There were a number of developments this week regarding AU’s movement of jobs out of the Athabasca region as well as AU’s proposal to de-designate 67% of the faculty association. Here is a quick round up of the highlights.
Athabasca Location Issue
Athabasca’s town council held a special meeting with Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken on Tuesday. The meeting was about the ongoing loss of university jobs in the Athabasca region and the limited communication from the university about major decisions.
Mayor Colleen Powell expressed deep concern with the job losses, likening it to the job losses in Vegreville when the federal government shut down an immigration and refugee processing centre, “but in slow motion”. Fassina was present for this meeting but did not speak.
The Athabasca Chamber of Commerce has recently launched an “AU in Athabasca” campaign which includes bumper stickers. Bumper stickers can be acquired from ATB Financial, Penny’s Headquarters, and Select Equipment in Athabasca.
Consultation on Designation
AU held consultation sessions with union representatives on Monday (in Athabasca) and Thursday (in Edmonton). In the Monday session, AUFA, AUPE and CUPE all asserted a preference for a designation policy that maintains the status quo.
The support of AUPE and CUPE representatives was much appreciated by AUFA representatives. Inter-union solidarity is important if it becomes necessary to appeal any de-designation decision before the Labour Board.
AU was unable to clearly explain why it was proposing a new designation policy that departed so significantly from a policy that has been in place since 1983. It remains unclear what institutional problem AU is trying to solve with this new policy.
The consultation in Athabasca was interrupted by 13 AUFA professional members. These members read a statement about the impact of de-designation on their working conditions, livelihoods, and morale. Their request was that AU maintain the current designation policy. This action was the first march on the boss by staff members in living memory.
The Thursday consultation saw further discussions, but no substantive progress was made. AU did not indicate whether or when a revised draft policy might be provided. Additional consultation dates in late February have been scheduled.
Conversations with the President
The four conversations with the president were well attended. For example, there were 40+ people in the room and 130+ online for the Peace Hills Trust sessions. Questions were dominated by staff concerns about AU’s de-designation policy.
Fassina’s response to questions about de-designation were, in short, “trust the process we have created”. This request for trust sits uneasily with the results of both AU’s engagement survey and AUFA’s MEC survey.
For example, last spring, AU’s engagement survey showed that only 39% of AU employees believed that AU’s senior leadership acts consistently and does as they say they will. This was 13% below the industry benchmark.