June 28, 2006

Today’sofficial ratification of a new faculty agreement at the Universityof Northern British Columbia makesUNBC the first research-intensive university in British Columbia to end mandatory retirementfor faculty members, librarians, and senior lab instructors.

“TheUniversity and faculty association negotiations were highly collegial and bothof us saw this outcome as a win-win,” says Howard Brunt, Vice-PresidentAcademic and Provost at UNBC. “Beyond the philosophical and moral argumentsagainst age discrimination, we feel that forcing some of our most productiveteachers and researchers to retire when they are at the peak of their careersmakes little sense.”

Aswith virtually all professions and skilled technicians and trades people,universities anticipate a growing challenge replacing retiring faculty membersover the coming decade. Under the terms of the new agreement, members of theFaculty Association between 60 and 67 years of age can elect to phase intoretirement over a period of up to three years by annually reducing theirworkload in 25% increments. According to Dr. Brunt, this will assist both theuniversity and the academic employees to flexibly plan for the future. Theexperience in other provinces without mandatory retirement is that mostacademics still retire in their early to mid-60s and those who stay longercontinue to have very active research programs.

Thenew Faculty Association agreement is effective July 1 for a period of fouryears. The tentative agreement was reached in March.

Themembership voted 89% in favour of the agreement. It has also been approved bythe Board of Governors. In addition to dealing with mandatory retirement, thenegotiations also dealt with other policy matters of mutual interest to theUniversity and the Association. Matters related to compensation were resolvedearlier in the year.

The Faculty Association represents nearly 450 UNBC faculty, sessionalinstructors, librarians, and lab instructors.

Contact:
Howard Brunt, Vice-President Academic & Provost, UNBC – 250.960.5610
Chris Hawkins, President of the UNBC Faculty Association – 250.960.5614
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC – 250.960.5622