May 2007
History, Current Status, Future
History
August 18th, 2006,
certificate issued by Ministry of Labour;
December 6th, 2006,
preliminary negotiations commenced;
March 17th, 2007,
complete package (without compensations articles) submitted to administration by UGFA.
May 30th, 2007,
meeting with administration to plan and organize futures sessions to hear the administration proposal and to package articles to ensure efficiency and completeness in negotiations.
Current Status
Terms and conditions of employment are frozen for our members. This does not mean status quo or business as usual. Of course there will always be debate as to what constitutes terms and conditions of employment.
We will work hard to achieve an agreement with the administration, and they have expressed a similar intention to us. But many of the articles are technical in nature and require precise wording; so, we expect progress to be slow and methodical. We are prepared to put in the time and effort to achieve a sound agreement that ensures the continuing success of this institution.
July 1
As we are negotiating our agreement, scale increases and career advancement increases still need to be determined. We will want any increases to be retroactive; however, the final calculations for salary and benefits will not be finalized until the end of negotiations. In the past, if we could not reach agreement, the process went to mediation and ultimately the board of governors could just unilaterally impose a settlement. This is no longer the case.
Both the administration and UGFA have agreed to the awarding of steps this July 1.
Future
The negotiating teams will be meeting this summer and into the next academic year. In the Fall we will be meeting with our members to look at any major points of disagreement with the administration’s proposal. It is important that we get your feedback on these issues