Dear colleagues,

AASUA is headed into formal mediation with the Employer on September 4. Your negotiating team will be working hard in formal mediation to get a fair deal for all of us. The best thing you can do to support them right now is stay informed about negotiations. Much depends on the Employer’s willingness to be fair and reasonable during formal mediation. 

If the Employer repeats the disrespectful tactics we saw during informal mediation last March, we will need to stand together as AASUA members to support our negotiating team. We are stronger together! If we continue to stand united, a fair deal is within reach.

What this email covers (click to jump to a section):

What we have achieved in negotiations so far 

Your bargaining team has been hard at work for over a year and has achieved agreements in principle on key priorities for AASUA members. However, as is generally the case with bargaining, nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. If the Employer won’t get competitive with compensation, along with other core AASUA goals, we don’t have a deal.  

The bargaining team has negotiated a tentative agreement that would establish a joint workload study committee. This committee’s purpose would be to develop an accurate picture of workload, and identify workload challenges, in each academic staff constituency through public reports.

We have reached a tentative agreement to reduce the amount of time spent on reporting and evaluation by moving from an annual evaluation model to a biennial review for eligible members within the Faculty, Faculty Service Officer, Academic Teaching Staff, and Librarian Constituencies. We are close to concluding a similar arrangement for eligible Administrative Professional Officers. 

The team has achieved an agreement in principle to increase member input into decisions related to whether courses will be delivered in person or virtually (or a hybrid of the two). 

We also have an agreement in principle allowing the Association access to a more robust review and feedback process for Employer policies and procedures. Previously, it has been quite easy for the Employer to say the Association does not have to be consulted because a policy didn’t affect our members’ terms and conditions of employment, but now, if a policy is reasonably anticipated to affect members’ working lives, then consultation with the Association is required before such a policy is introduced. 

Despite these significant gains, there is still much to accomplish at the bargaining table, and the Employer’s response to your bargaining team’s reasoned and evidence-based proposals has more often than not been a flat out “no.” Your bargaining team has made it clear, however, that competitive compensation, maintaining the benefits plan, and standing up for precarious staff are issues our membership won’t back down on. 

What we still need to achieve in formal mediation

In formal mediation, your bargaining team is looking for the Employer to move on several proposals. Top of mind are the goals to:

AASUA has prepared the following slide quickly summarizing the gap between our proposals and the Employer's: 

AASUA proposals - Term: Four years 3% ATB salary increase each year additional steps in years 1, 2, 3 all members move 1 step on salary scale in years 1 & 2 and a one-time payment in year 1 totalling approx. 20% over Term Benefits Plan: Access for part-timers No cuts required Adequately funded Improved job security for Academic Teaching Staff (ATS) Eliminate the two-tiered salary scale for ATS Academic Supplementary Retirement Plan: Stable, consistent benefit for those exceeding maximum pensionable earnings Patentable Intellectual Property: Incentivize innovation Promotion through the ranks for Librarians Professional Expense Reimbursement for Trust/Research Academic Staff. Employer proposals: Term: Four years Across-the-Board salary increase: 3% year one, 3% year two 2% year three, and 2% year four, totalling 10% over Term (lower than inflation rate) Benefits Plan: NO access for part-timers CUTS Inadequately funded NO improved job security for ATS MAINTAIN the two-tiered salary scale for ATS ASRP: Benefit eliminated within the next two years,UAlberta falls further behind its comparator universities PIP: Defer negotiations to an unknown time NO promotion through the ranks for Librarians NO PER for TRAS

For a full rundown of AASUA’s compensation proposal, please see this breakdown. 

Potential outcomes for formal mediation

Alberta’s Director of Mediation Services has appointed Deborah Howes as our Mediator. Ms. Howes brings over 30 years of labour relations experience to the role. Ms. Howes will work with the Employer and AASUA’s negotiating teams to encourage movement towards a deal satisfactory to both parties. Formal mediation is the last step required by Alberta law prior to the parties being in a position to take job action (strike or lockout).

Potential outcomes for formal mediation:

  • Reasonable progress is made during mediation on September 4-5.  
    In this case, talks could continue during the additional formal mediation dates set for October 21 and 22. If a tentative agreement is reached during mediation on any one of these days, the deal would then be sent to AASUA members for ratification. 
  • The parties don’t reach a tentative settlement, but the mediator issues a report with recommendations that could form the basis of a new collective agreement between the parties if accepted by the membership. The Employer can ask the Alberta Labour Relations Board to put the mediator’s recommendations to a vote of the Association’s membership. If the mediator’s recommendations are accepted by the membership, then the next agreement is settled. The Association can do the same, requiring the Employer to publicly decide whether to accept the recommendations or not.
  • The Employer puts their last offer to a vote of the Association’s membership. 
    If the Employer’s offer is accepted by AASUA’s members in the vote, then the next agreement is settled.
  • Mediation fails and no settlement is reached between the parties.  
    This could potentially happen as early as right after the September dates, depending on when talks might break off. While AASUA remains committed to securing a renewal collective agreement at the bargaining table, if no settlement is reached between the parties then job action such as strike or lockout could occur as soon as late September following a 14-day “cooling off” period during which neither side can take legal action. 

We do not want a strike. However, the Employer’s disrespectful and arguably unlawful behaviour during informal mediation suggests avoiding job action may not be possible. We hope the Employer will come to the table during formal mediation with a new approach to getting to agreement. AASUA wants to see the best outcome for our university, and that means a fair deal for academic staff. 

AASUA has prepared an FAQ addressing common questions about job action. 

I will be in touch with updates on the outcome of formal mediation. 

How to talk to students about negotiations at this moment

While the situation will rapidly evolve once mediation begins, we wanted to share this slide with members to assist them in talking to their students about bargaining as classes begin.

We know this is an uncertain time. Our negotiating team is working hard, and will do everything in their power to achieve a fair deal in formal mediation. The Employer must come to the table willing to do the same. 

Thank you for staying informed about bargaining at this critical time. This is our agreement, and it is imperative that together we stand up for what is fair — for academic staff, for precarious AASUA members on contract, for our world-class university, and for Alberta. 

Sincerely, 

Gordon Swaters
AASUA President