AUPE government service members overwhelmingly endorse new contract

EDMONTON — Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees directly employed by the government of Alberta have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new collective agreement with the province.

“This agreement contains high-level commitment to jointly address ongoing workload issues and contracting-out concerns, monetary and benefit gains over the life of the agreement, plus significant improvements in the wording of many provisions,” AUPEPresident Guy Smith said this morning.

“The powerful endorsement it received by our members is a tribute to the hard work and commitment of the members of the AUPE bargaining committee in this very difficult round of negotiations,” Smith said.

Mail-in ballots counted at AUPE Headquarters in Edmonton this morning show that 83 per cent of the eligible union members who voted endorsed the tentative agreement that was reached by the union and the province on April 1. Voter turnout was high, with more than 60 per cent of the approximately 21,000 eligible voters casting ballots.

“Thanks to the bargaining committee’s hard work, and the strong support of our members throughout the negotiations, AUPE was able to bargain a fair agreement that was strongly accepted by members in all government-service locals despite the fact the government entered these negotiations demanding major concessions,” Smith said.

“Our job now is to immediately get to work to enforce this collective agreement including the new provisions we negotiated on dealing with workload issues, which were a priority for our members in bargaining,” Smith said.

The two-and-a-half-year agreement includes both meaningful pay increases and provisions that address many concerns AUPE members have had with their contract with the provincial government for more than three decades, he added.

The union’s 10-member General Services Bargaining Committee (GSBC), which represents all direct government employees who are members of the union, had recommended ratification of the agreement.

Key provisions in the agreement include:

• A lump-sum payment of $1,750 to all current full-time government employees covered by the agreement 30 days from today, with pro-rated payments for part-time and wage employees.
• A lump-sum payment of $1,250 to all current full-time government employees covered by the agreement in January 2012, with pro-rated payments for part-time and wage employees.
• A 4-per-cent across-the-board pay increase on April 1, 2012.
• A $750 annual health spending account effective April 1, 2012.
• Increases in both shift differential and weekend premium pay from $1.75 to $2.25 per hour upon ratification of the agreement.
• Improvements and enhancements to extended health benefits.
• The historic inclusion of seniority provisions in contract language pertaining to position abolishment, for the first time in the history of collective bargaining between the Alberta government and AUPE.
• Legal indemnification provisions for all government employees.
• Creation of a high-level process to address ongoing workload and staffing level issues faced by the government workforce.
• Establishment of a process for the continued review regarding the utilization by the employer of wage and temporary staff.
• Removal of a cap on long-term disability insurance payments.

All members of AUPE Locals 001 to 012 had the opportunity to take part in the mail-in ratification vote, said AUPE Staff Negotiator Jim Petrie.

The agreement will run until March 31, 2013, he said.

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For more information, contact:

Guy Smith, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-265-2294 (cell)
Jim Petrie, Union Representative, AUPE, 780-930-3335 or 780-399-8755 (cell)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cell)

Photo: Members of AUPE’s General Service Bargaining Committee, the executive and staff work to count thousands of ballots at AUPEheadquarters in Edmonton. General service members employed by the Alberta government voted on the acceptance of a tentative agreement between the government and 21,000 AUPE members.