Bargaining Bulletin #7		Editor: Bob Rupert		June 14, 2001

	
		Our share of the operating budget has decreased	

Newsletter #5 made the point that our share of the university operating
budget has decreased.  This issue provides more detail about the decrease.

Academic salaries at Carleton as a percentage of operating budget in
1985/86 were 37.8%.  Ten years later in 1994/95 the figure was about the
same, 37.4%.  Over this ten- year period, the average percentage was
37.4%.  Really very steady.

The figures for the most recent 5 year period for which we have data
(1995/96 through 1999/00) tell a very different story.  During this
period, academic salaries at Carleton as a percentage of operating budget
dropped from 36.5% down to 31.1%.  A very significant decrease that
reflects the low scale increases we received during this period.

Adjusting academic salaries to the more normal level of 37.4% of the
operating budget would increase our salaries by over 20%!

The employer argues that important parts of the operating budget during
the 1995/96 through 1999/00 period were targeted financing mandated by the
province and beyond the control of university management - library
acquisitions, equipment purchases and student aid.  If these mandated
items are taken out of the budget, academic salaries as a percentage of
operating budget in 1999/00 were 34.7%.  This is still 2.7% below the more
normal 37.4% level.  Adjusting this 2.7% decrease would increase our
salaries by over 7.5%.

These considerations make our demand for 6% scale increase for 2001/02
look pretty reasonable.