Each month, our Advocacy Committee answers your questions about the AD 10 policies (aka, your terms and conditions of employment.)
Hello, I’m Tracey Ferris, APSA’s Senior Labour Relations Officer and an advocate on our Advocacy Committee. I’m answering your questions related to our AD 10 policies.
I'm answering your questions related to our AD 10 policies. Questions? Submit them anonymously here. We'll answer these questions in a monthly advocacy corner issue. For an immediate answer, please contact us.
We received questions this month that surround Basic Agreement Negotiations.
If SFU is able to renegotiate the Basic Agreement how they want to, what happens next? Will APSA become a union, or will employees end up without any representative?
The Basic Agreement is a key basis for APSA's authority to represent members, protect their workplace rights, and negotiate on their behalf. If SFU is able to significantly weaken the Basic Agreement, it would undermine the ability of APSA to advocate and negotiate for your terms and conditions of employment. This could leave employees like you without effective representation.
APSA is committed to making sure its members keep their voice and protections. If the Basic Agreement is ended or becomes ineffective, APSA would have to consider unionization. In an unfortunate world where the Basic Agreement goes away, becoming a certified union would restore our right to represent members and bargain together under the BC Labour Relations Code. This is a big step and not our first choice, but it may be needed to keep representing and protecting members' rights.
What will happen to our recently negotiated monetary agreement if SFU succeeds in gutting our Basic Agreement? Does the monetary agreement remain in force for 3 years, or can SFU decide not to honour it?
Right now, we don't know for sure. If the provisions of the Basic Agreement can't be enforced, the monetary agreement may also be at risk: it's the provisions of the Basic Agreement that give our monetary agreements an umbrella of protection and, if not honoured, legal recourse to enforce them. Normally, a negotiated monetary agreement would remain in place for its full term, until June 30, 2028. But if the Basic Agreement ends, SFU could theoretically rewrite portions of the monetary agreement to suit its interests. To be fair to SFU, the University hasn't signaled that that outcome is in the cards.
APSA, of course, believes that all agreements made in good faith should be honoured. Come what may, I trust SFU will continue to do so, too.