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[muchtrouble]

Teaching six courses a year at standard Canadian adjunct pay (which would have no benefits = about 4000/course) would get you 24K a year. That's about what I made for the first 3 years post-phd while adjuncting.
 

Thanks for this info Cranefly. The last place(s) I taught as a sessional in Canada paid 5k to 5500 a course, so at 6 courses I would have grossed 30K to 32,500, and elegible for benefits at both. I don't know what the admin responsibilities are yet for the current position, they just tell me they are onerous and large. The gross is 38K, so the difference between straight sessional pay and this position is 5.5K. Does that sound like a fair shake? My colleagues in the field think it's a scandal, about 10K below par.

it's good to be able to vent here as obviously I won't be in a position to do so within the university. Thanks in advance.

[cranefly]

It's hard to say, muchtrouble, without knowing more, whether this is a "scandal" or not. Personally, I think it is, but that's because I think all university prof pay does not reflect the training and education we must go through to get there, or the workload. Sessional pay is particularly a scandal (I'm surprised you got 5500... I'm guessing it was at U of T or UBC or somewhere in a major city like that.)   Is your new place unionized? You might check with them (or your faculty association), and they'll have statistics about what those in similar positions are getting paid across the country.
Just, as you say, suck it up and smile for the time you have to put in, and think of it as a step up until you get the next position. This next year looks very positive for universities. Our university will be hiring about 50 people in Humanities this year!