Tentative agreement reached, strike vote withdrawn

On Wednesday October 1, the Association of Academic Staff at the University of Alberta (AASUA) announced that it had reached a tentative agreement with the U of A.

AASUA had previously applied for a strike vote, which would have taken place between October 6 and 9. That has now been cancelled.

AASUA members will vote to ratify or reject the tentative agreement.

If passed, the tentative agreement would end 18 months of negotiations for a new collective agreement for approximately 4,000 academic staff. The agreement would be in place until 2028.

University to provide “sufficient funding” for health and benefits plan

AASUA released a statement announcing it had reached a tentative agreement. The statement said it was a “hard choice” to accept the university’s latest offer.

Previously, dissatisfaction over the university’s proposal around AASUA’s health and benefits plan led to AASUA declaring an impasse in negotiations.

In the statement released on Wednesday, AASUA said the “negotiating team noted significant movement from the Employer, with their revised offer providing sufficient funding to maintain eligible members’ existing health and dental benefit entitlements for the term of the next agreement.”

AASUA said that the tentative agreement increases funding to the benefits plan by three per cent each year during the terms of the agreement. It also included an immediate increase of $2,000 per member for this year. 

“This formula will ensure the benefits plan is adequately funded for the life of the next Collective Agreement,” AASUA said. 

However, the statement also said that the tentative agreement fails to achieve other key goals for AASUA.

These goals include salary increases beyond three per cent per year, better job security for academic teaching staff on short-term contracts, and the continued funding of the Academic Supplementary Retirement Plan. It also doesn’t extend the health and benefits to staff that work “substantial part-time hours.”

The tentative agreement included the elimination of a two-tiered pay scale that set newly-hired ATS at a lower salary ceiling compared to ATS hired prior to that date. 

AASUA did not specify when members would vote on the tentative agreement in its statement.

Details of the agreement to be finalized and presented to both parties for ratification

In an email to The Gateway, Gordon Swaters, president of AASUA, emphasized that “after 18 months of bargaining, our negotiating team believes they have achieved all that they are currently able to accomplish with the Employer.”

Swaters also emphasized that he believes it was the “quick mobilization towards a strike vote and our membership’s ongoing support for the bargaining team” that led to the university’s new offer on the benefits plan.

U of A media relations told The Gateway that the “remaining details [of the agreement] will be finalized by the bargaining teams, and the tentative agreement will then be presented to be ratified by both parties.”

“The university extends its thanks to both bargaining teams for their work in reaching this negotiated agreement,” media relations said.