MAKING A POINT
UNIVERSITY SUPPORT STAFF HOLD INFORMATION PICKET DUE TO LACK OF CONTRACT
Supporters and members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees Local 53 march alongside University Drive West as part of an information picket on Wednesday at the edge of campus at the University of Lethbridge.
Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) Local 53 held an information picket on Wednesday to raise awareness of their issues and put pressure on University of Lethbridge administration to present a fair and equitable contract for its unionized workers.
“An information picket just brings to light some of the issues they are having,” explained AUPE provincial vice-president Susan Slade, who was on hand to help organize the picket. “They are going into mediation. The employer has consistently offered zeroes. There are a lot of outstanding issues.”
AUPE Local 53, which represents maintenance, security and other support staff at the university, has been without a contract since June of last year. Slade said local members are sick of the administration’s delay tactics.
“We would definitely like to have our contracts done within a reasonable amount of time,” she said, “and a lot of time employers are stalling out. A lot of them were waiting for the Government of Alberta (Master Agreement), and that has now been settled. So it would be nice if these guys here would get to the table and bargain fairly and respectfully.”
Local AUPE member Devin Schafthuizen, who works in building maintenance on campus, said it would also be nice to see it all settled and over with. He was hopeful mediation might be the key to getting a fair contract signed.
“I would just like to see a contract agreed upon,” he said, echoing the thoughts of many present during Wednesday’s picket, “and get some certainty there.”
U of L Faculty Association president Jon Doan was also present on the picket line Wednesday. He said he wanted to show his membership’s solidarity with the university support workers, whose efforts he classified as “vital” to campus life.
“We recognize these people are there before our events and after our events,” Doan said. “They are setting up and they are cleaning up. They are maintaining safe spaces and allowing our teaching, our research, our service — they really are the backbone of what makes our institution work.”