The University, for its part, is looking for greater flexibility in order to respond to changing academic priorities and to operate more efficiently. The government called for one percent raises in 1997. McGill hasn't followed suit. The arbitration ruling will guide us. If the arbitrator decides that McGill must pay the increase, the university will also pay the one percent increases in each of 1998 and 1999.
Job security is another issue.
The union states that the University wants to maintain 10 percent of its service workers without job security. The way in which this would work, says Savoie, is that 10 percent of new hirees would not immediately have job security in order to allow for some budgetary flexibility for the future. Say, we have 140 employees in building services. Casuals have no job security and are paid 70 percent of the salary of a hired employee. Until recently, employees with job security were hired for a particular post in a particular building.