URFA Update, Spring 2019

URFA Update June, 2019 Strike Avoided Mobilizing the membership during U of R Academic negotiations The U of R budget: Time for serious investment in PSE Contents President’s Message 2 URFA Staff Executive Director’s Message 3 Kevin Siebert - Executive Director 306-337-2968 [email protected] 2019/2020 URFA Executive 4 Eric Bell - Communications Officer Cover Story- Mobilizing the Membership 5 306-337-2968 [email protected] URFA News 11 Debbie Head- Finance Officer 306-585-5012 [email protected] Member Retirements 13 Frank Mentes - Member Services Officer Collective Bargaining Updates 14 306-585-4418 [email protected] APT Member Highlight 15 Heather Ritenburg- Member Services Officer 306-585-4586 [email protected] Commentary- Re-invest in PSE 16 Kathy Sthamann- Administrative Assistant Exploring Restorative Justice 17 306-585-4378 [email protected] CAUT President Commentary 19 Dana Tarnes- Administrative Assistant 306-585-4378 [email protected] Colin Tether- Member Services Officer 306-337-8887 [email protected] Get in touch. Room 122, Campion College Regina, SK S4S 0A2 306-585-4378 [email protected] www.urfa.ca facebook.com/UofRFA @UofRFA A message from your PRESIDENT Dear URFA members, know where every penny comes from. If you find irregularities, please contact the URFA office as It has been less than three months since the U of soon as possible. R Academic Bargaining Team reached an agreement with the University of Regina. As you prob- As we are entering the Summer months, activi- ably recall, we came very close to a strike, reach- ties on campus are slowing down. Starting on the ing an agreement in the few days between URFA last Friday in June and until the week before class serving the strike notification to the University starts, the URFA office will be closed on Fridays. and the day we were planning to walk out. In this However, URFA still remains busy throughout the edition of URFA Update, there is an interview with summer months, as the URFA Executive and URFA members of the URFA Job Action Committee. committees contine to meet, and the URFA office These hard-working folks laid out the groundwork remains active working on negotiations for four to prepare for a strike. They planned for pickets, of our collective agreements, as well as handling secured a strike headquarters, answered count- regular member issues. Of course, you can still less member and student questions, and mobi- contact the URFA office for help and assistance lized the membership. Perhaps most important, at any time during the summer months. they allowed the bargaining committee to focus on their work negotiating an agreement with the Have a great summer everyone! University. A big thank you once again to the URFA Job Action Committee, the Bargaining Committee, Sylvain Rheault and URFA members across all bargaining units for URFA President your support in reaching an agreement with the University and avoiding a strike. As we are getting closer to July 1st, the date for Career Growth Increments and other financial changes brought in by new collective agreements that have recently been negotiatied, we are starting to notice some divergences of language inter- pretation between URFA and the employer when it comes to the new and recently ratified U of R Aca- demic collective agreement. A few weeks ago, we communicated to our members a significant issue with the “add one/drop one” clause regarding Ca- reer Growth Increments. We are working with our legal counsel and will update members on this issue soon. We have also recieved some reports of lecturers having their years of accumulated CGI erased because the employer decided to “reset” the floor salary. As you receive your letter of em- ployment, please check if the numbers add up. If they don’t, please contact HR and make sure you URFA Annual Report 2018/19 2 A message from your EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The idea of membership outreach was truly tak- fore, your engagement in this process is vital as en up in the 2018-2019 academic year. It led it will define the areas that your Association will with the President’s regular door-to-door meet- focus on in the coming years. Building upon the ing with members, and was admirably followed constitution, the strategic plan will be a living up with the Sessional Advocacy Committee so- document that will continue to evolve with your cial gathering nights, the Equity Committee’s Association in the coming years. leadership of its Equity Week and of course the countless meetings and tabling done by the U As we depart the 2018-19 academic year, I wish of R Academic Bargaining Team and Job Action to you a safe and enjoyable summer and will see Committee during negotiations throughout the you all this fall! winter and into the spring. Kevin Siebert In the end, a new collective agreement was URFA Executive Director reached and ratified for U of R Academic Mem- bers. The agreement also saw the settlement of all outstanding arbitrations approved by the Executive. The next steps will be to bargain new collective agreements with Campion College and Luther College Academic, First Nations Univer- sity of Canada Academic and First Nations Uni- versity of Canada Sessional units. The process for negotiating these agreements has already begun, as bargaining committees have been formed or are in the process of being formed and URFA is working with them to prepare to begin negotiations in the coming months. You can read more about this in the Collective Bargaining Up- dates section of this newsletter. Going into the next academic year, the Council of Representatives is embarking on the develop- ment of a multi-year strategic plan. This is a new process for URFA, as your Association has not developed a strategic plan in the past. A survey identifying strategic planning prior- ities was sent to members in May and was well responded to. Thank you to everyone who took the time to give us your feedback and sugges- tions. As COR moves forward with the strategic planning process, we will continue to engage with members for feedback. As mentioned be- 3 URFA Update June, 2019 URFA Executive and Council of Representatives 2019/2020 URFA Executive President Equity Officer Sylvain Rheault Claire Carter Vice President, Academic Member at Large (Academic) Paitoon Tontiwachwuthikul Fadi Tannouri Vice President, APT Member at Large (APT) Janelle Schwartz Rachel Husband Grievance Officer Treasurer Hirsch Greenberg Andrei Volodin 2019/2020 URFA Council of Representatives President Faculty of Nursing Dwayne Meisner Sylvain Rheault Melanie Goodwin Fang Bian Faculty of Arts Faculty of Science U of R APT Darlene Juschka Britt Hall Jennifer Love Green Claire Carter Karen Meagher Stephen Wihak Claire Polster Rachel Husband Faculty of Social Work Tamara Tucker Faculty of Business Administration Daniel Kikulwe Dwight Heinrichs Doug Durst First Nations University of Canada APT CCE/ESL La Cite Trina Joseph Fadi Tannouri Celine Magnon Candace Cappo Faculty of Education Librarians and Archivists Finance Committee Pamela Osmond-Johnson Marilyn Andrews Andrei Volodin Lab Instructors Equity Committee Faculty of Engineering and Applied Maria Davis Claire Carter Sciences Rene Mayorga Campion College Academic Pension and Benefits Committee Anna Mudde Peter Douglas Faculty of Media, Art and Performance Luther College Academic Robert Truszkowski Sessional Advocacy Committee Louis Awanyo Christian Thompson Barbara Meneley Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School First Nations University of of Public Policy Canada Academic Vacant Bylaws and Resolutions Kathleen O’Reilly Committee Vacant Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Sessionals Studies Bridget Keating James Daschuk Grievance Chair Ricardo Arisnabaretta-Montejo Hirsch Greenberg URFA Update June, 2019 4 STRIKE AVOIDED URFA members mobilize to reach agreement with University It’s the closest that URFA has tiations between the bargaining How did you first get involved come to going on strike in re- committee and the University, with the Job Action Committee cent memory. Strike notice was there was a key group of URFA (JAC)? served to the University. A strike U of R Academic members who headquarters had been secured. dedicated hours of their time to DJ: I actually first joined in August Hundreds of students packed the making sure that if the bargaing 2018, there was a small group Education Building for a bargain- committee was unable to reach of us that started meeting as a ing town hall meeting. Dozens of an agreement URFA would be pre- strategy committee. It wasn’t members showed up for picket pared for a strike. JAC at that point, and I sort of training. The wheels were in mo- went from there. We were bar- tion for a full walkout of U of R Ac- URFA recently sat down with a gaining and I felt it was something ademic staff just days before the few members of the Job Action that I should contribute to. start of final exams when, shortly Committee to discuss their ex- after 6:00 pm on Monday, March perience on the committee, how MS: I was on the same informal 24, an announcement arrived they mobilized the membership, strategy committee first, and from the U of R Academic bargain- and what we can do to keep mem- then that sort of became JAC. I ing committee: After countless bers engaged outside of collec- joined because of civic duty. I get hours of bargaining, member town tive bargaining. The members in- the benefits of being part of the hall meetings, tabling on campus, terviewed are: union, so you have to give back a successful strike mandate sometimes. Joining committees vote, and an unsuccessful me- Darlene Juschka (DJ) is a recultant thing for me to do, diation, they had finally reached Marc Spooner (MS) because there are so many of a tentative agreement with the William Arnal (WA) them, but this one seemed im- University.

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