After four days of informal mediation between MacEwan University and the Grant MacEwan University Faculty Association (GMUFA) bargaining teams, both sides agreed to meet for one more day with the mediator on May 15.  

The mediator has been very helpful in facilitating information sharing between the parties, which has focused primarily on workload and salary.  

In discussions about workload, MacEwan’s proposal continues to focus on providing eligible tenure and tenure-track teaching faculty with an adjudicated process, whereby those members who could most benefit from an alternative workload could request a reduction in scheduled teaching. Additionally, focusing appeals around workload when faculty are dissatisfied with: 

  • The assigned workload type – Teaching Research and Service (TRS) and Teaching and Service (TS). 
  • The relative weight of the scholarship or service workload component for specific professional resource faculty, such as librarians and counsellors.  
  • Decisions where the dean’s decision and the chair’s recommendation on granting a reduction in scheduled teaching do not align.  

Discussions about salary continue and are grounded by the Public Bargaining and Compensation Office (PBCO) directives, and recent settlements with other post-secondary institutions like SAIT and the tentative agreement with the non-academic staff at the University of Alberta. 

Conversations about the tenure and promotion process will also continue, as MacEwan continues to support the existing processes for several reasons: 

  • They are peer-driven processes. The collective agreement outlines that the voting composition of the Tenure and Promotion Committee (TPC) is composed of 100 per cent faculty and the voting composition of the University Promotion Committee (UPC) is approximately 86 per cent faculty. 
  • Approximately 95 per cent of faculty members have successfully had their probation extended or tenure granted since 2020. 
  • Eighty per cent of faculty who applied for promotion since 2017 have been successful. In some years, 100 per cent of specific ranks were successful in securing a promotion. 
  • The provost and president have supported all UPC recommendations to promote a faculty member.  

Informal mediation uses a neutral third party to help facilitate discussion between the parties to try and reach an agreement. Informal mediation is non-binding to all parties. During mediation, there is no change to teaching, scholarship and day-to-day life at MacEwan. Informal mediation also does not indicate that a work stoppage (strike or lockout) is imminent.  

Should the parties be unable to reach an agreement, the next step would be to proceed with formal mediation, where we would work with a government-appointed mediator. 

Learn more about collective bargaining by visiting MacEwan.ca/CollectiveBargaining. 

From Human Resources