Last week, AUFA noted that AU has still not provided a full bargaining proposal to AUFA. AU’s unwillingness to say what it wants at the table is scuppering bargaining and leaving AUFA with few options but to move towards a strike.
AUFA members were invited to send a message to AU’s executive and Board in advance of bargaining dates set for September 14 and 15. Here are some of the responses:
Present AUFA with AU's full proposal.
AU's unwillingness to table a full offer is disrespectful and in bad faith. I'll be adjusting my work behaviours and effort to match this example. How can the Board let this incompetent administration continue to operate this way?
Get your shit together. What an embarrassment.
The unreasonable bargaining that seems to occur every time has to stop as it is counterproductive and leads to poor morale for employees.
I would say I am shocked at AU's almost total lack of even coming to the bargaining table in good faith to negotiate. I thought AU was better than this but I was very naïve. I thank the AUFA for working so hard to protect our rights as workers.
AUFA is very committed to negotiating a fair and equitable collective agreement with the University, but it is extremely frustrating and disheartening that the University will not table a full offer and bargain fully, in good faith. It is not the desire of members to engage in any type of work stoppage, but the University is not leaving us with many options! Just table a full proposal and bargain in good faith... it's not too much to ask!
We are all working towards the same goal so how difficult is it to fall in line with the organizations goal? We say we want to have happy employees and happy students. It is time to show that AU Board means it.
Show some respect for those who are the engine of AU and provide a full proposal that demonstrates you value the work we do.
People are already dealing with enough stress, anxiety, and uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic entering its fourth wave and the Alberta government seemingly attacking health care, education, and postsecondary institutions. It's a shame that the AU executive and board have decided to further contribute to this instability by playing games at the bargaining table. The last thing AUFA members need to deal with is unethical behaviour from our employer on top of everything else.
We had a so-called President whose only motivation and actions seemed to be union-busting for his own advancement (to a vacation home sinecure in a college). Let us get a real President in place who understands both distance education and how real academic institutions serve society, and get back to work!
How do you expect your employees to continue their dedication of furthering the mission of AU when you are basically ignoring them? "Imagine" if employees ignored executive and their requests to work on the ILE.
AU's refusal to table a complete offer shows a shocking disrespect of the university's "team members." If we're all on the same team, then AU's bargaining committee needs to start acting like it.
This institution has so much opportunity for growth and innovation, but all of that is being jeopardized by a Board and Executive that cares not for the working conditions of the people that ARE the institution. Staff morale keeps going down in part because of the insulting behaviour of the Board in bargaining.
I am very confused about AU's strategy. I don't understand why they do not follow the regular bargaining process and actually try to negotiate a deal that works both for them and the staff that run the University. How does it benefit them to cause angst and confusion?
Athabasca University has the potential to be an incredible academic institution, but this will only be realized if the AU Executive learns to collaborate meaningfully with AU faculty, professionals, staff members, and students. The refusal to engage in meaningfully participate in the bargaining process with AUFA indicates that this is unlikely to happen. I worry that the strengths of the institution will erode, which would be incredibly sad at a moment in time with AU has a lot to offer society.
…Having worked at AU for almost 20 years now morale is at an all-time low and this unwillingness or bargain in good faith creates even more dissatisfaction. If AU wants to be successful in its strategic plan, Imagine, then it better start imagining how to treat its employees better.
AU's Executive and Board have favoured "one table" to bring Salaries and Terms and Conditions into a single package for years! Now, you have it, you aren't playing according to the rules. This is bad faith bargaining. Shame on you!. Toss the legal advice and start fresh[.]
Although AU has repeatedly commended staff on their dedication and hard work . . . sincerity is lost to their refusal to bargain in good faith.
Just get on with it.
…I have watched this place go from a fun, exciting, and positive workplace to one of resentment, frustration, and negativity. This is entirely due to the actions of the executive. You're destroying AU, the well-being of the employees, and the careers of many who have kept this university afloat over the years.
Our education institution is designed by people for people. This lack of respect for the bargaining process and the people who are affected by this delay is detrimental [to] our institution's climate, image, and effectiveness. It is the dedication, commitment, and progressive view of education among academic and professional employees that is keeping this institution afloat. What possible benefit can be gained by this lack of lack of commitment to bargaining and what looks like an extreme lack of care and concern for employees critical to our core business at AU?
Because of the way we are treated so disrespectfully by AU executive in the bargaining process, it is difficult to care about and support AU’s initiatives such as OneAU, D2L, ILE, AWS, and the goal of 1 million students through a “technology first/learning last” automated approach to higher education.
With the pandemic pushing many to seek out career change and online/distance learning, this SHOULD be a prosperous time for all of us at AU. I want to work to position us for this and the long-term future. Why can't you just behave amicably towards your employees?
As a relatively new hire this situation scares me. I don't want to go on strike but I would do it to stand up for my job and the work of my colleagues.
In a unionized work environment, collective bargaining is a basic, required human resources activity. Not allocating time or due process to this activity that affects hundreds of workers communicates the message that these workers are not valued enough to consider their needs, which include a valid, current contract. It seems like AU treats its union partners like separate entities from its workers (or in AU-speak, team members), creating an openly hostile environment. This hostility affects members, which contributes to disengagement, low morale, and compromised productivity. Please honour the legal working environment we exist in by bargaining contracts in good faith.
Bargain in good faith or we will strike.
Bargaining needs to happen now. AU needs to demonstrate some care and support for their employees at a time of great upheaval and constant over work due to the pandemic and the disruptive shifts taking place throughout the university environment.
It is high time Athabasca University's executive behave in a way that demonstrates their alliances with academic and professional staff, their support for the core academic personnel who create courses, teach them and who undertake internationally recognized research. The executive should be advocates for the people who have dedicated their lives to teaching, creating and researching for Athabasca University, not their enemies.
If you are struggling to find a way to implement a UCP wage rollback while AU's finances are doing so well; if you are hesitating to propose changes that would remove benefits and protections from your employees who have gone above and beyond during the pandemic; if the attacks on post-secondary institutions, the cutbacks, the layoffs, seem unconscionable to you: It's okay. We understand. We want you to push back against the government too. And we'll support you if you do.
Like with so much else that is problematic right now, AU's exec needs to COMMUNICATE!! The lack of meaningful and honest communication is frustrating at best, and demoralizing and enraging at worst.
The executive's claims that they respect the bargaining process ring hollow when they won't bargain in good faith. This is embarrassing behaviour.
Rather than seeing the faculty as in opposition, begin to see us as having the interests of the students and of society uppermost in our minds. Begin to treat us as partners in the steering and nurture of society and its peoples.
Time to stop playing these infantile games. Peoples' livelihoods and well-being on the line--you can refuse to engage all you like--the issues are not going away and people are not going to become complacent about them. Show some moral backbone and basic humanity, and stop your stalling and manipulation. You further erode any employee goodwill towards the employer every day you continue on this path. Think of what you would consider just and fair if you were in the employees' position. Why should we be willing to accept anything less than what you'd be willing to accept for yourselves? Decency is a choice--if you don't naturally come by it, just act like you do, until it becomes a habit.
By not bargaining in good faith, you are being unprofessional, it sets a poor standard for your employees.
Start taking your responsibilities to your employees seriously. which includes good faith bargaining. Stop hiding behind your lawyers. We still see you!
I am ready to take job action at this point. Unfortunately, due to my involvement in various internal faculty procedures, my absence during a work stoppage will result in a decline in student enrollment. Hopefully, I can only appeal to you to show some respect to your employees.
No one benefits from delayed bargaining: staff morale is sinking fast; AU can't afford to become an issue/bad news item for a government already beleaguered with issues/bad news items; competitors are ready and willing to reap the benefits from AU's reputation as an employer (poaching staff) and as a service provider (students turned off by job action/poor service) taking a hit.
It is unprofessional and moreover disrespectful of staff to not table a full offer and to cancel scheduled bargaining meetings.
Stop playing games and table an offer. If you're waiting for a new President then just say so.
I am so mad at our boss for throwing our department into chaos for no apparent reason.
If you remove [academic coordinators] from AUFA we will go elsewhere. How do they expect a university to function with Professors teaching 40% and part time CUPE tutors who work elsewhere? Also, if they plan to roll back our wages and benefits, we will respond with job action!
Time will tell if AU will bargain in good faith. In the meantime, AUFA’s Job Action Committee is preparing for a work stoppage. In the next few weeks, we’ll be providing information about making financial and professional preparations for a strike or lockout.
Bob Barnetson, Chair
Job Action Committee