Bargaining Update

ASPA’s Bargaining team met on June 11 for a third day-long meeting. The team made great progress in reviewing the collective agreement and I am happy to report that we have combed through the entire agreement. In our assessment, we discussed some of the challenges that we have had with interpreting the collective agreement over the last few years to see if we can come up with any means of addressing these points.

We want to represent our membership in the best way possible, which can be a challenge. ASPA is made up of a diverse group of individuals with diverse roles on campus. Some of our members positions are completely unique. No one else on campus is doing the same work that they do. ASPA’s diverse membership is one it’s strengths but it is also one of its biggest challenges in trying to represent everyone fairly and consistently so I am happy to report that more than 54 % of our ASPA members filled out the pre-bargaining survey. It was a long survey so I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to let us know a little more about yourself and your priorities. We are using the information that you provided to determine our bargaining priorities so, again, we thank you.

We are also putting together a request for information for the employer. There is a great deal of information needed, in addition to what you have already provided to us, in order to understand and effectively represent our membership.

We have a great team that is fully committed and working hard to analyze and synthesize ASPA’s collective agreement.  To date we have not heard who is on the Employer’s Bargaining team.

Submitted by:  Dawn Giesbrecht, ASPA Co-Lead Negotiator on behalf of the Bargaining Team (Graham Wisser, Milan Bogunovic, Colleen Cochran, Hugh Wagner (Negotiator) and Darcy Hryn-Bird (ASPA Staff)