Analysis of University of Alberta Settlement
The Association of Academic Staff: University of Alberta (AASUA) recently ratified a new settlement. This blog post provides an overview of the AASUA settlement. Overall, this settlement extends the public-sector and PSE wage pattern but with some additional monetary and language improvements.
Term and Money
This four-year deal has a term of July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2024. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for all salaries and grids is as follows:
Jul 1, 2020: 0%
July 1, 2021: 0%
July 1, 2022: 0%
April 1, 2023: 1.25%
December 1, 2023: 1.5%
Additional increase December 1, 2023: 0.5% (not guaranteed)
The additional increase scheduled for December of 2023 is contingent upon the province achieving a real GDP for the 2023 calendar year that is at or above 2.7% as of February 2024. If this condition is met in February of 2024, U of A will retroactively apply an additional 0.5% COLA to December 1, 2023. If this condition is not met, then no additional increase will be forthcoming.
This means the AASUA settlement could see an (uncompounded) COLA increase of between 2.75% and 3.25% over its four-year term. Even with the addition of gain-sharing payments, this settlement will not maintain the purchasing power of AASUA salaries over time. For example, year-over-year inflation as of January 2022 was 5.1%.
The AASUA settlement matches the COLA agreed to by AUPE for its government services bargaining unit and the Mount Royal Faculty Association (MRFA) settlement from late February. This appears to be the current “secret” financial mandate issued the government.
One interesting aspect of the AASUA settlement is the introduction of a two-tier salary grid for teaching only staff on two- to six-year contracts. New hires at the Full Lecturer rank would be subject to the lower grid (a 13% reduction in maximum compensation).
Old Grid
Introducing a two-tier wage system is usually easy to do, because the people affected aren’t yet hired so can’t vote against it. However, two-tier grids can erode solidarity in the long term. This is an example of the employer using wedge tactics (i.e., targeting a small group for workers rollbacks while bribing the rest of the workers with gains) to divide union members against each other over time.
We see AU using wedge tactics in its attack on professional rights at the bargaining table. In the fall, AUFA members overwhelming rejected these sorts of wedge tactics. When members hold firm, employers usually give up on them. For example, AU’s latest without-prejudice offer did not include (1) its proposed rollbacks to professional freedom or (2) its desire for new temporary layoff language for professionals.
Extra Compensation
In addition to the COLA settlement, AASUA was able to negotiate some additional changes. Key changes that have clear monetary implications include:
Benefits: Per capita funding of benefits increases based upon the consumer price index. The current year guide for dental fees takes effect upon ratification (lowering member out of pocket costs). Members who do not receive benefits see their pay in lieu rise from 3% of compensation to 4%.
Sabbaticals: Sabbatical pay rates for members rise to 90% of salary (previously they were at 90% for a first sabbatical and 82.5% for subsequent sabbaticals). Leave pay rates for professional staff rise to 100% of salary except where the leave primarily benefits the worker (which rises to 75% of salary).
AASUA suggests that these gains amount to about an additional 1% of compensation on top of COLA. Additional compensation in non-salary form is also a feature of the MRFA and United Nurses of Alberta deals.
Language
There were a significant number of language changes which vary across categories of employees. Most of these have little relevance to AUFA members.
There is new language regarding employment equity (Article 23). The employer retains significant discretion in this language in how it will achieve equity goals, but this article includes a requirement to periodically disclose demographic data to the faculty association.
The AASUA agreement also requires the employer to conduct a review of non-gender based salary inequities and remedy statistically significant inequities. A previous settlement contained language that partially addressed gender-based pay inequities.
Analysis
The AAUSA agreement provides a cost-of-living increase of between 2.75% and 3.25%. This mirrors the developing provincial and PSE wage pattern (and the government mandate). This is the same deal that AU offered AUFA on February 28 after filed for mediation.
Additional compensation, in the form of benefits and sabbatical improvements, adds about an additional 1.0% of value. This additional compensation brings the AASUA agreement into the range of the United Nurses of Alberta and MRFA settlements. Did not offer any comparable increases in its February 28 offer.
AASUA also appears to have achieved some language improvements. Notably, the AASUA deal does not appear to contain any of the massive language rollbacks that AU is trying to push on AUFA members.
AASUA’s language improvements likely reflect that, in order to get AASUA to accept the government’s lousy wage-mandate, the U of A had to agree to some of AASUA other proposals. Time will tell if AU prefers this option to a work stoppage.
Jason Foster, Chair
AUFA Bargaining Committee
Bob Barnetson, Chair
Job Action Committee