SPAN: Employer responds to our wage proposal

SPAN says no wage increases without more government funding

Your negotiating team met with St. Paul Abilities Network (SPAN) on Sept. 11 to continue bargaining. 

We were disappointed with the employer’s response to the wage package we proposed in May. SPAN informed us they currently do not have the funding for wage increases, but they are in discussions with the Alberta government to increase their funding so they can provide raises. 

We still have a lot of non-wage articles to sign off on before we begin bargaining for wages, so there is still time for the government to provide SPAN with the funding they need.

If the employer does not offer us a wage increase, we will need to assess and prepare for our next steps. Once our Essential Services Agreement (ESA) is complete, we will know how many of us have been deemed Designated Essential Services Workers (DESW). Our DESW numbers will show us if we are in a position to strike or if we will proceed to binding arbitration to resolve our collective agreement. Either of these scenarios will require bargaining to be at an impasse following formal mediation.

More bargaining 

Your team made progress on some non-wage articles during these meetings. We had good discussions around hours of work and scheduling. We also signed off on some housekeeping changes to a few articles.

Wear red to support bargaining

We have offered to meet again in October, but do not have scheduled dates yet. We will let you know when we have confirmed bargaining dates.

Wear red to support your negotiating team! Take photos of you and your coworkers wearing red and send them to photos@aupe.org to be featured on social media. 

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Please contact a member of your negotiating team if you have any questions or concerns regarding this bargaining update.

AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM - SPAN

Thomas Michetti  spanunitedchair@hotmail.com 

Michael Anu 
atemboh@outlook.com 

Sylvia Nkwelle 
nkwellesylvia@yahoo.com 

AUPE RESOURCE STAFF 

Kate Robinson Negotiations, 
k.robinson@aupe.org