A total of 10 employees were given layoff notices at the Lakes District campus of the College of New Caledonia (CNC) due to an effort to balance the college’s budget.
Some of these employees will be hired back with reduced hours.
Henry Reiser, CNC President, said the college is facing a $2.8 million deficit in 2015/16. Reiser said the deficit is partially due to an increase in fixed costs such as utilities and regularization costs.
“We have no control over those factors, and we have no additional funding to cover those costs,” he said.
Reiser said another factor having a significant affect on the budget was a decision the college made a few years ago to keep tuitions at a lower cost for students.
“In 2005, a two per cent tuition and fees cap was put on, and our fees have been substantially lower than the provincial average,” said Reiser.
Out of the 10 employees being laid off at the Lakes District campus, six of them are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and four of them are represented by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C. (CUFA BC).
According to CUFA BC’s collective agreement, layoffs must be notified by March 31. According to CUPE’s collective agreement, employees can be laid off at any time throughout the year.
Michelle Culberson, CUPE member and Programs Coordinator at CNC, said these layoffs were devastating news for the Lakes District.
“We are a small campus, but we do big things,” she said. “Everyone here cares so much about what they do. This is devastating in so many levels because this is our family.”
In order to address the deficit in the budget, Reiser said the college will also work to restructure programs, suspend intakes in some programs and reduce offerings in other programs.
“This will give us an opportunity to refresh and revise the programs so that we can relaunch them with appropriate tuition levels and fees, and reduce the cost of delivery.”
The role of the regional director will also see some changes. Up until now, the regional director was fully responsible for all academic matters at the Lakes District Campus. From now on, there will be a campus principal responsible for the operation of the campus, and a dean, based in Prince George, who will oversee the academic programming of the campus.
“We are trying to ensure that the academic experience of our students, no matter where they study at CNC, is the same,” said Reiser. “That’s what this is all about, to standardize our academic agenda and programming.”
However, some employees at the Lakes District campus do not feel that standardizing the academic agenda could benefit the community.
Jenny Harms, CUPE member and Programs Coordinator at CNC, said that when there is less staff and more stipulations on what staff can or cannot do, the college cannot be as responsive to community needs.
“We are a community college, not a college within our community,” she said.
Harms has worked for the college for over 14 years. She received a layoff notice on March 20, 2015.
This is not the first time that the Lakes District campus has faced some cutbacks. In 2014, staff hours were reduced by 360 hours a week. Since a full-time CUPE position is 35 hours per week, the cutbacks were equivalent to 10 full-time positions.
A public forum will be held to give community members a chance to voice their opinions about the proposed changes. The forum will be held on March 27 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the lecture theatre of CNC in Prince George.
On April 24, 2015, the CNC board of directors will vote to approve the budget and the proposed changes. Reiser said that depending on the outcome of the voting, some of the layoffs may be rescinded based on what programs are being suspended.
Lily Bachand, President of CUPE Local 4951, said it’s important that Burns Lake residents and community leaders voice their opinion.
“The leaders of this community need to make a statement to keep this campus as viable as possible,” she said.