On September 15 and 16, 2021, the AU and AUFA bargaining teams met. There were good conversations related to proposals from both parties on Article 11: Academic & Professional Freedom, Article 26: Equity, Article 25: Occupational Health and Safety, and Article 8: Grievance Procedure.
As part of the negotiations, AUFA continues to ask AU to table its monetary proposal. However, AU follows historical and best practices for bargaining, which means coming to an agreement, or at least discussing, non-monetary topics first. This process allows the bargaining teams to agree on topics without monetary implications, gather momentum, and build trust in working together. Once non-monetary articles are agreed to in a typical bargaining process, discussions on the monetary items begin.
AU is steadfast in its commitment to a positive bargaining outcome and a fair deal that respects AUFA member interests and AU’s ability to deliver on its teaching, learning and research mandates. AU’s bargaining team is also committed to continuing to work through all bargaining issues. Accordingly, the following bargaining dates are scheduled for October 25 and October 29, 2021.