On Sunday September 22, NASA members attended the first round of picket captain training put on by myself, adapted from a course I had written when I worked for AUPE. Any responsible union should be preparing for the possibility of an employer lockout, which NAIT has now twice declined to take off the table as an option when asked. There are also no shortage of recent examples of union members dealing with employers who do not sufficiently move towards very reasonable union proposals, and the employers offer being improved by union members going on strike, serving strike notice, or at times only having to take a strike vote.
The training covered a lot of different aspects of what can and will happen leading up to and on a picket line from Essential Services Agreements (ESAs), media handling, engaging with students, the state of labour law in Alberta, as well as some of the history around unions, negotiations, and the legal right to strike.
One item to share from that training is a slide included below showing the many steps that Alberta labour law requires before a legal lockout or strike can occur. You’ll see that it’s going to take some time to reach that period, and then it’s good to know that no public sector negotiations in Alberta has yet to reach a legal lockout or strike position.
Please keep any questions you have about the logistics and processes of a lockout or strike coming. We will be providing all the answers we can if and when negotiations progresses further towards a possible dispute. If a strike vote becomes necessary, that should be a situation where everyone has the information they need to make an informed vote.
Questions or feedback are always welcome.
In solidarity,
Trevor Zimmerman
NASA Labour Relations Director and Bargaining Committee Spokesperson
P.S. There are still NASA members who need to provide their personal contact information here, and then please encourage your co-workers to do the same.
