AUFA update: Designation, OHS and arbitration delay

This blog post provides a series of short updates on AUFA activities over the past two weeks.

OHS Inspections

The main campus joint occupational health and safety committee conducted a physical inspection of the campus on September 28. The primary focus of the inspection was COVID-19 protocols. The main control AU has implemented for COVID-19 is having staff work from home. There were fewer than 30 staff on campus during the visit.

Other controls included social distancing in common areas, the use of masks, and enhanced cleaning. Overall, there was high compliance with COVID protocols and facilities staff have done a very thorough job. A very small number of non-COVID issues were flagged for remediation.

Membership Meetings

The Membership Engagement Committee has begun holding department specific meetings to discuss issues with members and answer questions in a less formal environment that larger membership meetings. The first of these was held October 2 with IT staff (56 members in attendance) and touched on de-designation, KT optimization, and workload issues. Additional meetings will be held in the next few months targeting those departments or groups with members potentially at greatest risk of de-designation.

Visiting Student Boycott

Two more faculty associations have pledged to join AUFA’s visiting student boycott. The faculty associations at Brock and Manitoba Royal have joined faculty at Alberta, British Columbia, Lethbridge, Saskatchewan, Simon Fraser and Western. These associations have agreed to instruct their members not to send any visiting students to AU in the event that AU de-designates AUFA members. AUFA continues to pursue pledges from other faculty associations.

Arbitration delayed

An arbitration scheduled for this week was delayed due to witness illness. This arbitration concerns a member whose position was declared redundant. Article 12.2 stipulates that, when a position is declared redundant, members receive 12 months of working notice plus a variable amount of pay (up to a maximum of 6 months). Article 12.2 allows AU to provide the member with pay in lieu of the working notice period.

In this case, AU decided that it was only required to pay out the salary for the notice period. AUFA, on behalf of the member, asserts that AU is also required to pay out the value of the benefits the member would have earned during the notice period. This would include the employer’s pension contributions, health care premiums, PD allotment and discretionary benefits payment.

Dave Powell, President