TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2023 /CNW/ – The York University Staff Association, a union representing over 2000 non-academic staff, calls on the university to rein in out-of-control spending on senior management, as revealed by the Ontario Auditor General’s report. It also calls on the university to address the crisis of short-staffing, worker burnout, and below market wages by reallocating funding to frontline staff.
The Auditor General’s report revealed that the university has increased spending on senior management by over 47%, in the last five years, while staff salaries have increased by only 1% per year for the past three years. While the numbers of managers have swelled to unprecedented levels, there has been no increase in the overall number of YUSA full-time support staff in the last five years, and as a result many frontline staff are complaining of overwork and burnout.
“The Auditor General’s report should be a wake-up call that the university has become far too management heavy resulting in inadequate levels of frontline staffing,” said Sonny Day, President of the York University Staff Association.
At a university-wide townhall meeting held on November 28 many staff posed pointed questions to the university’s president complaining of burnout and short-staffing and salaries below the market rate which are resulting in many staff are leaving the university to work elsewhere.
“In what universe does it make any sense to increase spending on senior management by 47% when the number of full-time staff they are managing has remained the same? This is management bloat at its worst and it’s robbing the university of the resources needed to support our students with adequate staffing,” said Day.
“This massive increase in spending on senior managers is a slap in the face to frontline staff, some of whom make close to minimum wage and all of whom have been stuck with only 1% pay increases for the last three years. This is why hundreds of staff turned out for a rally this fall to demand fair wages. The sad fact is that many staff at the university are looking elsewhere for employment. The university urgently needs to step up and fix the issues of short staffing, compensation, and bloated management. I hope the Auditor General’s report will be a catalyst for much needed change,” said Day.
SOURCE York University staff association
