Updates from the bargaining table: LOUs, LOAs, and preference
Bargaining update:
Last Thursday, your negotiating team was back at the table with UBC. We continued to discuss various procedural aspects of our collective agreement as well as the Letters of Understanding and Letters of Agreement in our collective agreement. We also discussed issues related to preference continuation. Follow along with all of our proposals on our proposal tracker here. Read on below for a more in-depth update!
As our negotiations ramp up next term, there are several ways for you and your coworkers to get involved in the bargaining process:
Download email signatures, syllabus bugs, or desktop backgrounds from our new contract action kit!
Attend our upcoming General Membership Meeting on Wednesday, November 26th at 5:30pm (Earth Science Building 1012). Check your email for the agenda and a list of candidates for executive positions! RSVP here
Become a steward or join a union committee. Reach out to comp1chair@cupe2278.ca to learn more about these roles.
We are looking at having stewards join the negotiating team on bargaining days as soon as December 3rd. If you are an elected union steward and you are interested in attending our bargaining days, stay tuned for updates!
Letters of Understanding and Letters of Agreement
Our collective agreement currently has several Letters of Understanding and Letters of Agreement. These are essentially appendages to our collective agreement that work to address unique circumstances in our workplaces and explain certain processes and terms mentioned in the main agreement in more detail.
When we first met with UBC in September, they proposed renewing several of these letters as well as two new letters. Details on their initial proposals can be found here. During this most recent bargaining day, we tentatively agreed to renew LOUs B1, B2, B3, and B4. Before we agree to renew the remaining letters, some require sorting out technical details and a few necessitate more substantive discussion.
We raised particular concerns about LOU A2 (re: Overpayments). Your negotiating team is worried about the way that UBC has been using LOU A2 in bad faith. We have seen UBC continually collect overpayments in ways that violate this letter. This occurred for many of our members in Fall 2023 and has continued to happen since. We raised these concerns to UBC and will wait to hear back from them.
Procedural Language and Preference Continuation:
Your negotiating team also went back and forth with UBC regarding Articles B 2.01, 3.01, 3.02, and 3.03. The central issue of discussion on Thursday was rehiring preference. In our initial proposal package, we proposed two new articles regarding preference. One said that in cases where members have to accept reduced contracts because of budgetary considerations, their preferred number of hours will return to the pre-budget cut amount. Another proposed that when members work as sessional instructors, these members will maintain their preference for teaching assistant hours for one year. We also proposed that members accepting sessional positions must be notified of this.
UBC has now responded to these proposals. On the issue of returning to pre-budget cut preference, UBC accepted this general idea but wants it restricted to only one year. We raised the concern that budget cuts are not a single year occurrence, but something we will likely be facing for multiple years.
Regarding preference being put on hold while you are a sessional instructor, UBC seemed open to this, but raised concerns about the administrative difficulties of notifying people about this. In response, we proposed a field in a standardized teaching assistant application form. We also took this opportunity to propose more specific language regarding the standardization of the job postings and selection process, touched on in our Procedural 4 Proposal.
We expect a reply on these proposals at one of our upcoming bargaining days.
What’s Next?
Our next bargaining day is on December 3rd. We have agreed to set aside this day to discuss proposals related to Center for Accessibility (CfA) Exam Invigilators. The high level proposals can be found here. CfA Exam Invigilators face chronic understaffing and a lack of support from UBC. These proposals address major issues for members at the CfA, including more transparent hiring practices, paid breaks, and guaranteed leaves. Your negotiating team is excited to have members working at the CfA join us for this day of bargaining.
After that, we will meet with UBC again on December 10th. In the new year, we hope to meet more regularly and consistently with UBC as we try to move these negotiations along.