Earlier this month, the Association of Academic Staff University of Alberta filed a bad faith bargaining complaint against the University of Alberta.
The AASUA represents over 4,100 academic workers at the University of Alberta, including academic faculty, faculty service officers, librarians, academic teaching staff, trust and research academic staff, administrative and professional officers, and temporary librarian, administrative, and professional officers.
They have been without a current collective agreement since their last one expired nearly a year ago, in June 2024. They gave notice to bargain a new agreement back in January 2024, nearly 6 months before the previous one was to expire, and bargaining began in February.
The two parties exchanged full proposals in March 2024, which included an initial wage increase proposal of 7.5% over 4 years (2%, 2%, 1.75%, and 1.75%) from the employer. That proposal was the same as seen from other public sector employers in Alberta.
Bargaining focused on non-monetary items for the rest of 2024 and into 2025. On 23 January 2025, nearly a year since tabling their first full proposal, AASUA once again tabled their monetary proposals, highlighting that among research intensive universities in Canada, the University of Alberta had fallen from 3rd to 8th place, in terms of faculty compensation.
According to a statement published to their website, AASUA filed the complaint on 7 May 2025. Their complaint centres around 3 main arguments.
First, the AASUA claimed that during informal mediation between the 25th and 27th of March, the bargaining team representing the University of Alberta didn’t seem “to be prepared to bargain” and that they didn’t even present an offer until “after mediated talks broke down”. Even then, according to the AASUA, it was a “flimsy counter-offer” that seemed “to be made for rejection”.
Because the U of A’s bargaining team didn’t “make every reasonable effort (or, frankly, any effort)” to enter into a renewal collective agreement with these workers, AASUA claims that their actions (or lack thereof) violate section 60 of the Labour Relations Code.
When a notice to commence collective bargaining has been served under this Division, the bargaining agent and the employer or employers’ organization, not more than 30 days after notice is served, shall meet and commence, or cause authorized representatives to meet and commence, to bargain collectively in good faith, and make every reasonable effort to enter into a collective agreement.
They also allege that these actions violate section 148 of the Labour Relations Code.
No employer or employers’ organization and no person acting on behalf of an employer or employers’ organization shall participate in or interfere with the formation or administration of a trade union, or the representation of employees by a trade union.
The second claim is that the actions of the university’s bargaining team seem to show “intent to undermine the principles of good faith bargaining”. They frame these actions as “destructive to this round of collective bargaining” and “the antithesis of the respect and cooperation required for ongoing harmonious labour relations”.
By coming to the table with no authority to conclude any agreement and intentionally wasting the membership’s funds at mediation, they have engaged in conduct intended to diminish or ought to have been understood as having the impact of diminishing the Association’s reputation in the eyes of the membership. The Association alleges this was a concerted effort to make the AASUA’s bargaining team look ineffectual to the membership.
The final pillar of the AASUA’s complaint the mandate the provincial government gave to the U of A, through the Treasury Board’s Provincial Bargaining and Compensation Office, “is so restrictive that it interferes significantly with bargaining”.
This functional restriction, according to the AASUA, breaches the constitutional rights of these workers’ “to access a fair and meaningful process of collective bargaining”.
On that last note, the AASUA, through the law firm of Blair Chahley Klassen, has filed a Notice of Constitutional Question with the attorney general of Canada.
In their notice, the AASUA alleges that the bargaining directives from the PBCO “have significantly interfered with the Governors of the University of Alberta collective agreement negotiations with the AASUA”.
They also claim that if the U of A doesn’t “strictly oblige” the bargaining directives, they could “be overridden by the Government
with respect the Employer’s negotiations with the AASUA”. And because the government is restricting the ability of the employer to fairly bargain with its workers, the AASUA claims it violates their Charter rights, as I pointed out earlier.
The GoA’s / PBCO’s influence on and power over the Employer in this round of bargaining has so fettered the Association’s and the Employer’s (together, the “parties”) ability to negotiate a collective agreement . . . that it effectively acts, in substance if not in letter, as wage restraint legislation. . . . if a maximum across-the-board increase of 3% annually for a 4-year term is a foregone conclusion across the entire public sector, and resistance is futile if a union attempts to deviate from this mandated “pattern,” no reasonable person, knowledgeable in labour relations, could reasonably view this as free and fair collective bargaining
As part of their bad faith bargaining complaint, the AASUA is asking for the Alberta Labour Relations Board to implement several remedies.
- An interim order directing that no bargaining continue between the parties until this complaint is determined by the Board;
- An interim order directing the Governors of the University of Alberta and the Government of Alberta to disclose all communications between them with respect to collective bargaining with the AASUA and, in particular, all communications placing monetary and term limitations on collective bargaining by the GoA to the Governors;
- A declaration that the manner in which the Government of Alberta has directed, through the PBCO, bargaining to occur (or not) at the Association’s table with the Employer has resulted in substantial interference with the Association’s right to bargain collectively, and has altered what would have been the common course of bargaining between the parties, unduly fettering the ability of the parties to engage in constructive bargaining appropriate to their particular sector;
- A declaration that the refusal, lack of authority and unpreparedness to discuss the Association’s Article 11 proposal, which is core to the Association’s bargaining mandate, is bargaining in bad faith on the part of the Employer;
- A declaration that the Code and the Charter has been breached and violated as alleged above, and an Order that the Public Sector Employers Act has no force and effect with respect to the collective bargaining of the parties;
- A cease and desist order;
- A formal set of findings and directive to be posted on all employer-controlled bulletin boards throughout all physical workplaces, on the employer’s bargaining update web page, and the employee-digest electronic communications, which posting must be done with no editorial comment;
- Damages;
- An Order that the University pay the out of pocket collective bargaining costs (including the costs related to preparation for bargaining and the costs of the lead negotiator) of AASUA for all, or for at least the informal, bargaining meetings;
- Costs; and
- Such further and other relief as the Board finds appropriate in the circumstances;
They submitted copies of this complaint to the University of Alberta Board of Governors, the Government of Alberta, and the attorney general of Canada.
The ALRB has scheduled a resolution conference for 23 June 2025 and a hearing for 18 August 2025.
