AASUA

This is part two of a series exploring AASUA’s bargaining goals. To view a summary of AASUA’s main goals, please go to aasua.ca/protectourfuture

Dear colleagues,

As you may know, half of all University of Alberta courses are taught by instructors on contract; AASUA members known as Academic Teaching Staff. 

And our members on short-term contracts do more than just teach. We have around 80 Temporary Librarian, Administrative, and Professional Officers who must work at least six years at full time to secure permanent employment.

There are also over 400 Trust/Research Academic Staff (TRAS) whose appointments solely depend on external funding, even though around half have been employed at UAlberta for six or more years.

Unfair employment is inequitable. The Board of Governors needs to go beyond branding and take concrete action to support the university’s commitment to ‘uplifting the whole people.’ 

Instead, the Board has shown it is committed to intensifying its unfair employment practices. In the last round of negotiations, the Employer introduced a two-tiered salary scale to take effect in 2024: new contract-based instructors make less than current ones, creating even more disparity for new instructors. In this round of bargaining, AASUA is working to abolish this scale, and minimize inequity among academic staff by:

Increasing job security 

According to AASUA’s analysis, roughly 60% of Academic Teaching Staff (ATS) are trapped in short-term contracts. One major way AASUA is working to reduce the number of ATS on short-term contracts is through improved conversion language. Currently, ATS are eligible for career status after nine years of service. AASUA’s proposal is to shorten this term to 36 months of cumulative service. 

Similarly, for Temporary Librarian and Administrative Professional Officers (TLAPOs) AASUA has proposed a reduction in the length of service required for conversion to a permanent APO appointment from six to three years. 

For ATS and Trust/Research Academic Staff (TRAS) AASUA is working on adding language to further assure the right of first refusal for new employment opportunities at the U of A.  

We also are bargaining for the use of Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) to measure and pay for ATS workload — and, for any individuals awarded term appointments with more than one course per term, contractual assurance that compensation will be based on full-time salary pro-ration rather than calculating compensation by merely stacking the Per Course Rate. In the words of our lead negotiator Cherie Klassen, this will “ensure that [these members] are more fairly compensated and the Collective Agreement is not shortcutted or interpreted creatively.”

You can view a full breakdown of AASUA’s ATS-related proposals in Klassen’s opening remarks beginning on page 26. 

Providing benefits

AASUA believes all members performing substantial part-time hours should have access to supplementary benefits (i.e. dental care) and top up pay for parental leave. In this round of bargaining, AASUA is working to extend coverage of the benefit plan while maintaining the plan for those who currently have access. 

AASUA is also looking to extend Professional Expense Reimbursement allowance (PER on a pro-rated basis) to those who are currently ineligible. TRAS, ATS, and TLAPO should not have to take professional expenses out of their own budget. 

Expanding selection and review committee representation

The voices of all academic staff in all seven constituency groups are incredibly valuable for the university. However, on many university selection and review committees — such as chair selection — faculty is often the only academic staff constituency allowed a seat at the table. 

AASUA is looking to increase equity by expanding representation on evaluation committees to include all academic employment categories (where applicable and based on department and faculty composition). 

Fair Employment Week - stay tuned

Next week is Fair Employment Week (Oct. 21-25), a campaign we run in conjunction with the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) to raise awareness about the many academic staff trapped in short-term contracts. I will be in touch at that time with actions you can take to help AASUA #MakeItFair for members on contract at the U of A. 

Gordon Swaters
AASUA President