Essential Service Agreement (ESA) Negotiations to begin
ULFA and the Board have agreed to negotiate a new ESA in the lead up to the resumption of negotiations over the Collective Agreement. An ESA is required by law in the case of job action or lock-out. This agreement determines which (if any) union members can and must continue to work during any job action or lock-out, and which tasks they should continue to perform. ESAs and associated job action protocols are important because they ensure that neither the University nor relations between Faculty and Administration are permanently damaged in the case of job action.
ULFA has been consulting with Members around their experiences with the pandemic shut-down, and is trying to incorporate lessons learned from that experience into its new ESA proposal. Members who wish to contribute to this process are encouraged to contact any member of ULFA’s ESA negotiating team.
The Board will be represented in ESA negotiations by Carolin Cattoi-Demkiw (Manager, Safety Services); Jennifer Copeland (Associate Dean, Arts and Science); and Scott Harling (Team Lead, University Legal Counsel Office). ULFA will be represented by Rob Sutherland (Chair), Rumi Graham, Locke Spencer, Olu Awosoga, and Dawn McBride, with Aaron Chubb joining as staff support.
A first meeting for these negotiations has been set for December 8.
Bargaining update November 27, 2020
A mutually agreed path is now in place, which is based on a proposal made by ULFA in early November. The key elements of the plan, accepted by both teams, are that:
- Bargaining on the Collective Agreement is suspended until January 18, 2021;
- On January 18, 2021, the ULFA and Board negotiating teams will exchange proposals constituting a complete initial offer on all items to be changed in the Collective Agreement, including monetary issues and terms; and that
- The parties will resume collective bargaining no later than January 22, 2021, unless there is some unavoidable delay (for example, relating to the pandemic).
The Board team accepted the ULFA team’s proposal that in the interim, negotiations commence on a new Essential Services Agreement (ESA). More about the latter will be shared in a separate blog post.
In the meantime, other Faculty Associations in the province are reporting on offers made by their respective administrations. We hope to say more about the current bargaining scene in a future post.
Arbitrators award raises to 1,700 staff at eight Alberta colleges after calls for cuts
Workers at eight Alberta colleges will get a pay raise after a board of arbitrators ruled in their favour and rejected employer calls for wage cuts
“These rulings back our argument that enough is enough, that public-service institutions should stop placing the burden of Jason Kenney’s budget cuts on the backs of hard-working Albertans,” says Bobby-Joe Borodey [AUPE VP- Calgary]. “It also shows that these institutions can no longer claim poverty to cut worker salaries and jobs while they have large surpluses and pay high salaries for executives and managers.”
UWO and Navitas – CAUT Bulletin Interview
Elizabeth MacDougall-Shackleton is a biology professor at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) and president of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA). The Association and its members are opposing the school’s proposed partnership with Navitas, a for-profit education provider for international students.
Read full post here.
Why do you oppose Navitas?
They would establish a for-profit college on our campus. The people they hire would not be members of UWOFA, so they wouldn’t have the protections that our members have under our collective agreement, meaning no academic freedom or the job security that contract faculty members have here. Navitas would admit students who do not meet our entrance standards. Also, we are concerned that there’s going to be lots of pressure on these teachers to relax their academic standards.
What would be the consequences?
It’s not fair to other students if there’s a “pay-to-play” scenario where some students can jump the queue simply because they can afford an exorbitant international commission, and it doesn’t serve the second and third year cohorts well after Navitas students are integrated into Western’s main campus. It does a disservice to international students as well. We question the ethics of recruiting people in this way.
Read full post here.
ULFA Members March in Support of AHS Workers Threatened by Kenney Government
On Tuesday, October 27, 2020 approximately 30 members of the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association marched in support of Alberta Health Care workers whose jobs have been threatened by Kenney government cuts to publicly-funded healthcare during the COVID crisis.
AHS workers had walked off the job the day before in a wildcat strike. They were ordered to return to work by the Alberta Labour Relations Board Monday afternoon.
ULFA members gathered at the Chinook Regional Hospital for an hour long demonstration.