For immediate release: Friday, June 27, 2003

OLDS – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees employed by Olds College have overwhelmingly ratified a three-year collective agreement giving them pay increases of 4.3 per cent in the first year, 4.2 per cent in the second year and 4 per cent in the third.

In addition to the pay increases, said AUPE Staff Negotiator Malcolm McNaughton, the agreement with the agricultural college south of Red Deer includes several other significant improvements for the 161 members of AUPE Local 071/002.

“Employees were very pleased with this agreement, as the extraordinary strength of their ratification vote clearly indicated,” said McNaughton, who led the union bargaining committee.

Other improvements in the agreement included:

• An increase in shift differential pay from 75 cents per hour to $1.10 per hour.
• An increase in weekend differential pay from 50 cents per hour to $1.10 per hour.
• Pay for days off between Christmas and Boxing Day.
• An increase in severance pay from 25 weeks’ pay to 52 weeks’ pay.
• Agreement for the employer to pay parking costs on campus.
• A new 15-per-cent premium paid to instructional assistants when in the classroom.
• A wellness account with $200 per year paid by the employer.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Malcolm McNaughton, Union Representative, AUPE, 403-343-2154 or 403-304-8245 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)