ULFA’s Response to a Fall 2021 Return to Campus
Dear Members,
ULFA would like to respond to the University’s messaging about a ‘significant return to campus’ in Fall 2021, and the legitimate concerns members have raised with ULFA about this proposed return. ULFA affirms that our members are not to be coerced concerning how they offer instruction. Our members are responsible for pedagogy in their classroom, whether that be in a face-to-face or online environment. Safety in the classroom for our members and students is something we take very seriously. ULFA will defend any of our members who feel a return to in-person learning is a danger to themselves or others, and will uphold members’ full participation in their roles as instructors by whatever means they deem appropriate.
We point out that the way members deliver lectures is a pedagogical freedom. Our members are required to allow students access to the classroom environment and to hold classes at certain prescribed times. If it is our members’ judgement to hold the class a certain way for safety, it is their pedagogical right and ethical responsibility to do so.
ULFA is asking our members to plan for a pedagogy in what is, in their opinion, the most effective way to safely teach the material. ULFA also recognizes that what may seem to be the safe now, may not be the same in Fall 2021. We are all hoping the vaccine rollout goes smoothly, but the impact of new variants and the rate of voluntary vaccination in our community remains to be seen. ULFA reserves the right to co-manage the collective agreement, including provisions around safety, the equitable treatment of our members, and academic freedom.
Sincerely,
The ULFA Executive
Job Action 101
This is the first in a series of “Job Action 101” posts, the aim of which is to demystify some of the fundamental aspects of job action and address common questions about how Members can effectively prepare.
Part 1: What to Expect in the Event of a Strike or Lockout
As negotiations between ULFA and the U of L Board of Governors (the Board) continue, the ULFA Job Action Committee (JAC) is hard at work preparing in case of job action (i.e. lockout or strike). Collective bargaining remains the primary and preferred method to achieve a balanced, fair, and mutually beneficial agreement for all parties. However, in the event of strong and irreconcilable disagreement between ULFA and the Board, implementation of unified strike action of the ULFA Membership represents a vital and sometimes necessary mechanism to gain traction on key issues affecting the Membership, students and in effect, the entire University Community.
This is the first in a series of “Job Action 101” posts, the aim of which is to demystify some of the fundamental aspects of job action and address common questions about how Members can effectively prepare.
What is Job Action?
“Job action” is a powerful tool used by an employer and/or an employee union in order to resolve otherwise insoluble disagreements between the parties during collective bargaining. In effect, job action can take the form of:
Lockout - when the employer locks out employees
Strike - when the union withdraws labour from the employer.
Lockouts and strikes are governed by the terms of the Alberta Labour Relations Code. For example, a strike cannot occur until an application for a strike vote has been made the Alberta Labour Relations Board. If the ALRB allows the application, then there also must be a positive strike vote by union (ULFA) members. NOTE: a majority strike vote does not mean that a union will go on strike, only that the members have empowered the Executive to do so if a compromise with the employer cannot be achieved. The decision to vote in favour of a strike is a very significant decision and it is important that your vote reflects your true views. However, it is very commonly the case that a credible threat of a strike is enough to bring the two sides back to meaningful negotiations. In the post-secondary sector there are several times more strike votes than actual strikes.
What is expected of me during a strike?
During a strike, we withdraw our labour and participate in job action duties (such as participating in pickets, volunteering in the headquarters, coordinating volunteers and resources, etc.). Labour includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Teaching, supervising, and advising students
Sending/receiving employment-related email, including to students
Library work, including collections, copyright, teaching, and research assistance
Service to the university and/or university-related community work
Administrative duties
There are alternative ways to engage in a strike, including “work-to-rule”, refusing to work overtime, rotating short periods of labour withdrawal, etc. Depending on the circumstances, these options may be considered in advance of a full labour withdrawal.
All academic staff have the right to participate in job action (strike), unless you are required to remain at work by the terms of the Essential Services Agreement (ESA). Upon the passing of a vote to strike, the ULFA Job Action Committee will organize with members to form picket and other information campaigns with individual duties assigned to members by the ULFA Job Action Committee to support the cause.
A strike only starts on the date and time and at the location set out in the Strike Notice given by ULFA to the Employer. It is unlawful for members to begin strike activity in advance.
What is our current situation regarding negotiations and a possible strike vote?
The progression towards a possible strike is outlined in the following table, which is based on the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ (CAUT) job action preparedness model. Under this framework we are currently between Levels 3 and 4 as our current agreement is now past due, and there remain a number of key issues that are still under negotiation. The possibility of a strike vote is still low but the ULFA Executive will continue to provide updates to the Membership regarding negotiation progression.
Level 1 Preparing for Bargaining | ● ● | There is a current agreement in force Next round of negotiations has not begun | ● Members should communicate issues to the Bargaining Resource Committee BRCchair@ulfa.ca | |
Level 2 Exchanging Interest | ● | ULFA & the BoG have exchanged letters of interest to engage in bargaining |
| |
Level 3 Negotiating | ● | A new agreement is being actively negotiated between the two parties | ● Members should direct any unanswered questions/concerns to the ULFA Executive Officer eo@ulfa.ca | |
Level 4 Approaching Deadline | ● ● ● ● | A new agreement has not been reached The current agreement is expiring No end date to negotiations in sight Likelihood of job action is still low | ● Members should ensure they attend any opportunities to learn about the state of negotiations | |
Level 5 | ● | Negotiations fail | ● Be informed of legal framework for bargaining & | |
| ● | One party applies for the appointment of a mediator, who is assigned for 14 day period to find a common ground |
| job action (e.g. Post secondary Learning Act, AB Labour Relations Code etc.) |
Level 6 Alerting Members | ● ● ● ● | Mediation fails 14 day off cooling off period ULFA applies to the Labour Relations Board to hold a strike vote and conduct a supervised Member vote. Possibility of job action is high | ● ● | Members may communicate feedback to the Negotiating Team when requested Continue to communicate any bargaining questions/concerns to ULFA |
Level 7 | ● ● ● | A positive strike vote has occurred Union must wait 3 days but not more than a maximum of 120 day before declaring a strike. During this interval, the union can legally go on strike (but is not required to) |
| ● Members may not picket until after a 72 hr notice to strike has been served. |
Level 8 Strike | ● | Union declares a strike by serving 72 hours strike notice on the employer of the date, time and location of the start of the strike.” The strike/lockout continues until a collective agreement is reached. | |
follow the direction of the Executive. |
ULFA Response to AB Budget 21
The University of Lethbridge Faculty Association would like to express its profound disappointment in the UCP government’s continuing failure to support post-secondary education.
Post-Secondary Education is a crucial factor in our province’s post-pandemic economic recovery. The University of Lethbridge is the 2nd largest employer in Lethbridge and Lethbridge College is the 5th largest. With 750 Post-Secondary workers already laid off across the Province, additional cuts mean fewer customers for our city’s businesses and services and less money circulating in the Lethbridge economy.
By forcing our colleges and universities to charge more for fewer services, we make it difficult to attract new students to the Lethbridge area, and we end up encouraging our own children to go elsewhere if they want to receive the kind of quality education they used to be able to get right here, in Southern Alberta. By attempting to tie future funding to metrics and measures that have failed time-and-time-again in other countries and provinces, moreover, the UCP government will only ensure that its short-sighted approach continues to damage the quality of Alberta’s colleges and universities for years to come.
In the 1960s, the people of Lethbridge marched in the streets to demand that the provincial government create a new university in Lethbridge, to serve the needs of our community. We knew then, as we know now, that the future of Lethbridge and the surrounding counties depends on access to high quality post-secondary education.
It is time to put an end to these reckless and ideologically driven attacks on one of the most important drivers of economic diversification and growth in our province.
Bargaining update: February 22, 2021
The ULFA and Board negotiating teams held a second meeting focused on language and economic benefits on February 22. Discussions continued to be cordial and productive as we considered several proposals from each side.
As agreed at the February 8 meeting, ULFA led off by presenting its Article “YY” proposal. This proposal embeds Schedule R (diversity, equity and inclusion) as a full-fledged article in the CA, clarifies the role of the Joint Equity Committee, and strengthens accommodation provisions. ULFA also presented proposals on Schedule B (economic benefits), a new Article “BB” which proposes to create a joint ULFA-Board committee to co-manage the ULFA benefits plan, and Article 19 (probation and continuing appointment/tenure).
The Board team presented a response to ULFA’s Schedule E proposal (professional activities report). They also presented proposals for language modifications to parts of the following five articles, focusing on the role of service in Members’ responsibilities and career progression, but leaving other aspects to a later date: Article 11 (rights and responsibilities), Article 12 (STP criteria for faculty), Article 13 (assignment of duties), Article 14 (professional librarians), and Article 15 (instructors and academic assistants). Because there are other changes in the Board’s initial proposals for these articles that have not yet been explained, ULFA expects to hold off on responding to an article until all of the Board’s proposals for such article have been discussed.
For the next meeting on March 8th, the parties tentatively agreed to prepare the following:
- ULFA team: responses to the Board’s Article 3 and Schedule E proposals and a presentation on ULFA’s Article 28 proposal. ULFA will also begin work on a response to the Board’s Article 13 proposal.
- Board team: responses to ULFA’s Article YY and Article 19 proposals, begin the process of gathering data requested in ULFA’s Schedule B proposal (unlikely to be ready for the next meeting), and possibly a response to ULFA’s proposal on a new teaching professoriate.
Just a reminder that you can track the progress of exchanged bargaining proposals in this spreadsheet.
Negotiating update: February 8, 2021
Representatives of the Board and ULFA met on February 8 for the first discussion of language in the current round of negotiations.
As mentioned in the last blog, the ULFA side prepared:
- Article “YY” (a proposal to create a new article on Equity and Diversity based on the current Schedule R);
- Schedule E (a proposal to generalize and update the PAR report form);
- Article 20/Article “ZZ” (a proposal to simplify and generalize STP processes); and
- Article 28 (a proposal to update IP provisions of the handbook).
For their part, the Board team indicated that they would present on:
- Article 3 (procedures for updating the Collective Agreement),
- Criteria for performance evaluation and associated review processes; and
- Teaching Professoriate
In the event, the two sides discussed
- the Board’s proposals for Article 3,
- ULFA’s proposals for Schedule E and Article 20/ZZ, and
- an ULFA proposal for the Teaching Professoriate (since the Board did not prepare language on this topic and ULFA had in our package, it was decided that it would be better for ULFA to present first).
The two sides agreed to begin the next meeting with ULFA’s proposal on Article “YY” (EDI). As in the last round, you can follow the status of all articles under negotiation this year on this spreadsheet.
Although it is more than 6 months since the end of our Collective Agreement, this was the first time the two sides discussed language in any detailed way.
The two sides remain far apart, although the discussion was constructive and there are some early signs in these few articles of opportunities for fruitful conversation. The Board side indicated that their mandate will once again not allow for any increase in costs, while the ULFA side indicated that its mandate requires it to address the erosion in salaries and benefits that has occurred in the years since U of L academic staff (uniquely in the province) last conceded to salary rollbacks in 2013 .
Since mandates are starting points and negotiations are how we reconcile contrasting visions, it should be clear that neither side is going to get their complete mandate. But the session was a reminder of how far apart these starting positions are.
The next meeting is scheduled to take place on February 22, with the two sides intending to meet biweekly for the foreseeable future.