We are entering a critical stage in the life of our university and in the life of our union.
We are, of course, facing the challenges of COVID-19, which has radically transformed our work experience, but we are also facing challenges from a provincial government insistent on massive budget cuts, and an Employer making implicit and explicit threats of wage rollbacks, layoffs, and re-organization redundancies.
Over the next weeks and months, the AUFA Bargaining Team, backed by the collective might and solidarity of all AUFA members, is fixed on meeting these challenges to our university and to our union.
To that end, below is a ‘high level’ preliminary version of the proposals the AUFA Bargaining Team intends to bring to the bargaining table later this spring. As I mentioned in my last blog post, while this proposal may not include everything all members would like to see, we nevertheless trust that it contains those critical elements reflective of our consultations process to satisfy as many members as possible.
For ease of reading, we have divided each proposal category into two parts: the first identifies the issue behind the proposal, and the second indicates our proposal’s goal in solving the issue.
On Thursday, 23 April, the Bargaining Team will hold an online ‘townhall’ so AUFA members can provide feedback on these proposals. One week from today, on 27 April, the Bargaining Team will ask all AUFA members to vote their support of the proposals. Further details on both the townhall and the vote will be forthcoming in the next few days.
Eric Strikwerda
AUFA Bargaining Chair
AUFA Bargaining Proposal - 2020
Designation
Issue
The Employer has proposed de-designating 67% of our membership, which would strip members of rights and devastate AUFA’s bargaining power.
Goal
Language setting out a clear consultation process and limiting the employer’s ability to de-designate AUFA members without AUFA consent.
Academic Freedom
Issue
AUFA Professional members have at present far fewer academic freedom rights than do AUFA Academic members.
This situation is fundamentally unfair, inherently divisive, and not at all reflective of the work that ALL AUFA members, whether they’re Academics or Professionals, actually do.
Goal
Language ensuring Professional staff the same academic freedoms at present enjoyed by Academic staff.
COLA
Issue
AUFA members have for 5 of the past 8 years acceded to the Employer’s demands of a 0% increase in our Cost Of Living Adjustment (wages), despite AU consistently posting budget surpluses over that same period. Due to inflation, of course, a 0% increase in COLA is actually a pay cut, and year-over-year this cut has been compounded, resulting in significant wage losses to AUFA members.
Goal
A modest COLA increase.
Benefits
Issue
Members indicated a strong desire to strengthen our health benefits and guaranteed vacation days.
Goal
Language strengthening our existing benefits including enhanced coverage and broader and more robust health spending account options.
Athabasca Jobs
Issue
In recent years the Employer has increasingly moved new jobs out of the Athabasca region, much to the detriment of the region’s economic health and viability, as well as Athabasca University’s strategic position as a non-urban institution.
Goal
Language preserving and enhancing AU’s future hiring policies to ensure more jobs are located in and remain in the Athabasca region.
Workload Disputes
Issue
At present, when members dispute their workload, their only recourse is direct appeal to AU’s Executive. Not surprisingly, AU’s Executive has little interest in siding with AUFA members on appeal.
Goal
Language substituting the Executive as final appeal with a fairer Appeals Committee made up of regular, full-time AUFA members and based on principles of collegiality.
Compassionate Care Leave
Issue
At present, AU’s compassionate care leave policies a) fall short of current Alberta Employment Standards Rules, and b) constitute a woefully inadequate response to AUFA members’ rare, but very real, needs during times of personal emergency.
Goal
Language bringing Compassionate Care provisions of our Collective Agreement into line with provincial rules, and improving the length, extent, and compensation aspects of AUFA members’ compassionate care leaves.
Sick Leaves
Issue
The Employer has in the recent past tried to insist that family doctor notes as proof of sick leave needs are insufficient. AUFA members have countered—strongly—that no one is in a better position to determine sick leave requirements than members’ own doctors.
Goal
Language ensuring that sick notes from AUFA members’ family doctors are sufficient to establish the legitimacy of sick leaves.
Contracting Out AUFA Work
Issue
The Employer has in recent years increasingly relied on “short-term” contracts to fulfill AU’s labour needs. This practice undermines AUFA’s bargaining power even while it offers limited benefits and zero job security to precarious workers.
Goal
Language limiting the nature and extent of contracting out AUFA work.
Telework
Issue
Lately the Employer has required more AUFA members to work out of a home office. There are some benefits to working remotely, but there are also inherent costs, including equipment purchases and technology needs.
Goal
Language ensuring AUFA members required to work remotely are provided with the technological, material, and other supports they need to work out of a home office.
Academic and Professional Overload
Issue
At present, there is a lack of clarity in the Collective Agreement regarding pay structures and procedures for overload work.
Goal
Language clarifying pay structures and procedures for overload work.
Market Supplements
Issue
A longstanding issue in our Collective Agreement is the payment of so-called ‘market supplements’ in addition to regular salaries of some new Academic and Professional Staff hires. This practice has created an Executive-directed, often arbitrary ‘two-tiered’ membership within our bargaining unit.
Goal
Language incorporating market supplement monies into our salary grid, eliminating their need.
Enrollment Information
Issue
Under our current Collective Agreement, the Employer is obliged to furnish AUFA with aggregate and specific information crucial to our broader understanding of AU’s operations, and especially how our members fit into those operations. At present, AUFA is not entitled to enrollment numbers information.
Goal
Language ensuring AUFA access to enrollment information on an ongoing basis.
Occupational Health and Safety
Issue
Down to now, the Employer has done a modest-to-poor job of adhering to Occupational Health and Safety protocols.
Goal
Language clarifying and bolstering AUFA members’ workplace Occupational Health and Safety, including enshrining members’ right to refuse unsafe work.
Pay Equity
Issue
Our members have indicated a strong desire to improve the Employer’s pay equity practices.
Goal
Language deepening and broadening AU’s pay equity practices.
Association Business Practices
Issue
The extensive work performed by AUFA members in service to AUFA business is crucial, and requires additional recognized time away from their regular AU duties.
Goal
Language improving FTE book off language for AUFA-elected members conducting union business.