The matter of the mediation of the trust employee issue has been on hold for the last month because of the absence of the mediator, Mr. Colin Taylor. The mediator appointed by the Labour Relations Board (LRB) has been away on vacation.
However, lets review the status of the issue up to this point in time.
The LRB decision established a clear precedent that employees of the University of Alberta paid from trust grants or contracts for research endeavors are within the NASA bargaining unit and covered by the collective agreement with respect to their terms and conditions of employment.
The mediation process has resulted in a standstill agreement between the parties with respect to all litigation issues. We have also agreed to the ‘working definitions’ for all categories of trust employees, including qualifications, the scope of the work performed and the basic research criteria for: the 711 general support including research technical, secretarial and administrative; and quasi-academics like research associates, research assistants, post-doctoral fellows, trust managers, graduate students and undergraduate students.
After reviewing the working definitions and agreeing upon the inclusions of the present persons from the above lists, a draft agreement will be reviewed for protection of trust bargaining unit work, a prohibition on the outsourcing of trust work and a process for resolution of disputes.
We anticipate that an agreement in principle should be achieved by the end of June or by the middle of July 1997. All of the issues will be reviewed by the Trust Employee Advisory Committee chaired by Effie Woloshyn. Once that process is completed and some form of consensus is achieved, the NASA will begin information meetings with trust employee members and the general membership. Whatever is decided will be subject to the normal ratification process of NASA.
Once the inclusion and protection of trust employee work agreement is completed and ratified, the parties will begin discussions with respect to the application of the current collective agreement to all trust grants and contracts employees. Needless to say, that agreement will consider the many unique features of the trust employee employment relationship and the unique nature of the funding relationships.
It is our intention to establish further meetings with the Trust Mediator by the middle or the end of the month of June, 1997.