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CAUT Policies

Policy Statement on Fairness for Contract Academic Staff

1
CAUT believes that excellence in education is best assured through the secure continuing appointment of career academics.  CAUT opposes the increasing use of contingent labour to fulfill ongoing staffing requirements.  Underfunding and administrative flexibility are not sufficient grounds for hiring contract academic staff as a substitute for continuing appointments.

2
The implementation of this policy in collective agreements must recognize and protect acquired rights and entitlements.

3
Fair and equitable treatment of all academic staff, regardless of their employment status, means:

(a)    Academic freedom extends to all academic staff regardless of the nature of the appointment.  Academic freedom for contract academic staff should be respected in all matters of personnel management including, but not limited to, posting positions, search procedures, hiring decisions, performance assessments, renewals of contract, tenure, promotion and discipline.

(b)    Contract academic staff have a right to fair remuneration commensurate with their experience, performance and responsibilities, which should include compensation and support for course preparation, student supervision, research and professional activity, service and professional development. Compensation for contract academic staff should be pro-rated to the total compensation, including benefit programmes, for a full-time position having similar responsibilities and requiring similar qualifications.

c)    All academic appointments should recognize that the nature of academic work includes teaching, research and professional activity and participation in service activities.  To achieve this end all limited-term contracts should explicitly recognize the research components of the job and define workloads as a percentage of full-time work.  Collective agreements must provide appropriate protections for contract academic staff to participate fully in an academic career.

(d)    All academic staff, regardless of their employment status, should hold an appropriate academic rank commensurate with their experience and/or responsibilities.

(e)    Procedures covering personnel decisions including, but not limited to, hiring decisions, contract renewals, performance evaluation, tenure, promotion, and discipline must be expanded and/or modified as required to ensure that they apply to all academic staff.

(f)    All hiring procedures must provide for full academic peer participation.

(g)    Clear procedures must be established for determining the content of postings for all positions.

(h)    Seniority must be recognized for all academic staff.
 
(i)    Agreements must provide clear procedures by which contract academic staff may, if they choose, transfer to other academic positions which become available and for which they are qualified.

(j)    If a contract academic staff member accumulates service equivalent in length to an initial tenure-track appointment at the institution, that person must be offered a continuing appointment and be eligible to be considered for tenure in their position.

(k)    Academic staff should receive their appointment sufficiently early to allow time to prepare courses.

(l)    Workloads must be distributed fairly and equitably among academic staff. 

(m)    Employers should provide contract academic staff with the resources and equipment necessary to perform their professional duties at a proportionate level of Regular Academic Staff.

(n)    Contract academic staff must have fair and equitable access to professional development opportunities at a proportionate level of Regular Academic Staff.

(o)    The right of contract academic staff to participate in academic governance must be recognized and protected.  Contract academic staff must be appropriately remunerated for service work.

(p)    Any evaluation of contract academic staff should be conducted, with clear, appropriate, consistent criteria.  Up-to-date personnel records should be kept on each employee¹.

(q)    Contract academic staff, like all other academic staff, own the intellectual property they create.


Endnote
1. See CAUT Policy Statement on Individual Files