions.

Currents reached out to Fleming for comment on this story but did not hear back.