Employer can and should do more
Your negotiating team met with the employer on Jan. 4 and Jan. 6 and talked about monetary issues for the next collective bargaining agreement.
SAIT presented an offer of a four-year term (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2024) with monetary proposals less than the one recently offered to Government of Alberta workers.
This was not a surprise because we know the Alberta Government has been the driving force behind bargaining. After receiving zeros since 2016-2017 and a 1% increase in the 2019-2020 year, and with the extraordinary hikes to inflation, your negotiating team feels that SAIT is not doing nearly enough.
There are significant differences between the situation at SAIT and the situation at the Government of Alberta:
- SAIT is not offering job security like there was in the Government of Alberta deal;
- Unlike the government, SAIT has run surpluses for the last few years including $18.8 million in the 2020/2021 fiscal year;
- SAIT’s Chief Financial Officer has recently boasted publicly to Academic Advisors about the savings the college has made in the last few years due to the pandemic and having a lot of classes online.
Rather than just copy and paste a financial offer from somewhere else that doesn’t fit, we are challenging SAIT and its Board of Governors to recognize the facts on the ground at the college.
Bargaining a fair collective agreement is more than just following a blanket mandate from the government. SAIT has the ability and the right to negotiate a deal that works for the college and for the workers.
We believe that with a creative approach, progress can be made on areas including:
- Modest, but fair wage increases;
- Small increase to the Health Care Spending Account (HCSA)
- Increase to the shift differential;
- The addition of a Weekend Premium clause;
- Improvements to Special Leaves, including fewer restrictions;
- A cap on parking fees; and
- A small change to when extra vacation time is earned.
With SAIT not wanting to negotiate creative ways of bettering the Collective Agreement, it looks like we are headed for mediation.
Please reach out to your negotiating team if you have questions.
Your SAIT negotiating team:
Rose Read:roseread@shaw.ca
Lauren Wood:laurenwood_15@hotmail.com
Gerson Charmell:gersoncharmell@gmail.com
AUPE staff resources:
Christian Tetreault, negotiator: c.tetreault@aupe.org
Scott Drake, organizer: s.drake@aupe.org
Terry Inigo-Jones, communications: t.inigo-jones@aupe.org