Re. RDC president gets pay hike, Thursday, Dec. 12.
CUPE Local 1445 and AUPE Local 71/Chapter 14 supports the statement released by the Faculty Association of Red Deer College. Like faculty, staff also follows a salary scale model but instead of 10 steps, there are five and unlike president Joel Ward’s five per cent increase, there are many staff who will only receive a two per cent cost of living increase.
While we acknowledge that different levels of responsibilities equates to differing levels of compensation, the president’s salary has increased 46 per cent or $136,813 from 2009 to 2012.
In comparison, the average AUPE or CUPE employee, during the same time, had an increase of 28 per cent or 16,839.
One measurement of success for any post-secondary institution is full-time student enrolment. In the face of decreasing enrolments, the Alberta government’s stance on exorbitant public executive salaries, and the recent abolishment’s of 32 CUPE and AUPE positions at Red Deer College, our president had the opportunity to demonstrate another kind of leadership by refusing to accept this increase or at least defer it to another year.
We are also concerned that information released by the college referring to 32 job cuts does little to portray the actual challenges created for staff who are expected to provide the same level of services but with fewer resources. Ultimately, this reduction in staff does affect services to students.
Drena Dechant
President, CUPE Local 1445
Shawn Deveau
Chairperson, AUPE Local 71/Chapter 14
Red Deer