For immediate release: Friday, April 2, 2004

FAIRVIEW — Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees who work for Fairview College have ratified an agreement to join the AUPE local at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

The change was negotiated because on July 1 the college will be taken over by Edmonton-based NAIT, said AUPE Union Representative Brian Randall.

As a result of the vote, which was counted on Thursday, members of AUPE Local 071/003 will now become members of AUPE Local 038, Randall said.

Differences between the old Fairview collective agreement and the NAIT contract were recognized and put into a letter of understanding to protect a small group of former Fairview employees, Randall said. The letter references issues including northern and isolation allowance, the correctional institute salary allowance and parking.

It also stipulates that Fairview employees will become NAIT employees and will accept the Local 038 NAIT Collective Agreement beginning July 1, 2004. Campuses affected include High Level, Peace River, St. Albert, Grande Prairie and Fairview. The letter of understanding does not affect any NAIT employees.

AUPE represents approximately 100 non-academic employees of Fairview College. Before the merger of the locals, AUPE represented approximately 700 members of Local 038 at NAIT.

AUPE and Fairview negotiated a new collective agreement in October 2003 that included provisions for meeting and merging the two contracts by the end of March 2004. That agreement also resulted in a pay increase for Fairview employees of 4.2 per cent retroactive to July 1, 2003.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)