Dear colleagues,
You will recall that the AASUA filed a bad faith bargaining complaint at the Alberta Labour Relations Board (the “Labour Board”) on May 7. In that complaint, the Association alleged that during informal mediation in March, the Employer’s negotiating team (as directed by their principals, the Board of Governors at the U of A as well as the Government of Alberta through the Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance’s Provincial Bargaining & Compensation Office [“PBCO”]), engaged in behaviour that undermined the Association’s members’ Charter right to access a free and fair collective bargaining process. We also have alleged that the Employer is failing to make all reasonable efforts to enter into a renewal collective agreement with the AASUA. The Employer has yet to respond to that complaint but has until May 30 to do so. A copy of that complaint is attached here.
In the meantime, the Employer reached out to the AASUA right before the long weekend on May 16 to inform us that they have "filed for formal mediation with Alberta’s Director of Mediation Services."
However, the AASUA has no confidence whatsoever that the Employer’s team will stop engaging in bad faith tactics until the Labour Board directs them to cease such behaviour.
The Association also worries that if forced into formal mediation now, without the Labour Board’s intervention, the Government will continue to undermine the fundamental precept of collective bargaining — our members’ right to associate and negotiate in good faith - given the Government’s extremely tight control over our table’s direction (including outcomes predetermined by the Government through PBCO).
As a result, on May 20 the AASUA filed an application at the Labour Board requesting that the Labour Board grant an interim preservative directive to adjourn further bargaining (including through the legislatively required formal mediation steps) until the Labour Board hears and determines the Association’s unfair labour practice complaint.
The Labour Board is able to issue interim orders such as the one the AASUA requests in order to stabilize labour relations and to stop irreparable harm from occurring to the applicant – in this case, the AASUA and its members.
What happens next?
We have asked the Labour Board for an urgent hearing to allow the Association to prove that our members, the broader public, and even the Employer itself would risk suffering irreparable harm if we were forced into formal mediation prior to the Board’s intervention. We will keep you posted on the progress of this application as it moves ahead.
Even if formal mediation ends up moving ahead this summer, the process will still take considerable time. First, the Director of Mediation services will have to appoint a mediator, and the parties will have to coordinate their availability as teams to meet with that mediator.
Once those dates are established, the parties will be required to meet with the mediator for 14 days or within any longer period agreed by the parties or fixed by the Director. After mediation concludes, there may be a vote on the mediator’s recommendations. That vote will likely take some time to organize. If there are no mediator’s recommendations, or the vote on the recommendations does not result in the next collective agreement, there is another 14 day cooling off period that is required at law prior to either party being able to hold their respective strike or lockout vote. As well, the parties can always continue to negotiate and make efforts to conclude an agreement even after the formal mediation period ends.
How long this entire process takes depends on the Employer’s willingness to act lawfully in the future and to meet us with fairer proposals at the table. It also depends on the steadfastness and solidarity of all of the Association’s members.
THE TIME FOR CONCESSIONS IS OVER.
In solidarity,
Gordon Swaters
AASUA President