Table of Changes
Article 1 – Definitions
Medical Practitioner has been defined as a physician, surgeon or nurse practitioner.
Article 2 – Jurisdiction
Language updated to reflect the change to the Labour Relations Code. Language added to add Work integrated learning program.
Article 3 - Application
Language updated to recognize the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act.
Article 4 – Management Recognition
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 5 – Union Recognition
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 6 – Legislation and the Collective Agreement
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 7 – Union Membership and Dues Checkoff
Changes to the information the employer remits to the Union. Instead of home phone numbers it is now phone number(s) and personal email (if provided).
Article 8 – Employer/Employee/Union Relations
Clean up of the reports and information that is available to the Local.
Article 9 – Time off for Union Business
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 10 – Respectful Workplace
Housekeeping changes.
Article 11 – Position Opportunities
11.05 members will be able to request a discussion with the Hiring Manager if unsuccessful was added.
Significant changes added for Temporary Positions. The Employer will now be able to determine if they are able to hold a permanent position beyond 24 months. This is in relation to employees who successfully take on multiple temporary roles that are back-to-back, or roles that go beyond 24 months. The language outlines what the process looks like.
Positions that are grant or externally funded may be posted for the duration of the funding and extended without posting.
Article 12 – Seniority
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 13 – Probationary Period
An Employee who is terminated/dismissed while on probation shall have recourse to the grievance procedure, with the exception of Arbitration under clause 22.08.
Article 14 - Attendance
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 15 – Hours of Work
15.11 has some minor changes to what happens if an Employee is required to work during their rest period.
Conference and Events Services Employees rights about shift schedules have been moved into this article.
15.01 b) shall be added “September 30 shall be a paid, non-operational day for all Employees. If the Employer requires an Employee to work on September 30, the Employee shall be given a paid day off at a mutually agreeable time between October 1 and December 31, unless otherwise agreed to by the Employee and the Employer.
Article 16 – Modified or Averaging Agreements
Minor changes in 16.07
Letters of Understanding for Forest Technology, Biological Sciences and research creating modified schedules for seasonal work have been incorporated into Article 16.
Article 17 - Overtime
The banking of earned overtime has been increased to 72.5 or 80 hours depending on your regular schedule.
Overtime will be calculated to the precise time, it will no longer be rounded to the nearest ¼ hour.
Article 18 – Additional Earnings/Pay
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 19 – Acting Incumbent
Clarity added into the language that now states the majority of core responsibilities and key tasks for the definition of acting incumbent. The Employee may also inquire with the responsible Manager about the rationale for the designated tasks.
Article 20 – Human Resources File
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 21 – Disciplinary Action
21.01 the language was adjusted to reflect actual practice in recognizing who may discipline or dismiss an Employee; “…an out of scope leader having the authority to do so.”
Article 22 – Grievance Procedure
Some housekeeping changes to reflect actual practice that has been agreed to by both parties.
Timelines have been adjusted, the Union now has 15 days to file a grievance.
The Designated Officer hearing the grievance has 5 days following the meeting to provide their written reply.
Article 23 – Position Abolishment
Definition of “work unit” modified to recognize the change in the Academic Reporting Structure. The new definition is “work unit” – means a definable group of Employees who perform similar core functions and duties within an operational team or academic program.
Consultation with AUPE will take place at least 14 days in advance of anticipated abolishment. Old language was 7 days.
23.05 The casuals, temporary and probationary employees will only be released first if they are performing the same or similar work as the affected employees.
Notice period for affected employees changed as follows:
Under 2 years of completed service, 10 weeks notice
2 years or more of completed service, 12 weeks notice
Under 23.07, where employees are offered positions during the abolishment process language was added that now reads “and/or”. This means that the offer can be the same classification or pay level and does not have to be both.
Article 24 – Layoff and Recall
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 25 – Disability and Wellness in the Workplace
Housekeeping to update the language to reflect the new Medical Practitioner definition.
For clarity a note was added to define Casual Illness to recognize physical, mental or emotional health related absence.
Effective April 1, 2026 with the implementation of Workday General Illness leave will be earned from your date of hire recognizing completed years of service instead of the old calendar years of service.
For Employees who terminate or are terminated from NAIT and return their General Illness eligibility will start as of their new start date.
Article 26 – Long Term Disability (LTD)
26.07 New language: “Change of definition” occurs when the employee, who is disabled from performing their own occupation, is determined by the third party insurance provider to be unable to perform any reasonable occupation. This generally occurs 24 months after the employee became disabled.
An Employee who receives LTD benefits and has not reached their change of definition date, and who at the commencement of absence due to disability or illness, is participating in the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan, the Employer Group Extended Medical Benefits Plan, Base Dental, Optional Dental, if applicable, and the Employer Group Life Insurance Plan, shall continue to be covered under these Plans throughout the total period the Employee is receiving LTD benefits and the Employer and Employee premium contributions, if applicable, shall continue. Employees who have reached the change of definition date will not be eligible for continued benefits after that date.
26.10 Pension deductions made by the Employer will be based on the salary in which they are receiving from NAIT.
These changes shall be effective 60 days following the date of ratification.
Article 27 – Health and Dental Plans
Effective January 1, 2026 your Flexible Health Spending Account will be increased by $200.00 to a total of $1,000.00. Due to the closed allocation period now these additional funds will be directly allocated to the Health Spending allocation.
Article 28 – Insurance
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 29 – Paid Holidays
When Remembrance Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday the day off in lieu will become the following Monday. The language that moved that day off to Reading Week has been removed.
Article 30 - Vacation
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 31 – Special Leave
Pressing Necessity shall be defined as any circumstance of a sudden or unusual nature that could not by the exercise of reasonable judgement have been foreseen by the Employee and which requires the immediate attention of the Employee.
An additional day has been added for a total of 7 special leave days in total.
Special Leave may be utilized to attend medical appointments for immediate family members at the discretion of the Employer.
2 days to attend to anticipated personal matters, with 2 weeks notices, where reasonably possible.
The addition of “… or a family member who resides with the Employee.” has been added to the definition of immediate family.
Article 32 – Bereavement Leave
An additional day of bereavement leave was added.
They are now classed as work day and the flexibility has been added to split those days up within a 2 week period; Exceptions may be approved by the Employer.
Article 33 – Maternity and Parental Leave
Housekeeping changes.
Article 34 – Leave Without Pay
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 35 – Court Leave
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 36 – Employee-Management Advisory Committee
Housekeeping to reflect current practice.
Article 37 – Safety and Health
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 38 – Employment Insurance and Premium Reduction or Rebate
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 39 – Workers Compensation Supplement
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 40 - Classification
There were many housekeeping changes to provide clarity of the process. Timelines have been added for specific clauses in the Article.
Article 41 – Travel and Subsistence
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 43 – Cashier Policy
Delete and Renumber Collective Agreement
Article 44 – NAIT Tuition Benefit
In 44.02 the word waived has been changed to paid.
Article 45 – Salary and Wage Increments
Language updated to change the name of legislation to Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act in 45.01.
Article 46 – Pension Plan and Retirement Savings
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 47 – Parking
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 48 – Dependent Scholarship Program
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Article 49 –Grant or Externally Funded Temporary Employees
The language was updated to broaden the scope to recognize any grant or externally funded employee and not just research specific.
The notice period for temporary appointments not being renewed or that are ending has been increased.
If the grant or external funds end unexpectedly and the Employer is unable to provide the notice, as outlined in 49.03 the Employer will provide a minimum of 2 weeks notice to the Employee.
Article 50 – Effective Date and Term of Agreement
The agreement will be in place until June 30, 2028.
Update of the governing legislation to Labour Relations Code.
NEW Article – Peace Officers, Security Communication Officers and Building Patrol Officers
The letters of understanding have been incorporated into a new Article.
In charge assignment now includes BPO’s.
A return service commitment to NAIT of 6 months for Security Agents has been added to recognize the cost of external training costs incurred by the Employer. This commitment starts when they complete their Security Agent training.
Letter of Understanding #1 – RE: International Work Assignments
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Letter of Understanding #9 – RE: Forty (40) Hours Rates of Pay
Housekeeping to reflect the number of employees affected by this.
Letter of Understanding #14 – RE: Out of Province Distributed Work Agreements
Updated and renewed.
NEW Letter of Understanding #16 – RE: Commitment to Psychological Safety in the Workplace
A joint commitment to protecting and promoting mental health in the workplace.
NEW Letter of Understanding #17 – RE: Coverage for Approved Leaves
This letter acknowledges that workload coveroff for a coworker who is on an approved leave of absence is important to ensure workloads are manageable.
The language outlines the process.
NEW Letter of Understanding #18 – RE: Workload
This is a new letter that allows for meaningful conversations about workload concerns. The process has multiple steps. At a certain point you do have the right to representation to attend the meetings with you and established timelines for the development of an action plan if the concerns are escalated to that point.
Letter of Understanding – RE: Joint Review of Budget Officers and Systems Analysts Positions
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Letter of Understanding – Women in Trades
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Letter of Understanding – RE: Salary and Wage Increments
Current Language; notwithstanding consequential amendments to other articles or LoU’s.
Compensation
3% each year of the agreement from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2028, with retroactive pay.
Adjustment to Blue Cross Plan
Effective January 1, 2026, Masters of Social Work added as an eligible provider for psychological services.
The tentative agreement is now moving forward for ratification, with votes to be held by both AUPE members and NAIT’s Board of Governors. The bargaining committees from both NAIT and AUPE are recommending approval of the agreement. For the agreement to take effect, it must be endorsed by both parties. The full draft agreement will be sent out on Monday, November 24 with in person and drop-in information sessions and electronic voting occurring on Friday, November 28.
More information will be posted as available.
Please contact a member of your negotiating team if you have questions.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – NAIT
Michael Johnson
michaelbruce_johnson@hotmail.com
Ray Walmsley
ray_walmsley@hotmail.com
Roxanna Sidorchuk
roxysidorchuk@gmail.com
Aline Robertson
aline.e.robertson@gmail.com
Andrea Klymchuk (Alternate)
aklymchuk@hotmail.com
Oleksandr Sukhorukov
olekvs@yahoo.com
Emily Devereux (Alternate)
emilyannedevereux@gmail.com
Lindsey Van Sloten
lindseylegreeley79@hotmail.com
Shahveer Ratnagar (Alternate
shahveer.edu@gmail.com
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
Scott Drake Negotiations
s.drake@aupe.org