LOCAL 053 NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
Your Local 053 negotiations team has made significant progress in bargaining. Following a three-day meeting with the employer that lasted from June 16 to 18, the committee was able to work through many of the non-monetary items that we’ve opened in the current round of negotiations.
As your team wrote in the last bargaining update, the employer proposed changes to a significant portion of your collective agreement. The employer also identified other areas they feel need discussion prior to tabling changes. This process will take some time, but your bargaining committee is on it. We appreciate your patience while we deal with all of the proposals.
We were able to sign off the following Articles as they appear in your current collective agreement:
- Article 21: Shift Premiums
- Article 23: Court Leave
- Article 34: Rights on Transfer
- Article 36: General Illness
- Article 42: Vehicle Allowance
- Article 43: Staff Development
- Article 46: Uniforms and Protective Clothing
- Article 49: Career Progress Increments
- Article 51: Instruction/Consulting/ Responsibility Premium
- Article 54: Contracting Out
We also agreed to changes in several other articles and Letters of Understanding (LOU) to help streamline the collective agreement, and make it easier to read or to clarify the intent of existing language. These articles include:
- Article 4: Union Recognition
- Article 7: Union Membership and Dues Check Off
- Article 8: Union Stewards
- Article 9: Time-off for Union Business
- Article 10: Union Meetings and Notices
- Article 11: Joint Consultation
- Article 19: Standby Pay
- Article 41: University Courses
- Article 50: Apprentices
- LOU number 3, 6 and 7, which were all deleted.
At this point we have no additional days scheduled to meet with the employer’s negotiations committee, but we have provided our availability for the summer and hope to hear from the employer to schedule new bargaining dates. Once we are back at the table, we will continue to work for a collective agreement that meets the needs of all AUPE members at the University of Lethbridge.
Things are less rosy on the monetary front. As you’ve heard by now, the employer is proposing a salary reduction of -4% effective July 1, 2020 with three additional years with a 0% increase in your salary. The employer has not yet tabled their monetary proposals for other items such as health benefits.
The salary proposals are totally unacceptable to your negotiations team. It would seriously hurt your standard of living, due to both a reduction in first-year salaries and inflation taking a bite out of your purchasing power over the freeze periods. We will absolutely not be accepting this proposal from the employer.
To prevent that proposal from becoming a reality, we need to be united on the job. To defend our right to earn a decent living, to defend our public services, your negotiations team needs your support when the time comes. If we work together, we can prevent rollbacks and improve our working conditions.
To keep you up to date on the latest bargaining news, we need effective methods of communication. Sign up for your personal MyAUPE account on www.aupe.org to get the latest updates on bargaining.
If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding the negotiations process or the items we have reached agreement on please contact one of your negotiations team members. We will be happy to answer your questions.
Together we will fight for fair contract, and together, we can win.
Your Negotiations Committee
Jake Cameron, jacob.cameron@uleth.ca
Tammy Paskuski tammy.paskuski@uleth.ca
Susan Roulston susan.roulston@uleth.ca
Rick Aos rick.aos@uleth.ca
Dale Perry d.perry@aupe.org AUPE Staff Negotiator