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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBell 91-06-07 IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION ~.~.c~ ~OL~,EG~. OF ~LI~.D ~S ~D T~.C~O~,O~ - and - ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION GRIEVANCE OF CHARLES BENNETT BOARD OF ARBITRATION: JANE H. DEVLIN CHAIRMAN ROBERT J. GALLIVAN COLLEGE NOMINEE GARY MAJESKY UNION NOMINEE Appearances for the College: F.G. Hamilton M. Fogel Appearances for the Union: James Hayes Ted Montgomery Joe Stavroff Charles Bennett OPSEU File No.: 90D672 Date and Location of Hearing: January 15, 1991 & April 8, 1991 Toronto, Ontario The Grievor,'Charles Bennett, commenced his employment with the College in August of 1981 and was laid off in mid- October of 1990. He claims that his lay-off was contrary to Article 8.05(a) of the Collective Agreement, which provides as follows: , 8.05 When the College decides to lay off or reduce the number of fUll-time employees who have completed the probationary period or transfer involuntarily full-time employees who have completed the probationary period to another position from that previously held as a result of such lay-off or reduction of employees, the following placement and displacement provisions shall apply to full- time employees so affected. Where an employee has the competence, skill and experience to fulfill the requirements of the full-time position concerned, seniority shall apply consistent with the following: (a) an employee will be reassigned within the College to a vacant full-time position in lieu of being laid off if the employee has the competence, skill and experience to perform the requirements of a vacant position. In accordance with Article 8.08, the Grievor identified two vacant full-time positions to be the subject of this arbitration. Both positions were in the English and Communications Division at the Newnham Campus and were posted in the summer of 1990. One of the positions was~subsequently filled byGeorge Scott, although during the first day of hearing, Mr. Hayes, who appeared for the Union, advised the Board that the Grievor was not pursuing a claim to this position. The successful applicant for the other vacancy was Ramabai Espinet who attended and participated in the hearing of Mr. Bennett's grievance. 2 The posting for the position which was filled by Ms. Espinet was as follows: "TO: Ail Staff DATE: August 1, 1990 FROM: Mel Fogel Director of Employee Relations RE: POSITION VACANCY - FULL-TIME PROBATIONARY PROFESSOR ENGLISH AND COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION - NEWNHAM CAMPUS The English and Communications Division at Newnham Campus requires a Full-time Probationary Professor to teach College English, Effective Business Communications, and Literature options (summer semester). A Bachelor of Arts (HonoUrs) is required. 'Post-secondary teaching experience' and knowledge of word processing (preferably WordPerfect) are also required. A Bachelor of Education and/or Master of Arts degree would be an asset. Competition: 90F-1060 Commencing: August 20, 1990 Applicants from within the College are invited to submit a covering letter with an updated resume, quoting COMPETITION NUMBER, to the Employment Clerk, Ms. Theresa Gibeault, no later than August 8, 1990. Seneca College is an equal opportunity employer. 'Jane Wilson/mf' Distribution: Staff bulletin boards, at all campuses." . There are~ approximately421, full-time.and 12.sessional ~faculty in the English and Communications Division at the Newnham campus. Most faculty teach during the fall and winter semesters and generally have assignments in a number of different courses which are taught at different, program levels. There is also a summer semester which extends from May to August to which seven 3 full-time faculty are assigned. These faculty teach in the summer and fall semesters and it is one of these positions which is in issue in this case. As indicated on the job posting, the position involves teaching College English, Effective Business Communications and literature options. The evidence indicates that Ms. Espinet taught College English in the fall semester of the 1990/91 academic year. College English is an introductory course for students in the first semester and is a prerequisite to other English subjects. The Board understands that there is a general course outline for College English which all faculty must follow which establishes the minimum requirements for the course. From this general outline, each teacher develops his or her individual outline, chooses an appropriate text and selects material from the text to be studied by the students. In reviewing the outline for College English prepared by Ms. Espinet, Joseph Stavroff, a teacher in the English and Communications Division, testified that Ms. Espinet selected a text which is used by a number of faculty teaching this course and is accompanied by an instructor's manual. .He also'testified that, for the.first time in 1990, a common exam was set for' students in the various sections of the College English course. In the fall of 1990, Ms. Espinet also taught a course in Effective Business and Technical Communication which is a 4 course for students in the third semester designed to strengthen communication skills which.will be required in the workplace. In particular, the course is concerned with business correspondence and with formal and informal technical reports. Ms. Espinet also taught a similar course entitled Effective Business and Technical Writing and was responsible for preparing outlines for both of these courses. Although there was some suggestion that Ms. Espinet taught one other course in the fall of 1990, no evidence was introduced in this regard. In the sUmmer semester of this year, Ms. Espinet is .scheduled to teach The Immigrant Experience, .a course which examines fiction, essays and other works pertinent to the immigrant experience in Canada. Evidently, this is new course at the College and the possibility of Ms. Espinet teaching this course was discussed during her interview for the vacancy in question. Ms. Espinet subsequently developed an outline for this course in January 0f 1991 and the course was approved by the local Academic Council in March. In~-the~summer semester, .Ms...Espinet is also scheduled to teach a course entitled Fiction and Reality. This is a second semester course and, as the name suggests, involves a study of the interrelationship between fiction and contemporary reality. This course has been taught previously at the College but again, 5 Ms. Espinet was required to develop her own outline for the course which she did in January of 1991. The Grievor, Charles Bennett, completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1962 with a major in History and a minor in English. He testified that the degree involved seven courses in history and four and one-half courses in English. The English courses consisted of two Shakespearean courses, an English literature course, the title of which the Grievor could not recall, one further course and a half course in public speaking. Since 1962, the Grievor has ~not taken~any.courses in English literature although he did.teach English at the Grade. 9 level in the late 1970's. From 1959 to 1961, the Grievor worked in the Treasury Department of Can Car Ltd. and from 1961 to 1963, he worked in the Purchasing and Accounting Department of the Montreal Protestant School Board. In 1963, the Grievor obtained a teaching certificate in Quebec following which he taught in that Province, primarily at the Grade 7 level. In 1967, the Grievor obtained his'teaching certificate~in Ontario and taught~history, mathematics and consumer education at Woodbine Junior High School. From 1968 until 1981, the Grievor taught at Emery Junior High School where he was Co-ordinator of the Grade 9 program and Chairman of the Business Department. In 1971, the Grievor 6 obtained an Accountancy Specialist Certificate from the University of Toronto. In 1981, the Grievor was hired by the College to teach in the Harness Horse Industry Operations program. Although much was made of the fact that the Grievor's application for employment with the College made no reference to his interest in or ability to teach English, the Grievor explained that he submitted the application for the purpose of obtaining a position in the Harness Horse program and, as a result, focused on his abilities in that area. When the Grievor joined the faculty of the College, the Harness Horse program was a two year diploma course which covered all aspects of the harness horse industry. In 1982, the Grievor became the'Co-ordinator of the program in which'there were two full-time teachers, two full-time technicians and a number of part-time staff members. The Grievor testified that, in his early years with the College, he devoted some of his teaching time to the administration, public relations and business aspects of the harness horse industry. In.later years,~public relations was taught by faculty in the English and Communications Division. For a number of years prior to 1990, there was a decline in enrolment in the Harness Horse program with the result that the program was initially reduced to one year. In the 7 summer of 1990, the program was suspended altogether and the Grievor was then given 90 calendar days notice of lay-off in accordance with Article 8.04(g) of the Collective Agreement. On the first day of hearing, which took place in January of 1991, the Grievor reviewed the course outlines for College English, Effective Business and Technical Communication and Effective Business and Technical Writing which were developed by Ms. Espinet. The Grievor testified that, in view of his academic background and his 27 years' experience in teaching, he was capable of teaching these.courses. The Grievor explained .that although he did not teach English in .the Harness Horse program, he taught courses which dealt with analytical writing, business correspondence, verbal speech, committee meetings and agendas. The Grievor testified that he also gained experience in business and technical writing from his work in the Accounting and Purchasing Department at the Montreal Protestant School Board. It would appear that when the Grievor gave his evidence .in January of 1991, .the course outlines.'for~the Immigrant Experience and the Fiction and Reality courses to be taught Ms. Espinet in the summer semester had not yet been completed. The Grievor understood, however, that teaching in the summer semester would involve literature options and he expressed the view that he would have no difficulty teaching such courses. He acknowledged, however, that he would require some time for research and preparation but suggested that this time was available during the year as literature Options are taught in the summer semester. Although the Grievor conceded that he was not qualified to teach WordPerfect in the summer of 1990, he testified that he has had a computer for a number of years and completed the WordPerfect course at the College in the fall of 1990. This course involved a total of eight hours over two evenings and the Grievor testified that.upon completion~of .the course, .he was ~ qualified to teach at the required level. Linda Payne is the Dean of the English and Communications Division at the Newnham campus and made the decision that the Grievor did not have the competence, skill and ~experience to fulfill the requirements of the position in question. Ms. Payne testified that because a small number of faculty teach in the summer semester, they must be extraordinarily adaptable. She also suggested that teachers of .English must~have~a ~lov~'of the~language.and~an enthusiasm for their subject. In terms of the requirements set out on the job posting, Ms. Payne testified that since she joined the College in 1980, the College has consistently required that applicants for 9 teaching positions in English have an Honours B.A. She explained that this requirement has been imposed to ensure that teachers have taken a sufficient number and diversity of literature courses as three quarter~ of the curriculum is literature based. Ms. Payne also testified that 80% of the current full-time faculty have either a Masters degree or a P.H.D. Although there are two teachers who have what was described as a pass B.A., Ms. Payne explained that these teachers were hired some twenty years ago and teach only specialized courses in television arts. Ms. Payne testified that the College also requires teaching experience at the post-secondary.level because it is necessary for teachers to have an understanding of the processes and theories of teaching language acquisition to adults. She also testified that there has been a dramatic change in the way in which English is taught over the last twenty years. Ms. Payne expressed, the view that the Grievor did not have the competence, skill and experience to fulfill the requirements of the position now occupied by Ms. Espinet because ~ ~ he did not have an~Honours,B.A.,~ and~although he had taught at the post-secondary level, his experience in language instruction was minimal. As well, the Grievor did not have the requisite knowledge of word processing at the time the decision was made. He also lacked knowledge of current language acquisition theory and had exhibited no real interest in teaching English. Ms. Payne acknowledged, however, that when she made the decision to deny the vacancy to the Grievor, she relied only on the fact that he did not have an Honours B.A. and that his experience in language instruction at the post-secondary level was limited. Ms. Payne explained that at the time she made her decision, she had before her the Grievor's application for employment with the College which had been submitted in 1981. Although Ms. Payne understood that the Grievor had declined the opportunity to update the information contained on his application, the Grievor' testified that he,was not aware he had the opportunity to do so. In any event, Ms. Payne testified that the Grievor's application revealed that he did not meet the minimum requirements for the position with the result that he was not granted an interview. Although Ms. Payne subsequently obtained additional information with regard to the Grievor's experience in teaching at the junior high school, primarily in business, and also learned that he had previously taught public relations in the Harness Horse program, she testified that this would have equipped him to teach only 10% of the curriculum. ··.· ··~ , Accordingly, this.did not alter, her :view.that.he did not have the competence, skill and experience to fulfill the requirements of the position. Also called to give evidence on behalf of the College was Elizabeth MacLennan, the Academic Chair at the King campus. 11 Prior to the summer of 1990, the Harness Horse program was one of the programs for which Ms. MacLennan was responsible. .Although she was not involved in the decision to deny the Grievor the vacancy to which Ms. Espinet was subsequently appointed, Ms. MacLennan shared Ms. Payne's view that it is essential for an English teacher to be committed to the language and to its place in the curriculum. She testified that in her conversations with the Grievor in connection with the Harness Horse program, she did not observe this commitment on his part. By way of example, she testified that, on one occasion, the Grievor suggested that another teacher.be-given the opportunity to teach,public speaking and from this, she deduced that the Grievor preferred to focus on the core subjects of the Harness Horse program. She also testified that the Grievor appeared to favour these core subjects in their discussions concerning curriculum. The issue then is whether the Grievor had the competence, skill and experience to fulfill the requirements of the vacant position which is now occupied by Ms. Espinet. In assessing the nature of this positiOn, we propose to consider the job posting.which sets out the requirement to teach College English, Effective Business Communications and literature options. Although there was no suggestion of any difference between the posted position and the actual duties which are performed by Ms. Espine~, in our view, the Grievor need not demonstrate his ability to teach the specific literature options 12 which are being taught by Ms. Espinet. There is no requirement to teach these particular courses on the job posting and, in fact, it would appear that these courses are simply examples of literature options which might be taught by the incumbent of the position. As Mr. Bennett's grievance involves a claim to a vacant position in accordance with Article 8.05(a) of the Collective Agreement, in our view, it is appropriate to consider the requirements of that position as set out on the job posting. Before dealing with those requirements, however, it is necessary to cOmment briefly on certain evidence given by Ms. Payne and Ms. MacLennan. Both of these witnesses testified that it is essential that an English teacher be committed to and interested in the language and we have no doubt that teaching ability would be enhanced by this type of commitment. The criteria by which this grievance is to determined, however, are clearly set out in the Collective Agreement and require that the Board consider the Grievor's competence, skill and experience to fulfill the requirements of the position. · In this case, one of.the qualifications for the position was an Honours B.A. and we understand that this has been a requirement for teaching positions in English for some time. Ms. Payne explained that this requirement has been imposed to ensure that teachers have a strong academic background in literature as literature forms a major part of the curriculum. 13 In this regard, the Board understands that in addition to teaching courses in literature, teachers also use literature as a foundation upon which to build language skills. In this context, we cannot conclude that the requirement for an Honours B.A. is unrelated to the work to be performed. At the same time, we do not rule out the possibility that a sufficient background in literature could be demonstrated by some equivalent experience as was suggested by Ms. MacLennan. Even if this were the case, hOwever, there was no evidence to indicate ~that .the Gri'evor..could satisfy such a requirement. He did~not major in English and took only four and~one-half .courses in English on obtaining his B.A. in 1962. He acknowledged that, since that time, he has ~aken no literature courses, nor did he offer evidence of any independent study or even extensive reading in this area. Although the Grievor did teach English at the Grade 9 level in the late 1970's, in our view, this is not sufficient to find that he was capable of teaching the literature options which are a significant component of the position in question. There was also no evidence to indicate that the ~Grievor is ~familiar.with~current~language~acquisition theory which would bear upon his ability to teach College English. The Grievor has evidently taught public relations in the Harness Horse program and has also dealt with business correspondence in this context. In addition, he has certain 14 practical experience which would undoubtedly assist him in teaching aspects of the courses in Effective Business Communications now taught by Ms. Espinet. These courses, however, form only part of the position in question. While we do not disagree with the Union that Ms. Payne's review of the Grievor's qualifications was somewhat perfunctory, nevertheless, it has not been demonstrated that her conclusion was in error. Although we recognize that the Grievor has extensive teaching experience, for the most part, this ~experience does.not ~bear a~sufficient ~relationship to the courses to be .taught in the position.in issue. Based upon .the evidence, we cannot conclude that the Grievor had the competence, skill and experience to fulfill the requirements of the vacant position. Accordingly, the grievance of Mr. Bennett is hereby dismissed. DATED AT TORONTO, this 7th day of June, 1991. Chairman "Robert J. Gallivan" ,College Nominee See Dissent Attached Union Nominee IN THE MATTER OF ARBITRATION BETWEEN~ SENECA COLLEGE QF APPLIED ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY - and - ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION GRIEVANCE OF CHARLES BENNETT UNION NOMINEE DISSENT After reading .the award in this matter, I must regrettably dissent from the majority. Although the award arrives at a conclusion which I am inclined to support, I still have concerns regarding the pedagogical implications of a rislng~ bar (~ducational standards)~with .respect ~o teaching qual.ific~tions. Although the .board has a .finite latitude .in .terms of the immediate issue to be resolved,, we are never able to examine why and under what circumstances, Mr. Bennett'S Harness Horse Racing Program was moth-balled. It ~s'hould come as no surprise to the Community College administration that 'courses and programs have been developed in partnership with community partners (employers or industry associations) to provide industry specific training or the vocational training to meet employer and industry needs. That was the raison d'etra of the college system. For this reason, I am concerned about why the "race track" re-claimed possession of the program, thus forcing the Seneca program to compete for finite student bodies, resulting in less enrolment making the Seneca Harness Horse Racing Program inviable from a enrolment perspective. The award and. narrow .issue in.dispute revolve around Mr. Bennett's~ .academic .short-Comings as a~.~English, teacher. In · contra-distinCtion, .I can. now understand .~why the. Harness Horse Racing Program was suspended. After listening to Elizabeth MacLennon, Academic Chair, King Campus, it's fairly obvious that given her academic propensity for liberal studies, the arts, and being a culture vulture; '{t's no wonder that she was in all likelihood unable to grapple with the client community liaison demands pertaining to the Harness Horse Racing Program. Frankly, it stuck me as very odd, that this refined academic sophisticate, would be dabbling in the racing stable asking what the horse racing industry training needs are, and how the Seneca program could continue meeting those requirements. From a practical perspective, Seneca College would be wise to learn from this experience. Mr. Bennett would not have had a grievance if the college did their job and serviced this industry employer, who it appears, unilaterally established their own program, thus placing his job in jeopardy. Secondly, after careful review of the testimony, I was struck by the wanting and desire of the faculty to retain a high calibre of staff member. That is a very laudable goal. Perhaps, mirroring those sentiments is why we now recognize college faculty as professors, indicating that an ideological shift has taken place within the faculty creating a creeping credentialism, or colloquially referred to. by union counsel as the 'rising bar' of credentialism. Specifically, we heard what the necessary academic requirements were to become a member of the English faculty. The testimony of management was that they were proud of their stable of Phd's and MA's. We also heard that most staff possess one or both degrees. It appears that over time, the college has been able to stock the faculty with well credentialed individuals. ..What this-has don~ ~is prejudice the capability of candidates who have the threshold requirements to become English faculty members; thereby in a practical sense creating a "rising bar" of ~credentialism, which has the very real effect of excluding individuals who meet stated requirements of the Job. As to whether this is wrong in a pedagogical sense, or are the students benefited or cheated, I cannot comment on at this time. But what is.obvious is that when faculty displacement does occurs at Community Colleges there really isn't fluid ability to bump into other departments, especially Within the context of the "rising bar" of credentialism. Respectfully submitted by, LTANT SERVICES DATED AT MARKHAM, this 7th day of JUNE 1991.