What AASUA is all About

The Association of Academic Staff of the University of Alberta (AASUA) is the bargaining agent for approximately 4000 members and is the largest academic staff union in Canada. The AASUA is a statutory corporation created under the Post-secondary Learning Act and is a trade union under the Labour Relations Code, which governs collective bargaining.

Established during the 1930’s, the AASUA is the bargaining agent for the over 4,000 members of the academic staff in seven constituency groups — Academic Faculty (FAC), Academic Librarians (LIB), Administrative and Professional Officers (APO), Academic Teaching Staff (ATS), Faculty Service Officers (FSO), Trust/Research Academic Staff (TRAS), and Temporary Librarian, Administrative and Professional Officer (TLAPO).

The AASUA organizes and supports collective bargaining as a means to protect, strengthen, and advance the collective interests of its members. The AASUA also works to promote the core principles of the academy, foremost amongst them academic freedom, to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good. As a member-driven democratic organization, the AASUA aspires in all of its work, activities, and decision-making to maximizing the full participation and engagement of all of its members while promoting equity, diversity, dignity, and economic security for all.

The AASUA is also committed to overcoming, both at the University and in Canadian culture more broadly, historical and structural inequities relating to gender identity, sexuality, ability, age, racial, ethnic or religious identity, and family status. Our commitment to diversity with equity is rooted in our respectful acknowledgment that we live and work on Treaty 6 territory, a traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway/ Saulteaux/Anishinaabe, Inuit, and many others whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our community.