Member Updates
Member Update: Monday, Oct. 18, 2004
More than 500 join Oct. 15 NorQuest College information
picket
EDMONTON — More than 500 enthusiastic AUPE members took
part in an energetic information picket at the downtown campus
of NorQuest College Oct. 15.
Delegates to AUPE’s annual convention were bused to the
college that Friday afternoon for an opportunity to show their
solidarity with members of AUPE Local 071/010, which has reached
an impasse in its negotiations with NorQuest.
Negotiations between the downtown Edmonton college and AUPE Local
071/010 stalled in July.
Despite the appointment of a provincial mediator to help the parties
come to an agreement, there still is no agreement.
Key issues in the dispute are salary increases and the treatment
of large numbers of “term employees.”
Approximately half the college’s approximately 220 employees
are classified as “term employees,” who do not receive
full benefits.
More than half of the members of that group have been NorQuest
employees for more than two years.
“AUPE’s proposal on term employment states that most
term employees should become a permanent employees if they are
employed for more than 24 months of continuous service,”
said Staff Negotiator Steve Nimchuk, who leads the local’s
Bargaining Committee.
“We hope that this very large information picket sends a
crystal clear message to the college’s administration,”
MacLennan said Friday afternoon.
“They need to know that AUPE has the resources and the membership
to make sure that members at NorQuest get the agreement they deserve.”
In what must be an unusual development in the annals of labour,
the buses taking AUPE Convention delegates to the information
pickets received a motorcycle escort through rush-hour traffic
by Edmonton Police.
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
