ULFA and the Board have identified teams to discuss the content of an Essential Services Agreement (ESA).
ULFA will be represented by Rob Sutherland, Dawn McBride, and Locke Spencer. The Board will be represented by Chris Hosgood, Nancy Pastoor, Mary Kay, and Carolin Cattoi Demkiw.
The ESA is a requirement of the new legislation governing negotiations in the Post Secondary Sector under the Alberta Labour Code. The agreement identifies employees whose work is essential to human health and safety or the maintenance of law and order. We have given some background on ESAs in two earlier posts.
ULFA has taken part in a number of training sessions on ESAs, including several meetings with Essential Services Commissioner Gwen Gray and Director of Mediation Services Don Mitchell. In the course of these discussions, it was able to identify a number of specific groups of faculty members who it believes are essential to the preservation of human health and safety. We were able to further confirm the nature of these duties with the affected Members during our “meet and greet” sessions this past academic year.
The two teams will take up contact soon. You can learn more about ESAs and ULFA’s preparation in this area here, here, here, and here.