Employer's wage proposal is unacceptable
Your negotiations team met with the employer on July 30 and 31. The employer tabled unacceptable wage proposals, but we managed to improve some Articles and Letters of Understanding.
Monetary Proposals
The employer tabled their wage proposal: a four-year contract with a 2% wage increase from the date of ratification, 2% in the second year, 1.75% in the third year and 1.75% in the fourth year. This proposal is exactly what we have seen tabled for the GOA and all other boards and agencies.
Your negotiating team proposed a three-year term with a 13% raise in the first year, 6.5% in the second year and 6.5% in the third year.
We know members are struggling with the significant increases to the cost of living and the rate of inflation. The employer’s wage proposal doesn’t come close to addressing those factors. When confronted with these financial pressures, the employer provided irrelevant comparators for health care and municipal sectors to justify their proposals.
We did, however, make progress on many of the remaining non-monetary items, signing off many articles as current or with improvements.
Articles and Letters of Understanding signed off with changes:
- Article 3 Union Recognition – An electronic bulletin board will be hosted on the employer’s intranet. The electronic bulletin board will improve member access to union information.
- Article 18 Proof of Illness – Nurse Practitioner to be added to the list of professionals able to provide a medical certificate.
- Article 28 Disciplinary Action – Time that discipline remains on employee files reduced from 30 months to 24 months, with the exclusion of extended leaves beyond 20 work days.
- Article 35 Job Posting – Job postings will be assigned a new competition number if the position has previously been posted but was not filled.
- Article 39 Remote Work – Three months notice will be provided should the employer end the Remote Work Policy. Six months notice will be provided to employees who live outside the Edmonton area.
- LOU 3 Compressed or Flexible Hours of Work – New language that defines the compressed work week system.
- LOU 4 Employment of Retired Employees – Changes to correct defined terms and clarify language.
Articles signed off as current with no changes:
- Article 1 Definitions
- Article 12 Hours of Work
- Article 37 On-Call and Call-In
Other proposed Article changes
- Article 15 Annual Vacation – The employer agreed in principle to add language to make the vacation planner more functional. The union’s proposals for increased vacation accruals are still outstanding.
- Article 16 Personal Leave – The employer proposed maximum thresholds for specific types of leaves, which would limit the flexibility that the current language provides.
Negotiations will continue in the fall, with dates to be scheduled soon.
If you have any questions or feedback about this bargaining update, please contact a member of your negotiating team.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – ALBERTA PENSIONS SERVICES
Gayle Burkhholder
gayledburkholder@gmail.com
Kostas Yiannakos
bearpooh17@icloud.com
Raj Boora
raj@boora.ca
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
Prisca Ryan, Negotiations
p.ryan@aupe.org