On March 28th, AUFA was notified that three AUFA positions were made redundant as a result of restructuring within operational teams. We are also aware of four positions within another bargaining unit that were eliminated. We understand that these seven positions in total are the only reductions.
What is redundancy?
Outside of disciplinary reasons, AUFA members can lose their jobs through either layoff or redundancy. These are similar processes that are both covered under Article 12 of the collective agreement. Layoffs are terminations for financial reasons. To lay off staff, AU must demonstrate to the union that they are financially exigent. Redundancies are eliminations for organizational reasons.
Redundancies follow Article 12.2:
AUFA is informed sixty days in advance. During this time, Human Resources has begun a practice placing the affected member on paid leave immediately and cutting off their system access immediately.
During those sixty days, AUFA and HR are obligated to work collaboratively to seek redeployment or retraining opportunities and try to find a new job for the member.
If this is not successful, the member is served a year’s notice for termination, and then up to six months of severance. HR has always elected to pay out this notice period, which results in a total layoff package of 18 months’ pay.
The member is then placed on a recall list for four years, during which time the member has first right of refusal to new jobs at AU.
Can the employer do this?
The collective agreement allows for redundancies for the following reasons:
GFC discontinues courses, disciplines or programs.
Course enrolment drops to the point where the number of staff should be reconsidered.
Existing courses, disciplines, or programs are reconfigured that changes the type of staff needed.
The University reorganizes, eliminates activities, functions or departments, and as a result the need for the number and type of staff must be re-evaluated.
The contract does not require the employer to prove it has met any of the above criteria. The only way to pursue this information would be arbitration. As it stands, the university can make jobs redundant, and AUFA's only response is to legally respond after the fact.
Analysis
As AU restructures and suffers drops in enrolment, redundancy claims may become more common. But consider how enrolment dropping also drops revenue. So it is hard to know if a redundancy is primarily or exclusively due to the four reasons above. The collective agreement does not rule out mixed reasons, so financial pressures could well be at play.
AU is undergoing major restructuring, which may result in new positions in the future. It is possible, then, that once the restructuring is complete, there would be plenty of work for those in the now eliminated positions to do. However, permanently eliminating these positions saves the university money. We can only speculate as to whether these redundancies are a result of financial pressures surrounding the new fiscal year.
Historically, AU avoided using redundancy language, instead choosing to repurpose existing staff whenever possible. This approach is much kinder, and the fact that it doesn’t seem to have been considered at this time raises questions about whether the decisions were actually financial.
We should be concerned about the use of redundancy, given that the entire IT department was made redundant in 2021. The employer used redundancy language to move members into new positions. That use of redundancy language is pending arbitration.
What is AUFA doing?
The three impacted members have received notification, and we are working to support them through this difficult process. We have shared concerns with AU president Alex Clark. We have received reassurance that these layoffs are isolated decisions and not necessarily a sign of more to come.
AUFA will continue to hold the employer to account as well as try to mitigate the harm done to the affected members. These efforts could include pursuing possible grievances if these layoffs breached the collective agreement.