Layoffs loom for Humber’s faculty, staff

Humber’s instructors and support workers face the stark reality of fiscally uncertain times.  

Faculty and support staff will face layoffs in the coming days, says Humber’s President and CEO Ann Marie Vaughan in an email to staff sent Tuesday.

In a bid to remain fiscally viable, Humber called on staff to participate in the Voluntary Employee Exit Program (VEEP). 

Humber’s president thanked those who participated in VEEP and said that although the program had robust participation, it wasn’t enough to offset the projected budget shortfall for the 2026-2027 year.

The number of people who accepted the VEEP and the number of employees who need to be cut were not released in the email.

“As a result, we must still proceed with involuntary employee reductions,” Vaughan said in the email.

The process for the involuntary layoffs will proceed in conjunction with the relevant collective agreements, the statement said.

The message also confirmed upcoming departures from Humber’s senior leadership team, including the vice-president, integrated planning and strategy; the vice-president, inclusion, belonging and student experience; and the vice-president, administration and chief financial officer.

An interim executive structure will take effect on March 30 to allow for leadership focus and continuity, Vaughan wrote.

She acknowledged the “emotional toll” of these difficult times, both now and in future, for faculty and support staff. She praised staff for their ongoing kindness and professionalism shown to colleagues and students.

“The strength of Humber has always come from its people, and that remains true now,” Vaughan said at the end of the email.

OPSEU Local 562 sent an email response to members the following day, saying they are disappointed and angry that the college is proceeding with the involuntary layoffs, especially since Humber has enjoyed strong local enrolment, additional funding from the Ontario government and many years of budget surpluses.

The local said they were not consulted by the college through the College Employment Stability Committee (CESC) as part of the VEEP rollout, sidestepping the college’s obligation under Article 28 of the collective agreement.

Milos Vasic, the faculty local president, told Et Cetera the point of the CESC is to explore whether people identified for layoffs can be placed elsewhere in the college.

OPSEU said in its email that its attempts to meet with the college's administration through CESC had been denied.

Vasic was at Queen’s Park yesterday protesting the changes to the OSAP funding model when he got a call from Vaughan.

“This is what they do all the time, like with myself and the other support staff union president, we get, like, five to 10 minutes' warning before major stuff happens,” he said.

said he had to “hightail up to Humber” from the rally.

He went into the meeting and “she just kind of confirmed the kind of whatever you want to call it, the bloodletting or the rapture,” he said.

Vasic wasn’t exactly blindsided, since he could see what was happening at other colleges across the province, but the hope at Humber was that the VEEP would be the “silver bullet” to fill the financial gap.

Transparency seems to be the biggest issue with the college and the union. For example, the union has been told there is a financial gap, but the actual shortfall amount in dollars and cents has not been shared, leaving union reps without a strategy.

In the email, members were advised to update their CVs and to email their dean about plans for their particular programs in a bid to force the administration to be more transparent.

“Their target is not people, but money, like how much money they're saving,” Vasic said. “That's what's in their minds.”

Vasic says the main problem is the consistent underfunding.

“The fact that this is happening now at Humber with rising enrolment, like that, just tells you how messed up and perverse the funding formula is,” he said.

The local president said the government is basically starving colleges and universities.

“And for what end, I mean, realistically, I think the system is eventually going to be privatized, if Doug Ford gets his way,” he said.

Vasic questioned what a privatized Humber would look like and speculated that there would probably be a reduced workforce.

“There are gonna be consequences to the quality of education,” he said. “I mean, it's just, it's inevitable.”

Impacts on programs, services and students will be added as they become known.