At the information meeting of February 7, 1997, NASA made the commitment to all trust employees that more information, communication and consultation would occur. NASA will continue to inform you, communicate with you and consult with you about each and every issue that affects your employment with the University of Alberta and your membership in NASA.
To date, NASA has never received any dues money from trust employees. Yet we continue to provide representation, advice and advocacy for all University support staff, including trust employees.
As part of our duty to inform, communicate and consult, we notify all trust employees that the process of intervention by the Labour Relations Board (LRB) will begin with the appointment of Colin Taylor, as mediator/ facilitator.
What this means is that, Mr Taylor, the University and NASA will begin discussions on the application of the collective agreement to all trust employees.
NASA wants to hear from you. Please provide NASA with direct feedback, opinions and ideas on how the collective agreement should be applied to trust employees, particularly the following:
The parties will exchange draft framework proposals by March 10 and the parties will meet on March 14, 1997 to begin discussions. Prior to March 10 please contact John Wevers directly at 439-3181 or e mail John Wevers at jwevers@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca to express your views and needs.
We look forward to hearing from you.
NASA has been the Certified Bargaining Agent of general support staff at the University of Alberta since 1978. Since that time, NASA has endeavoured to represent trust employees. In January 1993, NASA asked the Alberta Labour Relations Board (LRB) to determine whether trust employees were University employees. Hearings were held between NASA and the University in 1993 and 1995 regarding this issue, but no decision was reached as a result of NASA's 1993 application.
In 1995, NASA made an application to the LRB to determine the status of five trust employees who had been dismissed or laid-off. At the same time, the University requested the LRB to determine whether 900 trust employees were employed by the University or the trustholder. In addition, the LRB was asked to determine the scope of NASA's Certificate (a document that sets out what categories or groups of employees are eligible to be members of a particular bargaining unit or union). That Certificate stated that NASA was entitled to represent all employees of the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta, when employed in general support services.
The LRB decided that all 900 trust employees were employees of the University. The LRB further decided that the words "general support services" meant any employee not designated as an academic. The Board further decided that NASA's Certificate could include "traditional support positions as well as highly skilled technical, trades and quasi-academic work".
In 1993, NASA sent out notices about its application to the LRB to have trust employees come under the collective agreement. These notices were sent to all trust holders and the approximately 400 trust employees that NASA was able to identify and locate. Between 1993 and 1995 NASA and the University continued negotiations regarding the status of these employees. Following the decision of the LRB in December 1996, NASA has again begun the process of communicating to trust employees the benefits they may now enjoy under NASA's collective agreement. The process of communicating to University trust employees has been hampered by the University's unwillingness to provide NASA with a complete list of trust employees.
NASA believes all trust employees are eligible for membership and representation by NASA. Consequently, NASA requested that the University begin to deduct NASA dues and recognize trust employees' entitlements under the collective agreement. The university began to deduct union dues in January 1997 from trust employees, but has not agreed to recognize that entitlements under NASA's collective agreement should be granted to trust employees. Although NASA has not received any of these dues, NASA continues to represent trust employees as though they were regular NASA members.
Following the LRB decision, NASA has begun the process of applying to the LRB to be certified as the bargaining unit for trust employees at the University. This is the legal process set out under labour legislation whereby the LRB will grant a certificate of representation. Some of the issues that the LRB looks at are the appropriateness of that union as a bargaining agent for the employees in question, the timeliness of the application, the need for 40% support of the employees in the intended bargaining unit, any bars to certification, and the status of the union in question. The application for NASA membership, that trust employees have been asked to complete, will be used to signify consent by trust employees for NASA to become their certified bargaining agent.
The University's budget consists of funds from various sources. For example, capital funds come from endowments, grants or government; ancillary funds come from student fees; research funds come from various funding agencies, including government bodies, and operating funds come from the province. All of these funds are accounted for in the University's consolidated budget. The LRB considered and rejected the University's argument that the original source of funds used to pay an employee should be determinative of an employee's status. In other words, all employees are paid from this consolidated account. The LRB further stated that all employees were engaged in furthering the goals and activities of the University and therefore trust employees were to be considered University employees.