Serving on your ASPA bargaining team is an honor and I thank you for the opportunity to represent our union’s members in pursuing a renewed collective bargaining agreement with USask.
Since this round of bargaining to renew our collective agreement began, we have focused on three primary areas.
Housekeeping items – these are updates to wording in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that do not change the meaning of the article or the practices that follow, but seek to provide greater clarity for members, the union, supervisors, and HR.
Non-monetary substantive items – these are changes to the CBA that will affect the meaning of an article or the practices that follow but will not create new costs for USask or change compensation for members.
Monetary items – these are bargaining proposals that will impact the total compensation and benefits package, including wage increases, merit awards, pension contributions, and extended health benefits. Changes to these items improve ASPA members’ standards of living and they do increase USask’s operating costs.
Update on the bargaining process:
To date, your ASPA Bargaining Team has held bargaining meetings with USask representatives on nine occasions from October 24, 2022, to January 25, 2023.
At present, most housekeeping items have been resolved, however we continue to work on settling outstanding substantive non-monetary items.
Wage increases for all ASPA members are crucial as we head into the next bargaining sessions with USask. Your ASPA bargaining team will continue to press for wage and benefit improvements/increases that reflect the rising cost of living and labour market conditions, as well as the healthy financial situation USask has promoted in a recent press release. Our next bargaining dates are February 6 and 7.
If you have any questions about agreement renewal bargaining, please don’t hesitate to contact me or another ASPA bargaining team member.
On behalf of the Bargaining Team,
Alexis Dahl, Co-Lead
ASPA (Administrative and Supervisory Personnel Association) 