Strike vote now possible in U of L negotiations
By Lethbridge Herald on January 21, 2022.
Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
The University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) and the Board of Governors of the University of Lethbridge have reached an impasse in collective bargaining.
Earlier this week, the ULFA withdrew from mediation following an official Offer of Settlement from the University of Lethbridge Board Negotiation Team as it seeks to come to a settlement on a new contract agreement.
The University released a statement that reads “The Board negotiating team’s goal is to continue to bargain in good faith with ULFA, within the fiscal realities facing publicly-funded universities in Alberta. Our aim is to arrive at an agreement that is mutually acceptable to the Board and ULFA and enables the shared commitment of both parties to serve students, communities, local and regional economies, and society as a whole.”
Both parties now enter a two week ‘cooling off’ period after which either party can hold a strike or lockout vote.
“We’re totally open to not having to have a strike, but I should say that given the severity of the issues and the disrespectfully slow pace of negotiations, we’re not afraid to go on strike,” said Daniel O’Donnell, president of the UFLA.
O’Donnell said that is in everybody’s interest that they get this to a conclusion, because they are in the university business because they love teaching.
“There’s basically three areas where the impasses come and we’re calling them equity, parity and respect,” said O’Donnell.
The UFLA explained the three in a press release that read as follows:
Equity: Sessional lecturers are the University’s most poorly paid members. They have no job security and do not receive funds to cover professional expenses. The Board will not commit to anything beyond tweaks to existing language to address this inequity. In addition, the Board will not provide any health benefits to sessional lecturers, many of whom have been working in this precarious position for years.
Parity: There are five universities that ULFA and the Board have, for years, agreed on as comparators in collective bargaining. The U of L’s frontline teaching staff members are paid substantially less than colleagues at any of these institutions. The Board’s latest proposal will leave ULFA Members even further behind, posing challenges for both recruitment and retention of faculty.
Respect: During the worst budget cutbacks of a generation and an aggressive restructuring plan, the Board has limited faculty and students’ ability to contribute to the University’s decision-making. The Board also refused to allow Members a say in how their own money will be spent on benefits like vision and dental care.
“The disrespect issue is actually something that it’s not just the faculty have been feeling disrespect, a lot of the things that we’re talking about are actually things students on social media had been talking about,” said O’Donnell.
The University of Lethbridge Board Negotiation Team created a web page to keep the community updated on the current negotiations at https://www.ulethbridge.ca/bargaining.
The web page also includes the Offer of Settlement presented to ULFA prior to their withdrawal from the mediation process.
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[…] almost 2 years without a contract, the uLethbridge Faculty Association withdrew from collective bargaining negotiations Jan 17, following an official offer that the university […]