Science and Research committee  I think it probably arrises from our y-value system, which has evolved over the years to become a bit more nuanced and to recognize different kinds of experience and equivalent experience. Faculty members who came into the system earlier—20 or 30 years ago—were subject to a different system, which didn't have as broad a view on what valuable and creditable experience would be when calculating that y-value.

Science and Research committee  No, it's more about how they entered. What salaries they were entering at seems to have a really significant impact on where they were ending up in their later career.

Science and Research committee  No.

Science and Research committee  No, not right now. The decision to do the pay equity review and adjustments was a result of internal discussion and a report that came through Dalhousie in 2015. There is nothing provincially to push that forward, at the moment.

Science and Research committee  We didn't use that to guide our review, but I am aware of its existence, yes.

Science and Research committee  I think it depends on the topic. As I mentioned earlier, our collective agreement has so many particular provisions that a blanket guide or policy is not necessarily going to help us address the specifics of compensation in our institution. I think requiring institutions to be accountable in some way is helpful, but giving them freedom and flexibility so they can do it in a way that's in keeping with their collective agreements or employment contracts is probably the best way to go about this work.

Science and Research committee  No.

Science and Research committee  It's a bit different. Full-time faculty tend to work what we refer to as the 40-40-20 workload. They spend 40% of their time teaching, 40% of their time researching, and 20% of their time doing service in the universities. That would be sitting on committees, sitting on the university senate and things like that.

Science and Research committee  No. Our full-time faculty are represented by the Dalhousie Faculty Association. Our part-timers are represented by CUPE.

Science and Research committee  Our y-value sets the salary floor, so it's an effective tool for establishing a baseline. Depending on disciplines and areas of expertise, sometimes faculty members are hired at salary rates above the y-value. The y-value gives us a metric to decide, based on someone's education level and experience, where they fall in the grid, but it's not a perfect measurement.

Science and Research committee  It's interesting, because most universities are unionized, and our collective agreement is quite nuanced and sophisticated. There are a lot of parts and pieces to academic salaries, and I don't know that the federal government could issue blanket practices or policies that would speak to all of the constraints and specificities of the Dalhousie Faculty Association collective agreement.

Science and Research committee  I think it's asking each institution to do the analysis itself and then holding it accountable to that process.

Science and Research committee  In 2022, we had a strike with our part-time faculty. Those are individuals who teach on a per-course basis. Our full-time faculty—the teachers and researchers who were part of this pay equity adjustment—did not strike in 2022. The issues on the table with that unit are not wages.

Science and Research committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. I will speak quite briefly about Dalhousie's experience with pay equity. Of course, if you have specific questions, I'm happy to answer. In 2015, Dalhousie released the “Belong” report. The report focused on how to build an inclusive university and offered a number of recommendations, including undertaking an institutional pay equity analysis.