We have been striving to get a definitive answer from management with regard to mandatory attendance at the upcoming Program Information Nights next week. Unfortunately, despite several emails back and forth with senior leadership, we do not have what we feel is a clear response.
Here is exactly what management has told us:
- Faculty members who do not have program coordinator workload assignments will have time on SWF if their supervisor requires PIN attendance.
- Program Coordinators typically have recruitment activities identified as part of their workload. PIN are a recruitment event. (We) would encourage Coordinators who would like clarity on this matter to have a discussion with their supervisor.
The takeaway here appears to be that faculty who are not program coordinators are only required to attend their upcoming PIN if it appears as workload on their SWF. For program coordinators, however, the college is maintaining that this is part of their expected duties under recruitment activities.
These duties, it should be noted, are only briefly mentioned in the one-page Program Coordinator Responsibilities document that some managers have shared. The single relevant sentence in that document reads: “Program coordinators lead activities associated with student recruitment, onboarding and retention.”
The union’s position is that these recruitment activities encapsulate a wide variety of tasks which are routinely done by coordinators, but that the PIN events are simply open houses under another name and should be recognized as such on coordinator SWFs, just as open houses now are.
Several coordinators who have asked their supervisors if they must attend have been told that the “expectation” is that they will as part of their recruitment duties. An expectation is not a directive, of course, but management will not answer us as to what happens to a coordinator who does not meet that “expectation” by not attending.
We have asked if discipline could result for not attending, and the reply again is the standard refrain that faculty should speak to their supervisor if they have this question.
Given all this, our advice is that if a coordinator asks and is told there is an expectation of attendance, that they do attend to avoid any potential for discipline.
Faculty who are not coordinators need only attend the PIN events if it is specifically noted on their SWF.
The union is continuing to push for the recognition of PINs as additional workload on coordinator SWFs and is working with counsel to explore our options under the collective agreement.
In solidarity,
Your Local 354 Executive