Letters to the Editor
U OF A workers now caught in the crosshairs by Management in collective bargainingI work at the University of Alberta as a maintenance worker. The university’s initial bargaining proposal has inspired widespread anger because of its insulting implication that non-academic staff are not worth the consideration of any reasonable offer.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal Members of the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA), Association of Academic Staff of the University of Alberta (AASUA), students and other supporters hold a vehicle caravan protest against post-secondary education cuts on Saturday, March 27, 2021, in Edmonton. The caravan began at the South Campus Saville Sports Complex and ended at the Alberta Legislature.
Non-academic staff have worked without without a cost-of-living raise for the past three years. Since the mid-1980s, the largest increase we’ve seen is 4.75 per cent (once). Most increases have been between zero (five times) and three per cent, with 2.68-per-cent rollbacks from 1994-1997. The average cost of living adjustment since the mid-1980s is 4.4 per cent. The average wage increase over these years is 1.9 per cent. We have gotten poorer.
Now, the university wants to make us poorer yet, rolling back our wages by three per cent. Then they want us to pay back wages over that three-per-cent reduction between March 31 and the date of ratification. In addition to these salary impacts, they want us to co-pay on our benefits. This will devastate household budgets.
The policies of the provincial government have already destroyed thousands of livelihoods across the province. Those of us fortunate to still have jobs are now caught in the crosshairs.
Dave Wall, Edmonton
Non-academic staff have worked without without a cost-of-living raise for the past three years. Since the mid-1980s, the largest increase we’ve seen is 4.75 per cent (once). Most increases have been between zero (five times) and three per cent, with 2.68-per-cent rollbacks from 1994-1997. The average cost of living adjustment since the mid-1980s is 4.4 per cent. The average wage increase over these years is 1.9 per cent. We have gotten poorer.
Now, the university wants to make us poorer yet, rolling back our wages by three per cent. Then they want us to pay back wages over that three-per-cent reduction between March 31 and the date of ratification. In addition to these salary impacts, they want us to co-pay on our benefits. This will devastate household budgets.
The policies of the provincial government have already destroyed thousands of livelihoods across the province. Those of us fortunate to still have jobs are now caught in the crosshairs.
Dave Wall, Edmonton
EDMONTON JOURNAL
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