Dear colleagues,

On June 26, AASUA completed another joint bargaining meeting with the Employer. AASUA also met with the Employer June 27 to continue negotiations for a work stoppage protocol. 

While the tone of bargaining for the Collective Agreement has so far been collegial and collaborative, at the June 27 meeting regarding the work-stoppage protocol AASUA expressed its candid disappointment at the lack of respect for our members reflected in the Employer’s counter-proposal.  

Work stoppage protocol 

As noted in our last update, the work stoppage protocol would bring clarity to details of strike and lockout that are not outlined in legislation. AASUA was hopeful the Employer would see it is of mutual interest to minimize long-term damage to relationships between academic staff and university administration should last measures such as strike or lockout be used during negotiations. 

Instead, the Employer has remained invested in tactics that are short-sighted and solely pressure focused, and have the potential to deeply impact the university community as well as the University’s national and international reputation.  

For example, the Employer remains committed to removing academic staffs’ access to their ualberta.ca email addresses should strike or lockout occur, despite the use of these email accounts to facilitate the communications needed to ensure that both the academic staff (who are the ones bringing in third-party funding for university research), and the University administration meet their respective obligations to these funders, such as the Tri-Council agencies. 

This incredibly short-sighted positioning unfortunately demonstrates a lack of respect and understanding for members’ research contributions to this University, as well as a gross underestimation of the role that AASUA members play in maintaining the ranking of the University of Alberta as a top-four Canadian teaching and research university. 

As but one example, the “Agreement on the Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions” as established by the Government of Canada’s tri-council agencies, contractually obliges the Employer to:

  • confirm the eligibility of each Grant or Award applicant at the time of application, in accordance with the relevant Agency's eligibility requirements and procedures;
  • hold the funds until they are expended by the Recipient in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Grant or Award;
  • promptly process eligible and approved payments from Recipient accounts; 
  • provide each Grant or Award holder with regular information regarding their account; and
  • provide adequate, equitable financial and administrative support to its Recipients to ensure sound management of funds. 

among other obligations and responsibilities. In addition, with respect to tri-council grants, only the grant recipient can delegate authority to use the grant funds. To ensure due diligence in the review and approval of expenditures, the delegation of authority instrument must be accessible for reference by relevant staff of the administering institution. Each expenditure and charge made to the grant account must be authorized by the grant recipient or by their delegate.
We have asked the Employer how they intend to meet these obligations and not harm the University’s research interests if they cut off the access to this vital communication network for grant recipients.  We are waiting for an answer and remain hopeful that they will engage in some sober second thought and reflection.

That said, members can be assured that AASUA is preparing for all outcomes and scenarios. It is always a good measure to reach out to your granting agencies and provide them with an alternate email to contact you in the event of job action. 

Additionally, we are preparing a list of alternate contact info so we can be in contact with you about bargaining updates no matter what happens. If you have not already done so, please submit your contact info here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/aasuanegotiations. 

Despite these points of difference between AASUA and the Employer, negotiations for a work-stoppage agreement are ongoing. AASUA remains hopeful that both parties will achieve their jointly-expressed goal to establish with certainty, AASUA’s payments for members’ continuation of benefits should job action occur. 

Topics discussed at the table

In addition to the topics listed in AASUA’s June 12 bargaining bulletin the following additional topics were explored in the June 26 meeting:

  • The Employer has now begun to respond to AASUA’s proposal to increase job security for, and better recognize the contributions of, Academic Teaching Staff. AASUA is hopeful the Employer will see the merit of honouring its publicly-stated equity-claims by amending its inequitable employment practices, and looks forward to seeing the rest of the Employer’s ATS counter-proposal in the fall. 
  • The Employer responded positively to AASUA’s proposal to establish a joint workload study committee that would work to develop an accurate picture of workload in each academic staff constituency. We are pleased to see positive momentum on this item.
  • So far the Employer has not agreed that subjective student surveys should be removed from evaluation of teaching, despite AASUA providing evidence to their team that these surveys are known to lead to discriminatory outcomes based on certain personal characteristics. We continue to keep the pressure up on this front.

Summer hiatus begins

Both the Employer and AASUA have agreed to a hiatus over the summer where no bargaining meetings will occur. With our Collective Agreement expiring June 30, members can be assured that the terms of our current agreement continue while negotiations are ongoing. This is due to bridging legislation under the Labour Relations Code. 

In the fall, we will resume these conversations as we continue to stand up for high-quality education in Alberta. We are bargaining for an agreement that accomplishes our three goals of enabling staff to support the student experience, honouring equity claims, and providing competitive compensation in order to protect the U of A’s high-quality teaching and research. 

You can read more about these central bargaining goals at aasua.ca/protectourfuture. 

Sincerely, 
Gordon Swaters
AASUA President