CAUT Policy Statement
Academic staff salaries should be paid in accordance with a single salary grid based on the full range of academic staff responsibilities (teaching/professional practice, research and service). There should be clearly defined floors, ceilings, and criteria for placement on appointment. It is also crucial to ensure that academic staff with equal qualifications and experience are paid equally regardless of permanent or contract status.
Equity in pay is critical to the realization of overall equity in employment. Criteria for placement on the grid and the process for determining individual placement should not result in discrimination against individuals from disadvantaged groups.
Qualifications and experience as specified in the Collective Agreement should determine where each position is placed on the grid. This job rate and the grid should be adjusted annually by scale increases to maintain adequate levels of compensation.
The number of steps (sometimes referred to as “Progress through the Ranks” or “Career Development Increments”) within the grid should be strictly limited, so as to ensure that academic staff proceed in a timely fashion to the maximum salary.1
Step increases on the grid provide for orderly salary progression in one’s career. They are an entitlement as compensation for contributions and enhanced competencies that are a result of experience. Since such improvements are more rapid at the beginning of a career, the value of a step should be greater in earlier years when advancements are more rapid. Step increases should not be based on merit assessments.
The use of market differentials and merit increases is inherently discriminatory, particularly against members of historically disadvantaged groups. Where market differentials and merit pay exist they should be phased out in a systematic fashion.
All employee groups, including contract academic staff, should be on the grid, pro-rated, including benefits and any other right accorded by the Collective Agreement to regular academic staff.
Contract academic staff should be compensated for canceled courses.
Pay discrimination should be remedied by the regular implementation of comprehensive pay equity studies and processes to address salary anomalies using non-discriminatory measures to identify the internal inequities and equalize compensation. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure complete and timely remediation of all discriminatory pay differentials.
Approved by the CAUT Council, May 2008;
Approved by the CAUT Council, May 2014;
Approved by the CAUT Council, April 2018;
Editorial Revisions, June 2022.
Endnote
1 Depending on the existence of academic ranks and the policy of the local association, rank differentials may or may not be incorporated in the salary grid.