Welcome to Northwestern Polytechnic’s hub for general information about our employee groups, collective bargaining agreements and progress, and labour relations at Northwestern Polytechnic.

Employee Groups

Our campuses are home to the following three employee groups:

Academic Staff Association (ASA) – This group includes approximately 180 full and part-time instructional staff at the Grande Prairie and Fairview campuses.

Alberta Union of Provincial Employees Fairview – The AUPE FV group includes approximately (insert number) support service staff who perform various (insert examples: cleaning, maintenance…other) duties at NWP’s Fairview Campus and belong to Local 071 Chapter 007.

Alberta Union of Provincial Employees Grande Prairie - The AUPE GP group includes approximately (insert number) support service staff who perform various (insert examples: cleaning, maintenance…other) duties at NWP’s Grande Prairie Campus and belong to Local 071 Chapter 015.

Fairview Flowers Fairview Flowers

Human Resources

Collective Bargaining at a Glance

Collective bargaining is the process for unions and an employer to negotiate a group agreement that outlines wage, benefit and working condition expectations. Through bargaining, NWP seeks to achieve fair, respectful, and collaborative agreements that support employee well-being while ensuring the polytechnic’s long-term sustainability, continued growth, and enduring ability to meet learning community needs.

As a government-funded public sector employer, NWP’s labour relations and collective bargaining processes are guided by the province’s Labour Relations Code, Public Service Employee Relations Act, and Post–secondary Learning Act. This provincially mandated approach to bargaining is outlined in more detail on the Government of Alberta’s website.

More Questions? We Have Answers.

The Process

Standard collective bargaining will go through five main phases:

  1. Notice to Bargain: Collective bargaining notice is served by either party.
  2. Proposal Exchange: Both parties begin negotiations by sharing their proposed additions, changes or deletions to the existing collective agreement.
  3. Negotiations: Small teams representing each party will discuss the tabled proposal and associated rationale during scheduled meetings. Collective agreement renewal is the end goal.
    If an agreement is unable to be reached, parties may move towards mediation, arbitration, and/or job action.
  4. Settlement: When the bargaining teams have reached a tentative renewal collective agreement, the agreement must be ratified with respective employee groups.
  5. Ratification: Typically the association/union will host a meeting and vote on the tentative agreement. A majority of votes determines if the contract is ratified (accepted) or rejected. NWP must also obtain Board of Governor approval to move forward.