Tuesday, July 27, 1993

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT:  The UW board of governors sweated over Social Contract
issues and budget-cutting from 4:30 to 6:50 yesterday, and the general theme
was that the current emergency measures are only a short-term solution to
the university's financial problems.

For the next three years, staff members' pay will be frozen and each staff
member will have to take three unpaid days off each year, under an agreement
signed by UW and the staff association on Friday.  The board gave its formal
approval to that agreement.  Text of the agreement is being distributed to
individual staff members today, and will be posted to UWinfo (under the
Daily Bulletin heading) later today.

Faculty and unionized staff will also have the pay freeze and three annual 
unpaid days, under the "failsafe" rule of the Social Contract Act, unless 
some other agreement is reached before the government's deadline of this 
Friday.  The board of governors was told that Canadian Union of Public 
Employees local 793 isn't negotiating with UW management, on instructions 
from the Ontario headquarters of CUPE.  The faculty association is 
negotiating -- another session is set for later today -- but the impression 
left by several speakers at the board meeting is that management and faculty 
are far apart.  Under Social Contract rules, the settlements for all groups 
of employees must be "fair and equitable", but need not be identical.  
One possibility for faculty, the board was told, is that there could be a 
general pay decrease, to provide funds for "progress through the ranks" 
increases for younger professors.  In the absence of some such agreement, 
faculty, like staff, will have their individual salaries frozen through 
April 30, 1996.

The savings to UW's budget from the pay freeze and unpaid days off are
about $6.1 million per year, which is the amount UW is required to cut under
the Social Contract Act.

In addition, the board was told, UW needs $3.4 million in savings to make
up for income losses caused by other aspects of the provincial government's
spending restraints.  The plan is to make assorted budget cuts totalling
$1.7 million, and to save the final $1.7 million by reducing employer
contributions to the UW pension plan between 1993 and 1996.  (Individual
employees will also see their pension premiums go down, a small consolation
for those who are losing pay because of the unpaid days.)  The board 
approved the reduction in pension premiums, subject to an annual review,
after being assured that UW's pension plan is in such good shape that the
reduction poses no danger to present or future pensions.

But board members reminded one another that at the end of the three years,
pension contributions will have to go back to something like their present
level, and the annual saving of $1.3 million from the unpaid days off will
disappear.  The result:  UW will need to trim at least $3 million from its
annual budget on a permanent basis.  Planning for that long-term trimming
is to start this fall.  The agreement between UW and the staff association
acknowledges that "over the next three years there may be layoffs" as,
one way or another, UW gets smaller.  Under the agreement, there can be no
layoff notices before next May 1.

CLIMATE STUDY:  Russian and Canadian scientists, including three UW 
faculty members, are joining forces in an international study looking at 
the impact of climatic change on the forests in Arctic regions.  The 
international group includes scientists from McMaster University, the 
University of New Brunswick, Dalhousie, Queen's, UBC and U of Ottawa. 
In addition, scientists from Moscow State University and Russia's Academy
of Sciences are involved. UW participants are Tom Edwards and Ramon Aravena, 
both of earth sciences, and Barry Warner, geography.  The study, called the
Paleoecological Analysis of Circumpolar Treeline, is funded by a $1.1-million 
five-year grant from NSERC. The main thrust is to examine the response of 
the treeline to climate warming in order to predict future climate change, 
says Edwards.

HONG KONG GROUP:  Students from Hong Kong (and other interested people)
are invited to a meeting from 3:30 to 4:30 today in Needles Hall room 3041.
Roger Downer, vice-president (university relations) of UW, will speak about
one of his favourite topics, the importance of Waterloo's links with Hong
Kong and China, and information will be available about the growing "chapter"
of UW's alumni association in Hong Kong.  More information: Judy Mann,
alumni affairs office, ext. 5310.

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