AU's near-virtual process violates bargaining freeze period, labour law

Earlier this month, AU sent all AUFA members in the Edmonton area who would have had an office prior to covid a letter informing them of the outcome of a job assessment. Almost all members were told they would work from home permanently, and the letter then asked them to accept this change. Although the ‘accept’ was later updated to ‘acknowledge’ once it was pointed out this was unintentionally conferring some bizarre authority on individual staff, this entire process is a violation of labour law.

AUFA is informing its members not to sign these letters, at the request of legal counsel.

In a unionized environment, the union is the sole bargaining agent of its members. Furthermore, during open bargaining (which has been going on for a very long time), the employer cannot change terms of work without the union’s permission. In short, this change to terms of work needs to be negotiated rather than asserted.

This issue is not simply a point of principle as AUFA members are almost all working from home anyways, but one of material importance. AU’s offices provided work spaces, bandwidth, electricity, accessibility, ergonomics, and other forms of structure and support for doing work. All of these costs will be transferred to the staff sent from home, and there is no indication on how this will be handled beyond a vague promise of an updated policy.

Currently, AU academics are governed by a stale-dated Telework Policy, and other staff who are working from home are subject to an emergency setup which provides a small bi-weekly stipend and a one-time office setup fee. Once the emergency situation ends, so too will those supports. Furthermore, there have been significant issues with accommodation during this process with simple requests like sit-stand desks taking several months. This leads to major concerns about workplace equity and safety.

AU must work through AUFA, not around us, and must negotiate this significant change to ensure that AUFA members receive a fair deal. A copy of the letter sent to the Chief Human Resources Officer is here.

David Powell

AUFA President