This might be a long update, but it’s full of important information about how your NASA bargaining committee is working to get you a collective agreement that you deserve.
You may have heard that we have agreed to apply for informal mediation, and it is true. I want to tell you how we got here and what it means for us going forward.
History – Evening Bargaining
As you may recall, NASA requested from the start that we bargain at least partly during evening hours. NAIT told us that working evenings would affect the work-life balance of their managers, so they would not agree and filed a complaint with the Alberta Labour Relations Board. The decision from the Board was that we were to split bargaining evenly between evenings and daytimes and to get 30 hours of bargaining completed before our winter break. We did those 30 hours and made some slow progress. Then NAIT informed us that they didn’t think the Board’s decision meant that they needed to continue bargaining in the evenings, so they wanted to go back to the Board to “seek clarity.” We asked instead to have a conversation to find a compromise, rather than going back to the Board and spending more of our time and more money on legal fees, but NAIT insisted on writing to the Board.
Last Monday, March 10, NAIT and NASA, along with our legal counsel, met with the Board at a Resolution Conference to discuss this matter. The outcome was clear: Continue to bargain a mixture of daytime and evening sessions. Once the decision was delivered to NAIT, we were informed that NAIT would be filing for mediation. This was completely unexpected, as after our bargaining dates in February, a NAIT email to us included a comment about how productive bargaining had been.
While we are not against mediation, NASA has made a commitment to increase representation, to provide regular and transparent updates, and to allow for observers during this round of bargaining, and these efforts have been well received by you, NASA members. However, mediation often tends to happen during the day, without observers, and with a “no communication” rule being imposed, preventing the transparent discussion of what is happening behind closed doors. In addition, there is a cost associated with mediation that NAIT and NASA will have to share. For these reasons, we would have preferred to continue bargaining as per the Board’s original decision and their confirmation last week.
Current – Filing for Mediation and Continuing to Bargain
NASA continues to compromise with NAIT and has agreed to file for informal mediation. Mediation means that there is a third party brought to the table who will be looking for common ground and who could recommend an agreement that NASA members would then vote on. By agreeing to file a joint application for mediation with NAIT, it allows us to come to agreement on a mediator rather than having one randomly appointed; currently we have agreed on Greg Francis, depending on his availability, as we are not interested in delaying bargaining unnecessarily. If this detail changes, we will let you know. Please also know that we remain committed to transparent communication and observers, as well as evening bargaining, as has been the practice to this point. Once the mediator is finalized, we will convey to the mediator these promises to members, but the mediator’s decision regarding these details is not guaranteed.
It is important to know that we will continue to bargain until we get mediation dates set. While there are more bargaining dates being discussed, the following dates that have been confirmed by both parties:
- March 19 – 1:30 – 4:30
- March 25 – 4:30 – 8:30
- April 4 – 8:30 – 4:30
- May 5 – 8:30 – 4:30
- June 2 – 8:30 – 4:30
- June 9 – 8:30 – 4:30
If you would like to attend any of these bargaining sessions as an observer, please fill out this form.
Finally Getting NAIT’s Monetary Proposal
Despite providing our full proposal package – including monetary – last summer, we have yet to receive any monetary proposals from NAIT. We have asked at almost every bargaining session, only to receive vague responses in return. Because of the persistence of your bargaining committee, finally NAIT has indicated that they will provide their monetary proposals, including wages, on April 4.
We are continuing bargaining and going into mediation with clear feedback from members showing that a 12% wage increase is not welcome and there are no concessions that would be acceptable. Mediation can get us closer to getting an agreement, but it must be one that is acceptable to NASA members. Regardless of agreements reached by other unions, you and your coworkers get to decide what is acceptable to you.
Please stay tuned for more updates coming soon that will include additional dates and a summary of the progress that has been made to date.
In solidarity,
Shauna, on behalf of the NASA Bargaining Committee