SWF (Standard Workload Formula) Process
Your workload for each semester is set out on a SWF (Standard Workload Form), found in Appendix 1 of the Collective Agreement).
Your supervisor has to discuss your proposed workload with you prior to completing the SWF. That means a talk of some sort between the two of you.
Next, your supervisor creates a SWF, signs and dates it, and gives it to you. This occurs by handing it to you, emailing it to you, mailing it to you, or putting it in your mailbox at GBC. You have three days to review it and get it back to your supervisor.
In discussion and before signing, check your SWF carefully.
Pay special attention to:
- Course ID
- Assigned Teaching Contact Hours
- Preparation Factor
- Evaluation Feedback Factor
- Complementary Functions
If you agree with the workload, you check the top box, sign and date it, and return it to your chair.
If you do not agree with any aspect of your assigned workload read about the Workload Resolution Procedure below.
Workload Resolution Procedure (Article 11)
If you don’t agree with any aspect of your assigned workload (as set out on your SWF):
- Check the middle box and give it back to your chairwithin five working days of receiving it.
- You should also forward a copy to the Union office.
- The chair has to forward your SWF to the College Workload Monitoring Group (CWMG) – made up of representatives from both the college and the Union)within three days.
- The CWMG must meet to address the issue within seven days.
- If the workload is resolved, you and the chair are both notified. The decision reached by the CWMG is only binding for the period of the SWF. If you have the same problem the following semester or following year, you have to start again.
- If the CWMG fails to reach a resolution regarding your SWF, you and your chair will also be notified. It is then up to you to forward your SWF to Workload Resolution Arbitration (WRA) within seven days of your notice from the CWMG. You can also forward your SWF to WRA if the CWMG fails to act on your SWF for more than three weeks.
- WRA will hold a hearing regarding your SWF within 2 weeks, then render an award within 10 working days of the hearing. Your award is binding for 1 year from the start of your SWF.
Advocating for your own best working conditions – and, therefore, your students’ best learning conditions – is a matter of checking the right boxes and sending your SWF off to the CWMG.
Although it is often difficult to stand up and demand that your work be scheduled and compensated fairly, the process itself is relatively straightforward. And remember, Local 556 is here to help you every step of the way.