AUPE members at Portage College ratify agreement

Posted June 27, 2006 in Education and tagged with chapter 008, local 071

LAC LA BICHE – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees who work at Portage College today voted to ratify a three-year collective agreement that includes pay increases of 12.5 per cent over the life of the contract.

Voting by the college’s approximately 100 support employees took place throughout the morning and early afternoon today.

Under the new agreement, the members of the local will receive pay increases of 4.3 per cent on July 1, 2006, 4.2 per cent on July 1, 2007, and 4 per cent on July 1, 2008.

AUPE Staff Negotiator Jim Petrie, who led the Local 071/008 bargaining committee, described the agreement as a good one that matches the pattern being set at other post-secondary institutions in the union’s Education Sector.

“The local bargaining committee recommended to the membership that they accept this agreement, which has significant pay increases plus several other improvements,” he said. “The employer bargaining team made the same recommendation to the Portage College Board.”

The parties signed the tentative agreement on Tuesday, June 20.

Other improvements in the agreement with Portage College include:

• Changes to the contract’s general illness leave provision to allow anyone hospitalized while on vacation to have that time converted to illness leave.
• Adjustments of hours of work for some classifications of Campus Supervision Worker to 37.5 hours per week from 40 hours per week without any corresponding decrease in pay.
• An addition of $200 per month to the salaries of any Facilities Worker 2 or Facilities Supervisor required by the college to have a journeyman certificate.
• Changes to the special leave provision to allow employees time off to tend to the illness of a more extensive list of relatives than in the past.

Portage College has campuses in Lac La Biche, St. Paul and Cold Lake.

For more information, contact:

Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (cellular phone)
Judy Mayer, Membership Services Officer, AUPE, 780-930-3403 or 780-232-5839 (cellular phone), who will attend the vote count today in Lac La Biche. Jim Petrie is not available this afternoon.
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular hone)