Results of Ratification Vote to accept 0% increase on the salary grid for July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020
Faculty Colleagues:
The result of our ratification vote to accept a 0% increase on the salary grid for the period of July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 is:
265 votes or 92% – yes
22 votes or 8% – no
Some context: although there was no provision for a cost of living raise in the first two years of the term of the present collective agreement (2017/18 and 2018/19 Academic Years), there is a “wage re-opener” provision that in year three SAFA and SAIT negotiate on salary only, with dispute resolution to be compulsory interest arbitration with a prescribed timeline: Negotiations to start no sooner than May 15, 2019 and, if there is no agreement at the bargaining table, either SAIT or SAFA may refer the dispute to binding arbitration no sooner than September 30, 2019.
Because the negotiations were limited to salary scale only and our concerns over the Provincial Government’s ability to issue further “mandates” to SAIT that may require a roll back, the SAFA bargaining team felt that we were in a no win situation at the bargaining table. The only reasonable option at this point would be to accept the 0% offer that SAIT had tabled. This would, at least for this academic year, shield membership from the threat of salary rollbacks retro-active to July 1, 2019.
Thank you to all who voted.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.