Union calls contract proposals from University of Calgary ‘shameful’, ‘disgusting’

Support staff could be on the hook for wages they were paid last year if proposed reductions go through at the University of Calgary.

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — After the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of frontline staff across all sectors, an Alberta union is shocked about contract proposals coming from the University of Calgary during negotiations with support staff.

“It’s quite disgusting,” said Bobby-Joe Borodey, a vice president with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).

A copy of negotiation proposals sent to 660 NEWS showed the university is seeking several cuts, including a three per cent reduction in salaries and 50 per cent cut in health and dental coverage.

Depending on an employees level in the organization, the reduction could be only two per cent but the rollback is also proposed to be retroactive to Apr. 2020.

“They’re touted as heroes for working on the frontlines,” Borodey said. “Then the employer turns around and says, by the way you now owe us money? It’s the most shameful thing I’ve ever heard.”

In addition to the reduction, the proposal also seeks a salary freeze through 2023 and then it would take 20 years for a staff member to reach maximum pay for their job by getting increases of only two per cent each year afterward.

Borodey said this amounts to a “slap in the face” as there’s no consideration for inflation in these proposals.

“A freeze is actually a rollback,” she said. “The cost of living never goes down, and if your wages don’t at least match the cost of living, then you are in fact taking a rollback.

“It’s just a no-win situation.”

The proposals for University of Calgary staff are very similar to proposals to support staff at the University of Alberta, which also looked for employees to pay back earned wages.

This is leading union advocates like Borodey to believe there is direction coming from the Government of Alberta as it also targets reductions in compensation for public workers.

“This is not a coincidence. These proposals are pretty much carbon copies of each other,” she said. “The (United Conservative Party) talks a big game about post-pandemic recovery, yet nothing that they are proposing matches what they’re saying.”

In a statement to 660 NEWS, The U of C says it has no intentions of asking staff to repay wages.

Claims that the province are pushing for these proposals were also denied in a statement sent to 660 NEWS.

“Negotiations for all post-secondary institutions in Alberta are between the institutions and their respective bargaining agents,” said a spokesperson for Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.

While negotiations remain underway and nothing is set in stone yet, Borodey said they will not just accept these proposals and is promising a tough battle ahead at the bargaining table as staff members express their extreme frustration.

“We’re taking a hard line. No concessions. You can’t call us heroes in one breath, and then tell us that we’re overpaid public workers in the next.”

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