Important Message Regarding Targeted Labour Adjustment Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Last week, KPU implemented a faculty layoff strategy, giving notice to 70 members during group meetings. Immediately, the university administration followed with a “Labour Adjustment Strategies” email to those not under layoff notice in the impacted departments, to see who was interesting in helping to “minimize the effect of a layoff.”   

The university’s Labour Adjustment email and letter, and the timing, seem to count on KFA members’ deep empathy and concern for colleagues – and possibly guilt – to try to “save” colleagues. However, the intention of 7.10 Targeted Labour Adjustment in the Collective Agreement was NOT to put responsibility for layoffs on colleagues. The responsibility for the choice to engage in faculty layoffs lies with the administration, NOT with faculty colleagues.

The KFA wants to emphasize that participating in these mitigation strategies is an individual choice. Participation must work for the member who agrees to it. Many faculty members cannot afford to reduce workload or job share, take leaves without pay, or take early retirement (all examples of the options). Some members may be ready and willing to volunteer for one of the options. Many likely feel deeply conflicted because they are empathetic and they care, but they also need and want their own job.  

Critically, the KFA has outlined elsewhere that the current faculty cuts and associated labour adjustments are an administrative choice, not a necessity. Indeed, NO faculty cuts would be necessary if the university chose to pursue several other measures to meet the purported 2025-26 “deficit”. A hiring freeze for excluded administration is one example.  

The KFA is supporting faculty working under layoff notice, AND working to make clear our position to the administration and the broader public that cuts to faculty are a choice and not a necessity. The Labour Adjustment Strategies are only to be considered by individuals and must be exclusively an independent decision made by the person involved.

We want to emphasize that we do NOT recommend meeting as a department about the Targeted Labour Adjustment Strategies. No pressure should be brought on anyone to engage in any of the adjustment strategies.

Please DO engage in political strategy, larger scale actions, organizing yourselves around supportive activities, providing key information and data to the KFA as requested, and so on.

If you are in one of the affected departments, and a labour adjustment option works for you, the KFA will support your desire to put it forward. If a labour adjustment option does NOT work for you, your colleagues and the KFA fully support you in not volunteering. 

In solidarity, 

Diane Walsh on behalf of the KFA Officers

Mark Diotte

Marc Kampschuur

Rachelle Hollaway

Ann-Marie McClellan