Bargaining Update – Ratification Vote this Week
After multiple meetings and several long days in mediation, SAFA and SAIT have reached a tentative Collective Agreement. The SAFA Negotiating Team is now bringing it forward to you, the members, for review and ratification vote. The team is recommending this deal be approved because we believe it is the best that we can achieve in our current circumstances. We recognize that the compensation, to be honest, stinks, but the numbers that are listed are what was achieved at multiple bargaining tables around the province (even after job action). Unfortunately, the not-so-secret government mandate severely limited what was possible at the bargaining table.
However, there are also many positive outcomes from this round of bargaining, including SAIT’s multiple offers to increase consultation via joint committees, reduced hours for the faculty work week, a concrete process to make beneficial changes to workload assignments (and grieve any issues), and more clear documentation for Casual and Adjunct positions. The impacts of these proposed changes are far-reaching. I firmly believe that while the outcomes may seem “ho hum” today, there will be significant positive long-term impacts on your working conditions.
Watch for an email tomorrow morning with the details on the ratification vote.
In Solidarity,
Al Brown
Labour Relations Officer & Chief Negotiator