Impasse initiates formal mediation
Your negotiating team met with the employer on October 15 to continue bargaining. Unfortunately, our meeting was not productive.
Lethbridge College rejected all our monetary proposals, including our wage proposals. Our employer completely ignored the financial stress we are facing. Our proposal for a three-year collective agreement included following wage increases:
Year 1: 13.5%
Year 2: 6.5%
Year 3: 6.5%
We also proposed a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA), to account for inflation. The table below demonstrates the impact COLA would have had in the prior four years.
Lethbridge College, on the other hand, proposed the same insulting offer that the Government of Alberta gave our fellow AUPE members:
Year 1: 2%
Year 2: 2%
Year 3: 1.75%
Year 4: 1.75%
This offer comes nowhere near meeting our needs and addressing the intense financial pressures brought on by inflation. It is yet another series of negligible increases leaving us further and further behind. The table below clearly demonstrates how wage increases from this employer are falling short.
Mediation
Our wage proposals are nowhere near each other and your negotiating team will not back down. That is why we agreed with our employer to move on to formal mediation.
In order to begin mediation, an Essential Services Agreement (ESA) must be in place. ESA negotiations are ongoing, and we will update you when we have more information to share.
We are all frustrated by this process, but your team is committed to you and to winning the wage increases and working conditions we deserve.
Be sure to update your contact information at www.aupe.org/update-info if you are not receiving our bargaining updates or other union news.
Please contact a member of your negotiating team if you have questions.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – LETHBRIDGE COLLEGE
Kim Erasmus
klerasmus@outlook.com
Melinda Harder
melindajean29@yahoo.ca
Jill Lemieux
chair@aupelocal071.com
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
James Mitchell Negotiator
j.mitchell@aupe.org