Northwestern Polytechnic Grande Prairie: Bargaining begins 

Your negotiating team met the employer on September 18 and 19 to begin bargaining for our first AUPE collective agreement.  

We presented significant updates to the existing Employee Association agreement. We know that this is a critical opportunity to codify improvements to our working conditions. We gave the employer a lot to consider and are prepared to continue advocating for our improvements.  

We made a good deal of progress over two days, agreeing on six Articles, establishing an Employee-Management Advisory Committee through a new Letter of Understanding (LOU), and updating the Health and Safety Article to include crucial information about the Occupational Health and Safety Committee.  

We began discussions on the Grievance Procedure and Union Recognition Articles. We hope to resolve them both at our next meeting.  

Your negotiating team considered this first round of meetings to be quite informative and productive. We are cautiously optimistic that negotiations will continue to be positive.  

We know that employers have a common approach to bargaining across the post-secondary education sector. Our fellow AUPE members at different institutions are facing the same challenges and trying to win the same improves wages, benefits, and working conditions. We encourage members to stay up to date on bargaining at our worksite and others in the News and Updates section of www.aupe.org.  

Bargaining continues January 19 and 20.  

Please reach out to a member of your negotiating team with any questions or concerns. You can contact us at chp15negotiations@gmail.com.  

AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – NORTHWESTERN POLYTECHNIC GRANDE PRAIRIE  

Paul Oostra  
pauloostra259@gmail.com  

Clay Wyght  
clay.wyght@gmail.com  

Jamee Fitzpatrick  
fitzpatrickjamee@gmail.com  

Dawn Laviolette (Alternate)  
laviolettedawn@gmail.com  

AUPE RESOURCE STAFF  

Scott Drake Negotiations  
s.drake@aupe.org