Bargaining on Non-Monetary Items Continues
When your negotiating team met with the employer in October 2020, we exchanged ingoing proposals and signed off on the following articles in your collective agreement with no changes:
Article 2: Application
Article 3: Management Rights
Article 7: No Discrimination
Article 25: RRSP Contributions
Article 26: Labour Management Committee
Article 30: Occupational Health and Safety
We were prepared to resume bargaining in-person in February and March but postponed the scheduled dates due to pandemic concerns.
Bargaining resumed virtually on April 21/22 and we made good progress by signing off on a number of non-monetary items, including:
Article 1: Definitions - clarifying Temporary Employee eligibility for benefits after 6 months; defining "days" as work days; adding definitions for probationary employees and probationary period (six months)
Article 4: Union Jurisdiction and Recognition - clarifying the entitlement to bulletin board space at each school to post union information; specifying that the collective agreement will be posted digitally by both the Union and Employer and that hard copies will be printed by AUPE; requiring the Employer to notify the Chapter Chair when new employees are scheduled to be oriented to allow for union orientations to be planned
Article 5: Union Membership and Dues - adding more information to be provided by the Employer about members, including status (permanent, temporary, casual), full-time equivalency (FTE), those working multiple positions, newly hired or on leave, and gross earnings
Article 11: Grievance Procedure/Arbitration - extending timelines for initiating grievances from 5 work days to 10 work days; adding an option to go to non-binding mediation if both sides agree; and adding an option to go before a single arbitrator (instead of a three person arbitration panel)
Article 13: Maternity and Parental Leave - updating to match changes to eligibility/length for leaves to match Employment Standards, including leave for late-term miscarriage or stillbirth
Article 24: Classifications - renewed with housekeeping changes (specifying calendar vs work days throughout the article)
We expect to conclude negotiating the remaining non-monetary articles at our next scheduled meeting set for June 1. These are:
Article 6: Time Off for Union Business
Article 8: Respect in the Workplace
Article 9: Probationary Period
Article 10: Discipline
Article 12: Vacancies
Article 21: Seniority
Article 22: Layoff and Recall
NEW Letter of Understanding - Workload
Due to uncertainty around provincial education funding, the Employer has not yet tabled their monetary proposals.
Remember that your current collective agreement remains in full force. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to a member of your negotiating committee.
Living Waters Catholic Schools Negotiating Committee
Sarah Cross (Slave Lake) E-mail: crossar@hotmail.com
Jane Arndt (Edson) E-mail: janearndt75@gmail.com Cell: 780-725-1912 Home: 780-723-4037
Laurie Martinot (Whitecourt) E-mail: lmartino@telusplanet.net Cell 780-706-5857
AUPE Resource Staff
Merryn Edwards,Negotiations E-mail: m.edwards@aupe.org or 780-952-1951 (cell)
Tracy Noble, Organizing t.noble@aupe.org or 306-304-2853 (cell)
Mimi Williams, Communications m.williams@aupe.org