AAPS Collective Bargaining: Your Help is Needed

We have now reached a point in time when your help is needed to move forward in bargaining. Your Bargaining Committee has taken negotiations as far as we can on our own. Bargaining has reached an impasse and we need the University to hear your voices to help us get back to the bargaining table. 

As mentioned in our email this week, the University has rejected our initial proposal regarding general wage increases. It also rejected our compromise proposals. Our most recent proposal to the University saw us accept General Wage Increases based on the Public Sector Employers’ Council’s mandate, along with the University’s more restrictive language regarding merit pay in exchange for the University accepting our proposal on the Compensation Review.

Unfortunately, the University did not feel AAPS was surrendering enough in our most recent proposed compromise and has indicated that it will not agree to our proposed changes to the Compensation Review, which are designed to protect the recognition you receive for meritorious performance. We cannot allow the University to disregard the hard work and commitment you put in day in and day out, especially through all the changes and challenges brought on by the global pandemic.

Over the past several years, you have been shouldering many of the financial and emotional costs of ensuring the University remains a top educational institution—making sure students and faculty were accommodated and have access to resources, leading the administrative and professional work that ensures continued operations of the University, ensuring that the University meets its obligations to all of its stakeholders during an unprecedented time, and countless other work that you have executed with diligence and dedication.

It is critical that we stand together and let UBC know how their decisions are impacting the very people that contribute to its success. 

Share Your Stories

We want to let the University leadership know how their attitude towards your wages and compensation impacts you.

We want to ensure that UBC understands the value, creativity, and commitment that you bring to your job and the contributions that you and your teams have made and will continue to make to ensure that UBC stays a world-renowned education and research institution.

Please consider sharing with us your story. Let us know about a time, in a large or small way, when you and your colleagues went above and beyond to support the University and care for the students, faculty, colleagues, and other university stakeholders.

We hope that these stories will help convince the University to reconsider its position on your compensation and get back to the bargaining table. 

Share with us the times when you have gone above and beyond to do your job.

Story Examples

We know the hard work, commitment, and dedication you put in to ensure the success of the University.  But as we all know, commitment and hard work also come at a cost. It may not always be easily quantifiable, but it has a direct impact on your time, your family, and your overall wellbeing. Yet despite all of that, you go above what is expected.

Here are some examples of what we heard from members during the pandemic:

• In the spring of 2020, AAPS members in student services, enrolment services, and student financial services were inundated with literally thousands of students who were worried about their classes, their ability to pay tuition, their ability to work, whether or not they could or should return home. AAPS members responded to all those inquiries and distressed students providing them with support, guidance, resources, and reassurance.

• While managing the changes brought on by the global pandemic, AAPS members have also been managing the call for change in how we work together. Members have been lending their expertise and lived experience to help the University begin the difficult transition to an institution that is decolonized, anti-racist, and equitable. Members have been putting in extra time to work within their departments and units to develop and implement strategic plans that address equity, diversity, and inclusion in a meaningful way, as well as reflect on changes they need to make within themselves and learn.

• Members have continued to work directly in research that is making our world safer. Many researchers and support staff were the first to return to their labs, while others who were working on projects related to the global pandemic never left. Other AAPS members volunteered to be the staff people on site so that graduate students could continue their studies and complete their degrees.

In addition to the hard work and overtime that members put in, many of our members also incurred personal monetary costs during the pandemic to ensure that they can do their jobs as best as they can.

• In a province where housing costs continue to climb, members made sacrifices and incurred increased living expenses to meet job requirements. During the pandemic, some members had to give up living with roommates or move into larger places to ensure that they could have a space where they could deal with confidential information and hold private meetings since those tasks were a prerequisite of their position. A few also upgraded their internet, so that their video calls to students, staff, and faculty were not interrupted. 

• For members who have children, it meant having to navigate how to do their jobs well while working remotely and taking care of their kids at home. Many had to spend on additional childcare, so that they could continue to manage work responsibilities and have the peace of mind to know that their loved ones were being taken care of. 

• Members also bought their own equipment and software subscriptions out-of-pocket to ensure that they could work as productively as they could as if they were in the office. All of these costs add up and have taken a toll on our members’ take-home pay. Yet members paid for these costs without hesitation or objection.

At the same time, you and your colleagues were incurring these costs, the University ran combined surpluses in excess of $350 million.

At AAPS, our greatest strength is the passion and dedication you and your colleagues bring in service to the University. The above examples demonstrate that passion and dedication, but we know there are many more examples of AAPS members going above and beyond the call of duty. We want to hear your stories about how you supported the University during COVID.

How Your Stories Will Be Shared

We will be compiling these stories and will share them with the University anonymously.

In addition to sharing with the University, we will also post these stories on our website and social media pages. This is to ensure that communities who are listening in on university news, such as UBC stakeholders, will understand our perspective and what we are fighting for.

Privacy and Confidentiality

While we have requested your name on the story submission form to confirm membership, your name will be kept private and confidential. It will not be linked to your submitted story.

How This Will Help Bargaining

Our negotiations with UBC have been mostly positive and collaborative and we want to continue this same path.

Stories have a way of humanizing facts and figures. By sharing your experiences, your motivations, and passion, we want to show the breadth and depth of the value you bring to the University. Your stories are the foundation on which our bargaining proposals stand.

As a member of a labour association of over 6,000 members strong, we hope you will add your voice and share your story.