Tuesday, August 24, 1993

PAYDAY IS COMING:  Friday (August 27) will be payday for faculty and
most staff (all those except the unionized staff who get paid bi-weekly).
And -- contrary to what was previously expected -- people will be
getting their full pay this month.  Pay reductions caused by the
three or five "unpaid days off" in 1993-94 won't start until September.
By the time the last Social Contract agreement was reached (with the
faculty association, on August 10) it was too late for the reductions
to be processed for August paycheques.  Bonus advantage:  part of the
loss in pay will be offset by a reduction in pension plan contributions,
also scheduled to start in September.  The average saving from pension
contributions is estimated at 0.5 per cent of pay; losses for "unpaid
days" will be about 1.7 per cent for most staff, 2.9 per cent for most
faculty.

FRONT PAGE NEWS:  Today's morning papers are full of a report from the
Council of Ontario Universities, which has asked the provincial government
to consider increasing student tuition fees substantially over the next
two years.  The "discussion paper" suggests policies that would see most
undergraduates paying $1,500 a term in general programs and $3,000 in
professional programs.  Copies of the COU document haven't reached UW
yet, but presumably they will be here in time for details to be reported
in next week's Gazette.  Meanwhile, local media are already on the phone
to UW provost Jim Kalbfleisch, who also hasn't seen the report yet.

FACULTY DAYS:  Here's advance notice of Faculty Development Days '93,
sponsored by the teaching resources office and set for September 9 and
10.  Among the highlights is a talk at 9 a.m. on Thursday, the 9th, by
UW president Jim Downey.  His title isn't short: "University Education:
We Know the Past Is Imperfect; We Know the Future Is Conditional; The
Question Is, Is the Present Indicative, and Of What?"  Gee, you'd hardly
believe he was an English professor, would you?  Details have been sent
to faculty members, or call TRACE at ext. 3132.

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs
credmond@watserv1    ext. 3004