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Last updated: 03/18/01

March 2000 Volume 1, Issue 2

OUR UNIVERSITY WORKS BECAUSE WE DO!

Negotiations Begin!

Negotiations are well underway for the new collective agreement. As you know the current agreement expires March 31, 2000, although the terms and conditions continue until a new collective agreement has been reached. It is the bargaining team’s sincerest hope to conclude by mid-year. However, we have some very large issues in front of us.

NASA’s interests revolve around the proper use of temporary employees; accommodation of disabled workers, including maintenance of their salary and benefits upon return to work; formalizing modified work schedules; ensuring the job classification system is fair and meets the pay equity guidelines; discussing market supplements for those jobs currently in high demand in the private sector; requiring all vacancies be posted; clarifying the layoff article; addressing the health and safety issues on campus; and in particular, addressing the workload issues facing our members. We have proposed enhancements to the Health Benefits package. You will see later in this newsletter an announcement of the changes to improve the dental plan. This improvement has been agreed to by the bargaining committee and will be implemented in advance of a contract being reached. The new plan provides for a higher benefit rate for dental procedures, which are more reflective of today’s dental fees. Yes, salaries are on the table although you may not see a formal amount in NASA’s list of interests. The bargaining committee is closely monitoring the settlements throughout the province and other universities around the country. You will be provided with that information and consulted prior to proposing any amount at the table.

The Employer’s interests are very similar in topic although the resolutions may differ. Allowing for part-time employees to hold two positions; modification of the layoff article; making modifications to the contract to ensure compliance with the legislation (Human Rights legislation in particular); creating a process to address Health and Safety concerns and ensuring the safety of employees; expanding the courses that may be approved under the HRDF and Tuition remission articles of the collective agreement; and addressing the compliance issues of Revenue Canada legislation on what now becomes taxable benefits (meal allowance for example) are some of the areas the employer has raised for discussion. The most substantial, and perhaps the most controversial interest of the Employer is their desire to average the hours of a part-time employee over a period of time to avoid paying overtime on weekends or on non-scheduled days. The employer is interested in a longer-term contract. NASA has agreed to consider this option if the remainder of the contract satisfies the members, particularly in the area of salary, benefits and workload.

As negotiations continue, you will want to keep up to date on the progress made and proposed resolutions to the issues raised by the members. In addition, the negotiating team needs your input as we address the members’ concerns. You can receive and/or provide information through the following forums:

• Ask your Union Steward. Your steward receives regular updates as to the progress of negotiations. If your area does not have a steward, call the NASA Office to set up a meeting to elect one.
• Join the Focus Group. This group of employees meets weekly to receive updates and provide advice to the bargaining team. If you would like to be a member, contact Joy at 492-3623.
• Watch for updates on the council website
• Watch the bulletin boards for "Negotiations Updates".
• Call the NASA office or members of the bargaining team to provide your input.

NOTICES

NASA Information Sessions

New for NASA members this year has been the noon hour information sessions or educationals. Your Council Education Committee has worked very hard to plan for and schedule these sessions, where members have the opportunity to hear knowledgeable professionals speak on a variety of topics and to have their questions on those topics answered.

In January, Barbara Surdykowski and Nancy Furlong spoke to members about health benefits and how to access them. A full house benefited from their inside knowledge and expertise in healthcare and the unionized work site.

In March, as part of NASA’s campaign against the privatization of healthcare, the union sponsored two educational talks featuring the following four speakers.

Dr. Richard Plain, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Alberta; Nancy MacBeth, Leader of the Official Opposition and a former University of Alberta lecturer; Dr. Donna Wilson, Professor of Nursing, University of Alberta, and Bill Blanchard, Vice-President of the Friends of Medicare and Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta.

These dedicated people spoke about the economic and legal deficiencies of Bill 11, the Health Care Protection Act.

Educationals In April

Upcoming Educationals

The following noon sessions have been scheduled for the months of May and June:

One educational has been scheduled for after work hours (5:00—6:00 p.m.) on Tuesday, June 13th.

Bob Barnetson of the Alberta College-Institute Faculties Association (ACIFA) will discuss
"Trends in Higher Education that Affect Wage Negotiations."

As we get closer to each educational, notices will be provided with the specific details of that session.

Mark your calendars now for the sessions that interest you—then watch for the notices.

Executive Committee Elections 2000

Available Executive Officer Positions

Nominations for all Executive Positions shall be made in writing and shall be endorsed by the nominee.

The Executive shall, subject to the bylaws and to directions given to it by majority vote at any General Meeting properly called and constituted, have full control and management of the affairs of the Association, including financial affairs. Regular meetings of the Executive shall be held weekly (Article 3.2, Bylaws)

The terms of the following positions end on May 10, 2000:

• President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Grievance Chair

Below is a brief description of the duties of these positions:

In addition to the time needed to accomplish the mandate of each position, the expectation is that the incumbents will attend at the Executive meetings that are held each Tuesday over the noon hour for a maximum of two hours. The employer pays one hour of this time; the other is the unpaid lunch break.

A nomination form is provided on the last page. Please consider nominating a NASA member who will help lead NASA through the coming two years.

Enhancing Communications

In our December newsletter we reported that we were in the process of identifying NASA bulletin boards. We have now identified well over 160 individual board locations around campus. Members of NASA’s Executive have visited many of those sites to formally label the bulletin boards. This process will continue until all designated boards have a "NASA NOTICES" sign installed. Then, on a regular basis, NASA-related information will be posted.

Bulletin Boards are one way of communicating with you – this newsletter is another. However, we are attempting to create an ability to communicate with you quickly and more efficiently. Now that negotiations for a new contract have begun, we want to be able to keep you current with the state of negotiations as well as other important NASA matters.

One way of accomplishing this goal is to communicate with you electronically. During the month of January, we conducted an e-mail blitz campaign to encourage members to receive NASA information electronically – over 400 members chose to subscribe to Nasalist.

From time to time, due to our by-law requirements or for other logistical reasons, it will be necessary for us to send material to you in hard copy only. You can, however, receive the majority of NASA information electronically.

If you wish to join Nasalist, please send us an e-mail message to nasa@ualberta.ca.

Yessy Byl has joined us as the new Labour Relations Officer. Yessy comes to us from the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) where she practiced as a Labour Relations Officer for the past ten years.

Prior to that time, she was the in-house legal counsel for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Alberta Division.

In addition to her labour relations duties, Yessy will be in charge of the communications network strategy for the Union.

Joining Yessy in the Communications area is Kathy Woods. Kathy has been with us for several months on a temporary basis. In her permanent capacity, she will assume duties as the Communications Coordinator and Negotiations Assistant.

Kathy comes to us with many years of experience as Executive Assistant to four presidents of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE). Her abilities in the areas of labour relations and communications have already been of great assistance to the staff and members of NASA.

Thank you for making our two educational forums on healthcare a success! Make no mistake, these were not debates—the two forums were designed specifically to provide information to our members on an issue that is of critical importance, yet debate in this province has been one-sided.

The Government of Alberta has sent direct mail on this issue to every household province-wide twice! It has paid thousands of dollars for airtime on the CTV network to talk to you about healthcare. Why CTV? Because, if they had requested free airtime on CBC, then the opposition parties would be entitled to free airtime.

He listens—he cares? But, Premier Klein does not care to listen to others’ opinions or the facts!

Our guests on March 3rd were Dr. Richard Plain and Nancy MacBeth. Dr. Plain pointed out the economic pitfalls of Bill 11—including that health care would be more costly as a whole. Nancy MacBeth examined the loopholes in many of the definitions in the legislation, which would not be apparent to people who have no experience in lawmaking.

On March 10th we hosted Bill Blanchard and Dr. Donna Wilson. Dr. Wilson pointed out that Bill 11 is really mostly about surgeries and where they can be performed. One particular problem with the Bill is that it permits diagnostic services (like MRI) to be done privately at a cost to a patient; this then allows them to get treatment before others who cannot pay for private MRI diagnosis. Bill Blanchard began by stating he’s not in this battle for himself, rather he’s in it for his grandchildren. He then spoke about the history of Klein’s drive to privatize heath care. He also talked about public money going into private clinics.

All four speakers gave evidence from different perspectives that indicates Bill 11 will destroy our Canadian health care system.

Jaimie Miller

NASA has been receiving calls that suggested there may be some problems with the recently issued T-4 notices. We have just received notification from HRS that a number of problems have, in fact, been identified with both T4’s and T4A’s. HRS advises that all identified staff who have received incorrect T4’s or T4A’s will automatically receive an amended T4 or T4A. If you have already filed your annual tax return, you can just send the amended slip directly to Revenue Canada with a note indicating your Social Insurance Number, and that this needs to be appended to your return. You will not need to redo your return.

At NASA we suggest that you check your T-4 carefully and compare it to your own records of income received. If you run into problems and are not able to get them corrected by contacting Human Resources, please call the NASA Office (439-3181).

The negotiating committee has approved the following changes to the Dental Plan, effective April 1, 2000. The changes will result in an increased payment for common dental services and will reimburse at a rate closer to the fees most dentists have been charging.

The new fee guide has been established by CLHIA (Canadian Life and Health Insurance), a consumer group who has undertaken the role of evaluating common dental procedure costs and creating a dental fee guide reflective of the Alberta experience. The overall increase to the 1997 benefit guide is 3.4%. However, as you can see from the guide below, the percentages vary by procedure classification. The actual increase you see will be based on the type of dental work you have done and the classification the procedure falls within.

If you have any questions, please call the NASA office or your client service rep at Human Resources

750 Extension Centre

8303 - 112 Street

Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1K4

Fax: (780) 433-5056

Email: nasa@ualberta.ca

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