Apr 2, 2019 | Bargaining, News
Negotiating teams from ULFA and the Board of Governors met on Wednesday March 27 to continue bargaining.
The session was very fluid. While some language was exchanged, considerable attention was also devoted to process. Although ULFA came prepared to sign off on the Board’s previous presentation of Article 4, for example, the Board of Governors’ side indicated they wished to treat Articles 4, 5, and 6 as a package. They also indicated they were unprepared to hear ULFA presentations on Articles 36 and 12, asking ULFA to present Article 12 in the upcoming session instead. As always, you can follow the status of individual articles here.
| Board |
ULFA |
15 Academic Assistants/Instructors
35 Sessional Lecturers
Schedule A
Schedule B (price quotes) |
4 Applications and exclusions (accepting Board proposal of March 21)
5 Recognition
6 Communication
12 Criteria for Extension of Probation (etc) (to be presented April 4)
36 Equity (to be held back pending further discussion) |
Negotiations for the last several weeks have been held under an informal agreement between the two sides to focus on core mandate issues. As noted in previous postings, this means exploring the degree to which the two sides may be able to settle according to a provincial template, whereby unions have been receiving smaller-than-otherwise-expected financial awards in exchange for significant improvements in job security and other terms and conditions. In addition to agreeing provisionally to exploring this template, ULFA’s negotiating team has also provisionally agreed to suspend further discussion of a significant reorganisation of the former Sessionals and Faculty Handbooks during the current round of bargaining, in exchange for concessions on terms and conditions and a Memorandum of Understanding that the proposed rearrangement will be the basis of negotiations in the next round.
This approach has resulted in considerable movement at the table on both sides on big issues. It has also made more apparent the areas where the two sides are going to have more difficulty reaching resolution. The next few sessions are very important and will likely be strong indicators of whether this approach will lead to settlement or a reopening of broader negotiations.
Mar 26, 2019 | Bargaining, News
Bargaining teams for ULFA and the Board of Governors met on Thursday March 21 to continue negotiations. This meeting was part of a series of weekly dates supplied by ULFA in response to a request from the Board of Governors on February 21.
During the meeting, ULFA presented its response to the Board’s most recent proposals on Articles 15 (Instructors/Academic Assistants), 35 (Sessional Lecturers), and Schedule A (Salary), while the Board of Governors responded to ULFA’s latest versions of Articles 4 (Applications and exclusions), 5 (Recognition), and 6 (Communication). As always, you can follow the progress of negotiations for individual articles here.
| ULFA |
Board of Governors |
15 Academic Assistants/Instructors
35 Sessional Lecturers
Schedule A |
4 Applications and exclusions
5 Recognition
6 Communication |
Negotiations during this session were conducted in keeping with a proposal from the February 21 meeting that the two sides would focus in the short term on core “mandate” issues in the hopes of reaching an expedited settlement. As part of this agreement, the two sides agreed to work on the basis of the “provincial template,” in which public sector unions in the province have considered lower-than-otherwise-expected economic proposals from management in exchange for advances in job security language and terms and conditions.
The resulting discussions have been largely positive, with considerable movement on both sides; if current progress continues, we may be close to reaching agreement in principle on Articles 4, 5, 15, and 35. At the same time, the two sides appear to be finding less room to manoeuvre in the case of Article 6 (Communication). Here the particular sticking points involve transparency in the event of a breach of member data and the provision of letters of appointment (which constitute part of the contract between members and the university) to ULFA as Members’ exclusive bargaining agent.
The two sides are scheduled to meet again on Wednesday March 27, with weekly meeting continuing through to the end of April, if necessary.
Mar 19, 2019 | Bargaining, News
ULFA and representatives of the Board of Governors met on Thursday March 14. This was the third meeting since the two sides agreed to investigate an expedited approach to resolving negotiations by focussing on the core elements of each side’s mandate.
As agreed in our meeting on February 21, the first two meetings under this new approach involved presentations on Articles 4-6 (Applications and Exclusions; Recognition; and Communication and Information). This third meeting, on March 14, was to focus on Articles 15 (Instructors/Academic Assistants) and “35” (Sessional Lecturers). ULFA was also able to bring a response to the Board’s latest proposals on Articles 4-6. Finally, in conjunction with their proposals for 15 and 35, the Board of Governors offered new language on Schedules A and B. As always you can follow the progress of individual articles here.
| Board of Governors |
ULFA |
15 Academic Assistants/Instructors
35 Sessional Lecturers
Schedule A
Schedule B |
4 Applications and exclusions
5 Recognition
6 Communication |
In their proposals for these Articles, the Board of Governors addressed a number of elements in the two sides’ mandates. As is the case with Articles 4-6, the two sides appear to be narrowing the differences in a constructive and creative fashion. While there are still significant and serious areas of disagreement, the last three weeks have seen movement on both sides.
In addition to presenting language, the two sides also arranged a number of additional negotiating days, with meetings scheduled each week through the end of April.
ALRB rationale released
On Monday March 11, the ALRB released a detailed and technical rationale for its February 20th ruling in favour of the Board of Governors on Bridging. You can find the full decision here. You can follow the issues at stake in the ruling starting here and here. As noted in our February 21st blog, this decision means that the status quo continues, in which the Board of Governors didn’t pay COLA increases after the expiration of the previous contract pending any new arrangements in this round of negotiations.
Mar 10, 2019 | Bargaining
Bargaining teams representing the Board of Governors and ULFA met on Friday March 1 and Monday March 4. These were additional dates provided on short notice by ULFA at the request of the Board of Governors’ representatives in order to explore expediting our work on the remaining unsettled articles.
On Friday, as agreed at our February 21 meeting, ULFA presented Articles 4, 5, 6, 22, and 26. The Board of Governors for its part presented a proposal for an Memorandum of Understanding to postpone further consideration of some proposals until the next round of negotiations. On Monday, the Board of Governors responded to ULFA’s presentations on Articles 4, 5, and 6.
| ULFA |
Board of Governors |
Article 4 Applications and Exclusions
Article 5 Recognition
Article 6 Communication and Information
Article 22 Grievance and Interpretation
Article 26 Financial Emergency |
Memorandum of Understanding (draft)
Articles 4, 5, 6 (responses) |
It is difficult to characterise the current state of negotiations. Since these were the first meetings under this new approach, it is too early to tell whether it will lead to the kind of expedited settlement the two sides envisioned in their February 21 meeting that would focus on the key “mandate” issues for each side. While there was some welcome movement on both sides, there were also some old sticking points and we have not reached an agreement in principle on any of these Articles.
Feb 21, 2019 | Bargaining
ALRB hearing
Representatives from ULFA and the Board of Governors of the University of Lethbridge attended a hearing of the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) in Calgary on February 6 and 7. At the hearing, the ALRB agreed to provide a decision, with rationale to follow, on February 20th. You can find out more about the issues at stake in this hearing by reading backwards from here.
The ALRB issued its ruling (without rationale) as promised at the close of business yesterday (Wednesday February 20). In its brief statement the ALRB indicated that there is “not a violation of section 147(3) of the Labour Code” as alleged by ULFA.
The ALRB ruling was brief and raised a number of questions for which we will be seeking further clarification, either via our counsel or after the ALRB provides its rationale. In the meantime, however, it appears that the current status quo will prevail, in which the Board of Governors paid Professional Supplement, Career Progress, and Merit on June 30th, 2018 but not COLA. As we noted in our December 2nd Blog
The main risk to ULFA of the Labour Board hearing is essentially that a loss will make the status quo permanent. The Board of Governors has already withheld the July 1, 2018 COLA; if we lose at the Board, then our members will continue to receive the 0s they are already receiving. They will have lost the COLA adjustment we believe that they are owed. But nobody will be worse (or better) off after a loss than they have been since the Board of Governors began withholding that payment.
In other words, it now appears that Members will not receive retroactive COLA increases in 2018-2019 as a result of the bridging provisions of the Albert Labour Relations Code but rather that their salaries will continue as they now are.
We will add further information to this here and/or in our town halls as it becomes available to us.
Negotiating Updates
Representatives of ULFA and the Board of Governors also met in two negotiating sessions since our last blog: January 31 and February 21. As always, you can follow the progress of individual articles here.
January 31
On January 31st, ULFA presented the second installment of its response to the Board’s “Parts,” while the Board presented a response to ULFA’s last proposal on Article 33 Reduced Load and Gradual Retirement:
| ULFA |
Board of Governors |
14 Professional Librarians
20 Promotion
21 Increments
25 Supervision and discipline
32 Salary Schedules |
33 Reduced Load |
At the meeting, the two sides also began discussions of ways of bringing negotiations to conclusion.
February 21
The negotiations on February 21st picked up the discussion of ways to bring negotiations to a conclusion in a more detailed way. ULFA also presented more of its response to the Board of Governors’ “Parts” and the Board provided a response to ULFA’s last proposal on 34 Leaves.
| ULFA |
Board of Governors |
15 Instructors/Academic Assistants
“35” Sessionals |
34 Leaves |
As a result of the discussions about process, the two sides agreed to seek an increase in the number of meeting times and a preliminary approach to dividing up the remaining articles: articles that are key to the two sides’ mandates; articles that require revision due to the exigencies of the Labour Code; and articles involved in the proposed restructuring of the Handbook (i.e. the “Parts”).
If the two sides are able to find a common meeting time next week, this will be devoted to a broad discussion of goals for the remaining articles.
The week after that, ULFA will present material from some or all of Articles 4, 5, and 6 (Applications and Exclusions, Recognition, and Communication) while the Board will respond to ULFA’s proposals on Sessional and Instructors/Academic Assistants (15, 35, but also related parts of other articles including 21 and 32).
In the following meeting, the two sides have provisionally scheduled a response from the Board of Governors to Articles 4, 5, and 6 and, from ULFA, a new proposal on Schedules A and B that takes into account the Board work on Sessionals and Instructors. After that, the sides will endeavour to meet weekly as schedules allow until a final agreement is reached.
Feb 14, 2019 | Bargaining
Following up on the last post, representatives of ULFA (Kelly Williams-Whitt, Rob Sutherland and Annabree Fairweather) and the Board (Chris Hosgood, Lorna Selinger and Scott Harling) met with about a dozen of our Members, January 28 and 30 to collect detailed information about aspects of their duties as academic staff that might perform essential services. These were excellent conversations and our Members outlined duties involving dangerous chemicals and hazardous materials, supervision of therapies involving at risk clients and oversight of experimental treatments with potential for adverse participant outcomes. Our Members are on the frontline of protecting and enhancing public health and safety.
In a very productive follow-up meeting, February 13, ULFA provided a complete draft Essential Services Agreement that was discussed by representatives of both sides. Clearly there will be some modifications, but we are confident that we now have the foundations for our final agreement.
