Following the alleged four staff layoffs and the reshuffling of five other employees in the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS), two union presidents stressed their concerns for their members’ future.
The FAS positions facing layoffs—all in the Department of Chemistry—were a Computer Network Administrator, a Technical Support Assistant, an Electronics Technician, and a Chemical Stores role, according to CUPE 254 President, Marie Edwards. Her union represents Technical and Lab Support Technicians at the University, and she confirmed the layoffs in an interview with The Journal, saying they were part of wider cutbacks in the FAS.
“It’s not something that occurs regularly,” Edwards said. “With chemistry, the layoffs are because of the cutbacks. They are trying to lower expenses. I’ve been told that the work that these positions were doing has diminished, and they felt that they could handle the responsibilities that these positions covered by having the duties distributed to other people.”
In a statement to The Journal, the University acknowledged two layoffs but didn’t clarify the time frame they used when providing their layoff figures.
“We’ve focused on moving employees who would likely be impacted by a layoff into vacant necessary roles rather than hiring externally, which significantly reduced the number of people who would’ve been impacted by a layoff. Despite these efforts, FAS recently made the difficult decision to lay off two employees within the faculty,” the University wrote.
USW Local 2010, which represents Queen’s represents support staff, academic assistants and residence dons, reported additional employment changes regarding their members across various faculties—many of which were switched to new positions.
In an interview with The Journal, President of USW Local 2010, Kelly Orser explained that since the start of this year, five individuals in the FAS had their positions eliminated—all of which she said were due to budget cuts—but all were provided other positions within the faculty in other departments.
Six individuals in the Faculty of Engineering also had their positions eliminated, with four offered new positions and two choosing to retire. Four of these positions were due to budget cuts, whereas the other two were due to redundancies.
Orser also added that six individuals from other smaller faculties and schools were served six official layoff notices—meaning they weren’t offered a new position within their faculty—explaining smaller faculties often have less positions for work available compared to FAS and Engineering. However, through their redeployment pool—which allows union members who have been laid off first access to new job postings—two have been redeployed to new positions, three are waiting in the pool, and one has left completely and received their severance.
She additionally pointed to last year’s “phase one” of cuts in FAS, which she said primarily targeted administrative staff, including undergraduate and graduate assistants, program assistants, financial staff, and marketing positions. The most recent cuts, she said, appear to fall into a “phase two” which targets academic support and technical roles.
Edwards said while the cuts were handled well by the University, she’s concerned the work performed by those laid off will fall onto staff already stretched thin, especially considering she’s heard they are planning to increase the number of seats in the chemistry program.
“They handled it very tactfully. They do provide support, and I have no issues with the way it was handled. My big concern about the layoffs is where will these tasks be handled?” Edwards said.
“The three chemical lab technologists who are currently working in chemistry have been working through their lunches and through their breaks to try and get the work done. If they add more students, that extra position they’ve hired [that they added recently] is not going to be adequate.”
Edwards said she has yet to meet with the University on how tasks will be reassigned in Chemistry following July’s layoffs, adding she hasn’t heard a plan from management of how they’ll deal with additional work.
Orser explained the Union is “very concerned” about the budget situation, adding the issue she has an issue with senior management’s salary as well.
“In the face of senior management getting record-high increases on the sunshine list, to see so many Steelworkers losing their jobs, it is extremely disheartening,” she said. “We’re not sure what the future holds. Time will tell, but we remain quite concerned.
Tags
budget cuts, CUPE 254, Faculty of Arts and Science, layoffs, USW Local 2010
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