Mount Royal students' group blames negotiating impasse on UCP

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The head of Mount Royal University’s student association is calling on the province to better fund post-secondary schools and to stay away from bargaining negotiations as he blames the UCP government.

MRU faculty are currently locked in collective bargaining negotiations with their employer, looking to resolve issues around workloads and pay raises.

Spirit River Striped Wolf, president of the Students’ Association of Mount Royal University’s representation executive council, said provincial funding cuts and potential directives are partially to blame for a current impasse in those negotiations. The provincial 2021-24 fiscal plan shows the government budgeted $2.68 billion in 2019-20. That number drops to an estimated $2.36 billion in 2021-22 and a targeted $2.25 billion in 2023-24.

“We call on the government to restore funding. That’s a major aspect of this is the cutting of public funding to institutions and then off burdening that on to students through our tuition.,” said Striped Wolf.

Striped Wolf said on top of the funding cuts, the government could have a direct hand in stalling the negotiations with ministerial directives. The provincial Public Sector Employers Act allows for the minister responsible to issue directives to employers at the university before, during or after collective bargaining that the university administration must follow. Those directives must be kept confidential from any third party unless the employer agrees with it being shared.

Striped Wolf called on the government to declare whether the government has made any directives to the university.

“After speaking to the MRU admin and the faculty association, I can clearly, clearly see that they want to work towards a deal. But, we’re forgetting that third player in these negotiations, which is the government,” said Striped Wolf. “The labour negotiations should be completely independent, with no interference from government, the students’ association or any other party.”

Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a written statement that Alberta has worked hard to bring Alberta post-secondary institutions in line with other provinces.

“As we work through a challenging financial time, Albertans expect us to find ways to deliver services more efficiently,” said Nicolaides.

Spirit Wolf said ultimately the stalled contract talks are causing further anxiety for students after two years of COVID-19 disruption to their schedule. He said students have had to pivot between in-person and online classes and now are unsure if the current semester will be extended, limiting students’ chances to gain summer employment.

“What we’re seeing is that they’re living in a lot of uncertainty. Will they get the education that they paid for?” said Striped Wolf.

Meanwhile, the University of Lethbridge faculty association has voted on whether to take strike action. Representatives from the association said they will be informally letting their members know how the vote went Friday evening and will be releasing the results publicly on Monday. They will then have to serve 72 hours’ notice before any strike could take place if that is how the association’s membership has voted.

They said the earliest day for a strike would be Thursday.

The first faculty strike in Alberta’s history took place last month at Edmonton’s Concordia University, where faculty took to the picket line at the start of the winter semester. They ratified a tentative agreement with the university on Jan. 15.

— With files from Jason Herring

dshort@postmedia.com