University of Winnipeg student employees represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada in the Academic Capacity Bargaining Unit have recently been provided with an arbitrated 1 year collective agreement by the Manitoba Labour Board in accordance with the Manitoba Labour Relations Act. The imposed collective agreement is effective January 26, 2017 to January 25, 2018. The parties bargained for many months, went through formal conciliation, and when the outstanding issues were not able to be resolved, the parties proceeded to the Manitoba Labour Board to impose a collective agreement on the outstanding matters.
We have established two classifications for positions covered by this Collective Agreement.
The Labour Board provides for two increases in the first year (no retroactivity), as follows:
| Effective Jan 26, 2017 | Effective Aug 28, 2017 – 2% | |
| Academic Capacity 1 – Markers, Lab Demonstrators, and Tutors |
$12.55 | $12.80 |
| Academic Capacity 2 – Teaching Assistants |
$13.56 | $13.83 |
Appointments in the bargaining unit are normally directed at qualified student applicants. There is recognition that not all positions would be filled by UWinnipeg students. Given the smaller number of graduate programs, there are not always qualified students available for upper level classes.
Seniority Provision: Where two or more applicants meet a position’s criteria, priority shall be given to an applicant who has already held an appointment for that course.
Note: Individuals enrolled in graduate programs that have, as part of their assistantship, functions that include doing this work (in particular, assistantships often include Teaching Assistant responsibilities), are not part of this collective agreement. However, graduate students may compete for, and receive employment income for work outside of their respective assistantships.
Bargaining of the second PSAC collective agreement will begin between 30 and 90 days prior to the expiration of this agreement.
