AU Commits to (finally) table monetary offer

AUFA and Athabasca University met for two days of bargaining on February 25th and March 25th. On February 25th, half the day was spent discussing AUFA’s proposed Letter of Understanding (LOU) on Artificial Intelligence (AI). AUFA outlined the chief principles intended in the original letter as providing:

  • protections against job loss resulting from the implementation of AI technologies;

  • protections against the threat (or perceived threat) of surveillance;

  • guardrails against the use of AI for the purposes of performance assessment;

  • guardrails against the compulsory use of AI tools within scholarly or creative works;

  • a proposed set of reporting requirements for AU when implementing institution-wide AI tools;

  • a proposed compliance clause wherein AU’s implementations of AI abide by their existing policy standards and institutional processes.

While these principles provided an excellent springboard for discussions on the proposal, many of AUFA’s concerns about AI technology use and governance at Athabasca University were dismissed as being too much of a constraint on “managerial needs” or hyperbolic in the degree of risk.

Additionally, time on February 25th was also allotted for a high-level review of the other LOUs including:

  • Letter of Understanding – Contracting Out

  • Letter of Understanding – Joint Benefits Committee and Benefits Plan

  • Letter of Agreement – Heritage Resources Management Undergraduate Interns

  • AUFA’s proposed Letter of Understanding – Support Person

(Note that there is no difference between Letters of Agreement and Letters of Understanding.)

The teams met once again on March 25th for a half-day of bargaining. In anticipation of this date, AUFA prepared a counteroffer for AU’s proposed grievance language changes in Article 8, however, the employer was not prepared to discuss the counteroffer and suggested delaying discussions. AU also presented their own counterproposal for AUFA’s Letter of Understanding – Support Person. AU made several amendments to the language of the original letter including changes which added additional barriers to accessing a support person.

Other topics of discussion included clarifying the proposed amendments to Article 16 on Maternity Leave (link to post: Understanding Maternity and Parental Leave: Guide to Benefits and Rights — AUFA), an AUFA proposal to amend the Letter of Agreement – Research and Study Leave for Librarians, and the confirmation of AUFA’s position on the renewal or revision of the LOUs previously discussed on February 25th.

On March 26th, AUFA received notice from AU of their intent to share their monetary package at the next bargaining session following the wrap-up of some of the previously discussed items. The AUFA bargaining team looks forward to productive discussions on the next bargaining date, currently scheduled for April 15th, and will report back the contents of AU’s monetary package to AUFA membership once it has been received.

BlogDavid Powellbargaining, monetary