MSU has been informed that the University is transitioning back to more work on-location and reducing work from home. We acknowledge that some of our members are impacted more than others and some members have raised this as an issue to MSU. We have already communicated the challenges our members will face and the potential impact on employee morale to the senior leadership.

From media reports, it is obvious that a reduction in hybrid work post-pandemic is part of a broader trend in both the private and public sectors, including the federal government, and this trend also certainly includes the Alberta government and public post-secondary institutions. Recently, MSU met with the Director of Human Resources to insist that the University provide sufficient advance notice for employees to make the necessary arrangements.

MSU shares our members’ concerns about the practical implications as it will create new challenges for some of our members, not the least of which is commuting time and family arrangements like after school care. MSU also acknowledges that we represent a diverse membership and many have jobs with a range of abilities to work remotely, if at all (e.g. Security, Facilities, Childcare, Athletics, Residence, etc.). In the past two months, MSU has met with our external legal counsel numerous times to discuss this issue and to seek advice on whether MSU could successfully challenge this.

Unfortunately, our lawyer’s assessment is that it is within management’s rights to make these decisions (even if employees or union might believe they are ill-advised or unnecessary), provided the University gives employees sufficient notice and follows the collective agreement and the law. She believes the notice period being provided would be deemed reasonable by any arbitrator, and it is quite certain that they would uphold an employer’s right to determine the location where work is allowed to be performed by employees.

It is important to note that MSU’s collective agreement allows for alternate work arrangements such as remote work in Article 19 and MSU will certainly support our member to apply.  The process to seek this approval has historically been in our collective agreement (specifically see Articles 19.0.1 and 19.2) and remains in effect.  Other post-secondary institutions like Mount Royal, UofA, Norquest, etc also have remote work programs that require the employee to apply and are subject to managerial approval. We would encourage each of our members to discuss this with their OOS manager to determine if this is something that might be supported and/or approved going forward.

Additionally, if an individual employee has specific circumstances that might be covered under Human Rights protected grounds (e.g. family status, disability, etc), MSU can and will advise, support and advocate for workplace accommodation on that basis. There are also additional resources available for our members to support them during difficult transitions and changes, including the Employee Family Assistance Program (1-877-455-3561) and various coverage options through the Extended Health Benefits plan.

We realize that this answer may be disappointing to some of you, and we pledge to continue to support our members through this transition.