APSA has finally received the agreed-upon mediated recommendations for the Basic Agreement.

[To ratify these amendments, here is what's planned. On August 20, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., we will hold an information session on the changes so you can speak to the main committee members who helped secure these amendments. Please look out for an email with more details and a link to register for the session.

Voting to ratify the Basic Agreement will open on August 19 and continue until September 6, giving members enough time to read and understand the amendments to the agreement.]

***UPDATE: Both the SFU Board of Governors and the APSA members have voted in favour of accepting the mediated recommendations, which will be signed by SFU and APSA.

First, here are the main changes that the mediator, Chris Sullivan, recommended:

  1. Section 2.4:  APSA to withdraw its proposal regarding “exclusive” representation and language to remain the same.
  2. Section 3.2:  The Basic Agreement be changed to include a 14.8% cap or ratio, in place of the current 10%.
  3. Sections 9.1 and 9.2: The University to withdraw its proposal and language to remain the same. Arbitrator Dorsey’s “Protocol for Reactivated JUAC” be implemented, with time frames to be amended as follows: …The following additional rules and procedures will apply to the operations of JUAC beginning July 1, 2024…  3. No later than August 1, 2024, APSA and the University shall appoint a Facilitator to work with the members of JUAC for the 13 months beginning August 1, 2024. If no agreement on a Facilitator is reached by August 1, 2024, the Associate Chair of Adjudication and Mediation, Labour Relations Board shall be asked to appoint a Facilitator.
  4. Practice guidelines for “Meaningful Consultation”: I recommend that this topic be addressed at an upcoming JUAC meeting and developed and resolved by the parties involved in that process. During the course of these mediation proceedings, there was little or no objection regarding the reasonableness of the guidelines proposed by APSA. However, the practice/behavioral guidelines do not lend themselves to being part of the Basic Agreement.
  5. I recommend the Basic Agreement expires on December 31, 2025, and be renewed annually thereafter, with the existing six-month notice period. This duration should allow for the reactivation of a functioning JUAC to address issues in the manner they were intended to be addressed. 

This means that

  1. Section 2.4 will not change.
  2. The percentage of APSA members that SFU can make APEX has increased to 14.8% from 10%. *Note: This doesn't mean that SFU can create APEX jobs without an explanation of why the position needs to be APEX. If this isn't sufficient, APSA can oppose this. It also doesn't automatically have 14.8% of professional and administrative jobs become APEX.
  3. There will be no changes to sections 9.1 and 9.2.
  4. Create guidelines for “Meaningful Consultation” between APSA and SFU in the Joint University Affairs Committee
  5. The agreement will expire next year and be renewed annually unless SFU or APSA request further amendments.

Here is the full non-binding mediation document. It will be signed if our members choose to agree to ratify the amendments.