Humber Polytechnic is offering a voluntary retirement program to any eligible full-time faculty looking to retire.
Milos Vasic, the President of the Humber Faculty Union (OPSEU 562), said the option to take part in the program is a personal choice but overall he doesn’t like the idea.
“In general, we're worried that in this time of kind of uncertainty and austerity, that they're looking to get rid of people and not replace them,” he said.
“There are ways for the union to kind of counter that, but that's always the concern with this,” Vasic said.
He said if someone wants to go through with the program, they can go ahead.
“That's always the question that we have Is the college looking to just basically get rid of people and have the people that remain work more?,” Vasic said.
“What they're looking to get rid of, they're looking to get rid of older people at the top of the pay grid,” he said.
Vasic said he wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people want to take part in the program.
“I'm not sure how many people will actually go for this, for sure some will and that's great,” he said.
“I'm not sure how much savings Humber is hoping to kind of realize with this move,” Vasic said.
Mike Karapita, a retired Humber Polytechnic professor from the Faculty of Media, Creative Arts and Design, said the institute seems to want to shed full-time staff.
“This particular buyout does not seem as generous as one that was offered about a year and a half ago,” he said.
“There probably are faculty who are thinking of retiring anyway, who will jump at the chance to get a little extra cash as they head out the door,” Karapita said.
He thinks it's a good option for the full-time faculty who are thinking of retirement.
“If you're close to retirement but not quite ready, I don't think this incentive is going to push many more people to jump at the chance to retire,” Karapita said.
‘When you go to retire, it's helpful to have your financial affairs in a row, so extra money always helps, but full-time staff would really have to look closely to see whether this offer works for them or not,” he said.
Karapita said there aren't many options when faculty move to retire.
“You either retire on your own and make your own decision to go or, if you're lucky, you're getting ready to retire just when the college is offering some extra incentives,” he said.
“The general feeling after the last buyout was that the college was not going to be offering any more buyouts, that they cost too much money and the college just wouldn't do it again,” Karapita said.
He said it’s surprising that the institution is once again offering buyouts.
“Clearly they want to shed staff if they can,” Karapita said.
“You need all kinds of faculty, from brand new to faculty who have been there a long time, and with buyouts, you tend to lose faculty who with the college a long time,” he said.
Karapita said it runs the risk of losing people who bring a lot of their expertise to the classroom.
“It's sad to see some of the best teachers leave,” he said.
Karapita said he would push for more funding.
“I'd say there's two ways the college can push for funding, they can push through day-to-day lobbying and dealings with government,” he said.
Karapita said part-time faculty only have a certain amount of time to work at Humber and then go to another workplace, which leaves their presence on campus diminished.
“When you cut full-time faculty, ultimately that means fewer faculty who are around day in and day out to meet with and mentor students,” he said.
un“It could be much more difficult for students to get support from beyond having the teacher in the classroom with them,” Karapita said.
The Voluntary Retirement Program is offered to active full-time employees who meet the eligibility requirements to retire with an unreduced pension by having reached one of the milestones, as stated in an announcement by Jason Hunter, the Interim Vice-President,
Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness.
Milestones include a combination of age and years of CAAT pensionable service totalling 85, also known as the “85 factor”, having reached 60 years of age with 20 years of CAAT pensionable service known as the “60/20 factor”.
Requirements also include reaching 65 years of age with 10 years of continuous, full-time service at Humber and currently receiving their CAAT pension with 10 years of continuous full-time service.
