UBC’s management and professional (M&P) staff have, for the first time,
negotiated an agreement on conditions and terms of employment with the university.
The Board of Governors recently ratified the Agreement on Conditions and Terms
of Employment. The Board also approved salary increases for M&P staff.
Sarah Dench, president of the Association of Administrative and Professional
Staff (AAPS), which represents all M&P staff, said the agreement will help
to delineate many common practices and includes some improvements in terms and
conditions of employment which had previously been determined by the university
unilaterally.
“The university was pleased to reach an agreement with AAPS on very substantial
employment issues, while at the same time retaining flexibility inherent in
the university’s relationship with its M&P staff,” said Marcelle Sprecher,
acting associate vice-president, Human Resources.
Sprecher also praised AAPS’s and the university’s negotiating committees for
their work on the agreement.
All active M&P staff covered by the collective agreement should see a
retroactive pay increase reflected in pay cheques later this month.
Management and professional staff voted to ratify the agreement in early May.
Of 326 valid votes cast, 299 were in favour, while 27 were opposed.
“The AAPS Executive Board is pleased with the agreement and the strongly positive
ratification by M&P staff,” Dench said.
AAPS won approval to represent all management and professional staff at the
university, whether they are AAPS members or not, in 1995. In early 1996, the
university and AAPS representatives began negotiations to establish the first
collective agreement.
M&P staff comprise almost a fifth of all full-time non-faculty employees
at the university.
The agreement deals with employment issues ranging from flextime, performance
evaluation and professional development to parental leave and job sharing.
Dench said the aim of the negotiating committee was to establish a minimum
standard or basic platform for employment, which would support and protect,
but not limit nor inhibit M&P staff in the workplace.
