Postdocs are more than trainees
Are you an employee?
As a postdoc, you are an employee of uOttawa if your fellowship:
comes from the university operational funds.
comes from your supervisor grant or contract.
is awarded to you by a granting agency but is administered by the University.
Your postdoctoral position is an appointment and have an employee/employer relationship with the University.
In most cases your PI is your manager.
Why is employment status important?
The recognition of employment status is crucial to the access to better working conditions.
Students or trainees are not covered by provincial Employment Standards and do not qualify for Employment Insurance (including parental leave), Canada Pension Plan contribution or WSIB compensation in case of a workplace injury. These social programs are important to a lot of postdocs.
Postdocs need a union to improve their working conditions from the bare minimum they were granted through provincial Employment Standards.
Being recognized as employees was the beginning, not the final goal. It is the applications for unionizing postdocs while they weren’t even considered employees that led to legislative changed.
Once they were recognized as employees, the largest number of postdoctoral bargaining units across the country were organized under PSAC.
Carleton University
Dalhousie University
École de technologie supérieure
McGill University
Queen’s University
Polytechnique
Université Laval
University of Lethbridge (service agreement)
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Université de Montréal
University of New Brunswick
University of Saskatchewan
University of Western Ontario
The case of externally funded PDFs
Postdocs who are wholly paid by external sources of funding, who are recipients of a fellowship that isn’t administered by the University, meaning it is the granting agency that directly pays the postdoc or postdocs that are affiliated with another academic institution aren’t considered employees as per any labour legislations currently in effect.
They are considered affiliated to the University.
There shouldn’t be an employee/employer relationship and the PDF Affiliate shouldn’t report to a PI. One must be receiving income from an employer to be considered an employee. And only employees have the right to unionize.
However, in several cases, a PDF can receive both internal and external funding in proportions that vary greatly from postdoc to postdoc. The lines can then be blurred between who is an employee and who isn’t.
In the past some universities have defined a minimum percentage of internal funding required for a postdoc to be unionized.
In July 2019, uOttawa determined that all PDFs paid in whole or in part by internal sources of funding by the University are employees of the University.
There is no harm in signing a union membership card if you aren’t sure of your employment status. If you aren’t an employee, your card will not be considered valid by the Labour Board. But your status may not be known until the application for certification is filed.
Any dispute on who is included in the bargaining unit will be a matter to at a Labour Board hearing after the organizing drive.
Fully externally funded PDFs may not be employees, but it doesn’t make their research activities and contribution to science any less important.
They too deserve a voice and respect which would begin with increase in funding awarded by the Tri-Council agencies.
Their relationship isn’t with a university employer, but with a funding agency that is in turn finances by the federal government.
This is a matter for political action rather than labour relations.
PSAC actively engages with the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars, attending national strategy sessions with them.
As a founding member of the Education For All coalition campaign PSAC is also lobbying for an improved national post-secondary education strategy including increased research funding and capacity.
“Post-secondary workers, such as post-doctoral fellows and researchers, help secure Canada’s economic development and future innovation. They deserve fair wages and decent working conditions, which means universities and colleges must end their reliance on precarious contract jobs, corporate influence, and privatization. Innovative thinkers should be driving our research priorities, not corporate shareholders.”
PSAC’s postdoctoral members have shown their collective power through major gains at the bargaining table. Health care benefits, critical to those who are in ongoing precarious work situations, were especially important for international postdocs with no other access to drug coverage. These members also won paid sick leave, better wages, and employer-paid training.
In addition to negotiating better wages and benefits some of the most recent gains include:
McGill University
New minimum salary established at $41,500 in 2023. Will reach $48,000 in 2025.
Possibility to take a part-time parental leave.
PDFs are eligible to the university Pension plan.
Carleton University
Increases to the Professional Development fund to $40,000 in 2023 and to $45,000 in 2024. Expansion of the use of the fund to include reimbursement of costs of equipment and materials required for the performance of work duties, including laptops.
Ability to maintain a Carleton U email for 12 months after the end of an appointment.
Drug and benefit plan specially for PDFs: drugs (covered up to $35,000 per year), paramedical ($400 per practitioner), dental (including up to $1000 per year for major work); vision care (80% up to $400 every 24 months). The Employer pays 70% of the premium. In 2022, expansion benefits plan to include coverage for services from a wider range of mental health care providers.
University of New Brunswick
Employer pays personal certifications, licensing, registration fees if required to perform work; reimbursement of unanticipated professional expenses, permits, travel and registration.
Ten days paid Academic Conference Leave per year.
Unused paid sick days can be carried forward.
Appointment language with timelines for contract renewals.
Initial appointments at least 12 months ans termination language to protect from early contract cancellation.
37.5 hours/week and overtime at 1.5x pay after 150 hours over four weeks.
Joint union management committee.
Robust Intellectual Property rights and academic freedom protections. Protections for engaging in outside professional activities not in conflict with research responsibilities.
Participation in Joint Health and Safety Committees and other university bodies. Employer pays for required immunizations and prophylactics.
Modified workplan for those pregnant or lactating at no loss of pay.
Dalhousie University
Salary top-ups to 100 per cent for 26 weeks of parental leave.
New minimum salary to reach $50,000 in 2025.
Increased Employer paid insurance premiums: 60% for major medical (was 50%), new 50% dental and new 50% travel.
Time off in lieu for all hours worked beyond 40h/week.
University of Saskatchewan
Professional development activities considered time worked.
Vacation Leave up from 3 to 4 weeks.
Full health and dental plan, drug coverage, paramedical coverage, vision coverage.
Protection from unduly short appointments: Supervisors with funding secured for more than 12 months cannot break up contracts into periods of twelve months or shorter.
Same Academic Freedom and IP rights as faculty members.
Université Laval
Broader definition of disability and expanded prohibited grounds to include gender identity and expression.
Elimination of the waiting period for group insurance.
Job description provided.
21 weeks at 100% for maternity leave and 7 weeks at 100% for non-birth-giving parent.
U. of Western Ontario
Effective January 2024, employer pays full cost of individual and family premiums for Extended Health and Dental Plan.
Extended Health and Dental Benefit Plan and Professional Allowance benefits with Prescription drugs to a maximum $25,000 per year per covered person (80% coinsurance), Dental, Periodontics and Endodontics (80% reimbursement).
Employer gives six weeks’ notice or pay in lieu if termination due to reduction in research funding and employee retains access to all benefits during salary continuance.
Queen’s University
Child care benefits of $2,000 per child annually.
U. of Ontario Institute of Technology
Stronger equity statement in posting language include indigenous peoples, persons of any sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
Clarifying language on the right to return to previous position after Pregnanc and Parental Leave.