Welcome Back from YourKFA

Dear KFA Faculty Colleagues,

I hope you all had a restful and fun-filled summer.

Welcome back to a new academic year—complete with a new potential policy on academic title, continuing pressures due to decreased international student enrolment, the Employer’s launch of Simple Syllabus, and significant political upheaval in BC politics!

Academic Title

As many of you will have seen, KPU has launched what they are referring to as a “policy initiative at KPU” which is titled AC16 Academic Title Awards. The introductory message from Associate Vice President Academic, Dr. David Burns, seems to be an initial statement geared toward generating discussion and consultation coupled with an announcement of future drop-in sessions with both the AVP and President Alan Davis.

It is early days yet in the consultation process, and the KFA is in the midst of formulating a perspective on the matter as KFA Executive Committee members return from vacation. At this point, we are able to say that on the basis of language in Article 1.03 of the KFA-KFA Collective Agreement: Conflict with Policies, “[I]n the event of a conflict between the content of [the Collective Agreement] and any policies made by the Employer, the terms of this agreement will prevail.”

It has also been brought to our attention that faculty may be hesitant in expressing their perspectives in a public manner on the policy blog. If this is the case, please send you opinion or perspective to mark.diotte@kpu.ca. Once we gather these perspectives over the coming days, we will communicate them anonymously to the Employer.

Student Enrolment

The KFA is aware of faculty concerns around international student enrolment pressures. We are meeting with President Alan Davis and other senior KPU administrators on a regular basis to keep informed of the situation and reach agreements to mitigate enrolment pressures where possible. As you may recall, the KFA and the Employer reached an agreement in June to prevent the issuing of layoff notices for regular faculty members by providing time release opportunities to those areas experiencing low international student enrolment and a reduction in course sections.

In my meeting with President Alan Davis on August 21st, he committed to providing the KFA with a full-picture update on the situation once we have enrolment data as of the Fall stable enrolment date. It is my hope that we can move beyond data concerning whether or not enrolment is down year-over-year to a data set that presents a complete understanding of enrolment sustainability related to the current faculty numbers and current course offerings at KPU. We are also hopeful that the Employer might proceed with offering other mitigation strategies such as retirement incentives over the coming months.

Simple Syllabus

Many faculty will have seen an announcement from their Dean’s Office or from Teaching & Learning about the launch of Phase 1 of Simple Syllabus. According to the announcement, the program “has been purchased at KPU to support the creation, dissemination, and archiving of the consistent, accurate and accessible course syllabi across the institution.”

So far, the KFA has been approached by faculty with queries about academic freedom rights in the conduct of their teaching, the difficulty and constraints of the program, issues around faculty intellectual property rights, and whether the use of the program is a directive of the Employer or a suggestion.

While our engagement with the Employer on this topic continues, our initial understanding at this point is that Simple Syllabus is a choice for faculty and that faculty remain able to use their own course syllabi as they have done in the past. The KFA is continuing to investigate academic freedom and intellectual property concerns with the support of our Federation of Post-Secondary Educators.

BC Politics

On the matter of the ever-extraordinary BC political front where the BC Liberal/United party seems to have collapsed, both the KFA and our Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) are closely monitoring the situation and through FPSE are liaising with our public-sector partners and the BC Federation of Labour to stay apprised of emerging events.

In solidarity,

Mark Diotte

On behalf of your KFA Table Officers

Labour Day 2024

Dear Kwantlen Faculty Association members,

Your KFA Table Officers would like to wish you a happy Labour Day long weekend!

Let us recall that Labour Day has been a statutory holiday in Canada since 1894 and originates in the 1872 Toronto printers’ fight for a nine-hour work day. The Toronto printers’ strike was ultimately successful in achieving the nine-hour work day, and those events led to the Trade Unions Act of 1872 which made it legal to belong to a trade union. Since that time, local, provincial, and national solidarity has led to improved working conditions for unionized and non-unionized workplaces alike—improvements such as minimum wage, sick leave, maternity and parental leave, and the right to a safe work environment.

For the Kwantlen Faculty Association, Local 5 of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, provincial solidarity has led to improved working conditions in areas such as benefits, regularization, salary increases, and professional development.

To mark Labour Day 2024, the Vancouver and District Labour Council and New Westminster and District Labour Council are co-hosting the Metro Vancouver Labour Day Celebration. Join the celebration in Edmunds Park on Monday, September 2nd between 11:00 and 3:00 for a “free, fun, family friendly celebration.” Please click here for more information.

BC Climate Emergency Campaign

The Kwantlen Faculty Association signed on to the BC Climate Emergency Campaign back in 2022 and remains a signatory to the 10 Urgent Actions to confront the Climate Emergency.

The Campaign is:

is a group of civil society organizations, anxious about the climate emergency, who are collaborating to increase the ambition of climate policy and action in BC. We are not a formal coalition, but have chosen to work together on a joint campaign.

We encourage interested KFA members to visit the site and take advantage of events hosted by the Campaign over the year. For example, in 2024, the Campaign hosted events such as “Connecting BC: Public transit and the transition to zero emission transportation” as well as a free public panel “Confronting Wildfires in an Era of Climate Emergency,” this latter even similar to KPU’s own Climate+ Challenge Fire, Climate, and Community Panel. 

KPU Retirees Association

Are you thinking of retiring? Did you know that KPU has a Retirees Association? 

From their site: 

KPU Retirees Association (founded 2018)

The KPU Retirees Association became a registered society in June 2018. Our first Annual Meeting was held in May 2019 in our official founding year, 2019. The list of Full KPURA Founding Members and Founding Associate Members can be found at the bottom this page. We have continued on face-to-face and now in virtual formats ever since.

Thinking about Retiring?

Here is a short piece of some of the things you may want to consider as you contemplate retirement. 

Become a Member

KPURA is a great way to keep in touch with colleagues. We organize a number of fun events each year – for instance, in 2021 so far we have had a Virtual ‘Armchair Tour through Menton, France” and a historical look at the “Arches of Chinatown”. (See https://www.kpu.ca/retirees/events for details of these and other past and future events.)

And, since KPURA is now a registered society, members can gain access to other retirees’ associations such as the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC), and thus to other benefits.

KPURA’s Annual Membership Fee for 2024 is set at $15.

2024_KPURA_Full_Member_Application.pdf
2024 KPURA_Associate_Member_Application.pdf

Naloxone and the Toxic Drug Crisis

Dear KFA Colleagues,

The toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency in 2016. Since then, there have been over 40,000 drug overdose deaths across Canada – about 14,000 of these in BC. In 2023, 2511 people died of a drug overdose in BC.

This is an issue that affects faculty and students at universities and colleges. Sadly, in January, a University of Victoria student died on campus due to fentanyl poisoning and those with her were not equipped to administer life-saving naloxone.

Faculty who are interested in learning more about how to use naloxone can become certified by taking a short 1-hour course. Naloxone can be accessed at pharmacies across BC and/or through Take Home Naloxone programs (see https://towardtheheart.com/naloxone).

The KFA has advocated on this issue with the Employer in our Labour Management Relations Committee, and we are exploring the possibility of participating in the Facility Overdose Response Box (FORB) program. We will keep members updated.

The KFA thanks faculty member Dr. Alicia Horton in providing the information contained in this message, and we also thank the Departments of Sociology and Criminology for their advocacy with the KFA on this matter.

On behalf of the KFA Executive,

Mark Diotte, President, KFA

Final Call for Nominations for 2024 KFA Elections

Dear Kwantlen Faculty Association Members,

In accordance with Article 7 of our Constitution and By-Laws, this is the final call for nominations for the following positions on the KFA Executive Committee:

KFA Executive Committee

• President (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• VP Negotiations (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• Member-at-Large (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• Science & Horticulture Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Business Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Faculty of Health Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Faculty of Trades & Technology (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• Ombudsperson (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• School of Design Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Qualifying Studies & Access Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• Non-Regular Faculty Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Status of Women Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Academic Governance Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Occupational Health & Safety Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Pension Advisory Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirited+ Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2025)

KFA Working Conditions Committee

• Science/Applied Science Studies & Horticulture Working Conditions Committee Representative
• School of Business Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Trades & Technology Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Qualifying Studies & Access Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Non-Regular Faculty Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Wilson School of Design Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Status of Women Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Social Sciences Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Humanities Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Learner Support/Co-op Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Faculty of Health Working Conditions Committee Representative

Please see the attached document titled “Responsibilities of an Executive Member” and By-law 4.2 for information about these roles. Please also see the attached KFA Conflict of Interest Policy.

Nomination Period – March 26 to April 17, 2024

The nomination period runs from March 26 to April 17, at noon. Nomination forms are to be sent to the Chief Returning Officer (C.R.O.), Rachelle Hollaway. Three calls for nominations will be made during this time period. In the event that the call for nominations results in only one nomination being received by the close of the nomination period, the nominee shall be acclaimed at the Annual General Meeting on April 18, 2024. If there is more than one nominee, an online election will be held.

The nominations received to date are as follows:

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can find more information about the election process on our website.

Rachelle Hollaway, Member-at-Large

Officer Responsible for the Election

Notice of Motions and Amendments to the KFA Constitution & By-Laws

Dear Kwantlen Faculty Association Members,

In advance of the Spring KFA AGM, we are providing notice of a motion to change dues from 1.95% to 2.20% of gross faculty salary. If passed, this change would mean an approximate increase of $10.96 per pay cheque for a 100% faculty member on the top salary step. The last time we adjusted dues was 15 years ago at the April 2009 AGM. Please go to the Members/minutes area of the KFA website to view a document that provides context for this motion for you to review.

In addition to the notice of motion regarding dues, and in accordance with By-Law 3.4.1, this is notice of changes for By-Laws # 7 & 8:

7. BY-LAW #7: ELECTIONS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND OMBUDSPERSON

7.11 Educational Leave

A vacancy created by an Executive Committee Member who has been awarded an Educational Leave will be filled by the following process:

7.11.1  If the Executive Committee Member on Educational Leave does not wish to continue in their role and there is time remaining in their elected term, they will resign from their position, and the vacancy will be filled as per BY-LAW #8: REPLACEMENT

7.11.2   If the Executive Committee Member on Educational Leave wishes to continue in their role and there is time remaining in their elected term after the end of their Educational Leave, then the member will temporarily step down from their position and the KFA Executive will make a replacement appointment as per BY-LAW #8: REPLACEMENT for the duration of the Educational Leave at which point the incumbent will resume the remainder of their original elected term.

8. BY-LAW #8: REPLACEMENT

8.1         If the office of Vice-President—Grievances, Vice-President—Negotiations, Member(s)–at-Large, or Secretary-Treasurer becomes vacant, the Executive Committee shall appoint a member of the Association to serve until the next meeting of the voting members of the Association, subject to the restrictions of Article 7.1 & 7.11 of the By-Laws, according to the following procedures:

• The President shall recommend an appointee to the Executive Committee.

• The Executive Committee members shall also have the opportunity to put forward nominations.

• The Executive Committee shall vote to confirm, or in the event there is more than one candidate, elect the appointee.

MOTION: To approve the changes to By-Law #7 and #8 as recommended by the Executive.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Mark Diotte, President

Second Call for Nominations for 2024 KFA Elections

Dear Kwantlen Faculty Association Members,

In accordance with Article 7 of our Constitution and By-Laws, this is the second call for nominations for the following positions on the KFA Executive Committee:

KFA Executive Committee

• President (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• VP Negotiations (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• Member-at-Large (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• Science & Horticulture Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Business Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Faculty of Health Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Faculty of Trades & Technology (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• Ombudsperson (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• School of Design Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Qualifying Studies & Access Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• Non-Regular Faculty Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Status of Women Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Academic Governance Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Occupational Health & Safety Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Pension Advisory Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirited+ Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2025)

KFA Working Conditions Committee

• Science/Applied Science Studies & Horticulture Working Conditions Committee Representative
• School of Business Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Trades & Technology Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Qualifying Studies & Access Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Non-Regular Faculty Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Wilson School of Design Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Status of Women Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Social Sciences Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Humanities Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Learner Support/Co-op Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Faculty of Health Working Conditions Committee Representative
   

Please see the attached document titled “Responsibilities of an Executive Member” and By-law 4.2 for information about these roles. Please also see the KFA Conflict of Interest Policy attached.

Nomination Period – March 26 to April 17, 2024

The nomination period runs from March 26 to April 17, at noon. Nomination forms are to be sent to the Chief Returning Officer (C.R.O.), Rachelle Hollaway. Three calls for nominations will be made during this time period. In the event that the call for nominations results in only one nomination being received by the close of the nomination period, the nominee shall be acclaimed at the Annual General Meeting on April 18, 2024. If there is more than one nominee, an online election will be held.

The nominations received to date are as follows:

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can find more information about the election process on our website.

Rachelle Hollaway, Member-at-Large

Officer Responsible for the Election

First Call for Nominations for 2024 KFA Elections

Dear Kwantlen Faculty Association Members,

In accordance with Article 7 of our Constitution and By-Laws, this is the first call for nominations for the following positions on the KFA Executive Committee:

KFA Executive Committee

• President (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• VP Negotiations (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• Member-at-Large (until end of term, August 31, 2026)
• Science & Horticulture Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Business Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Faculty of Health Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Faculty of Trades & Technology (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• Ombudsperson (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• School of Design Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Qualifying Studies & Access Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
• Non-Regular Faculty Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Status of Women Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Academic Governance Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Occupational Health & Safety Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Pension Advisory Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2026)
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirited+ Committee Representative (until end of term, May 31, 2025)
   

KFA Working Conditions Committee

• Science/Applied Science Studies & Horticulture Working Conditions Committee Representative
• School of Business Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Trades & Technology Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Qualifying Studies & Access Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Non-Regular Faculty Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Wilson School of Design Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Status of Women Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Social Sciences Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Humanities Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Learner Support/Co-op Working Conditions Committee Representative
• Faculty of Health Working Conditions Committee Representative

Please see the attached document titled “Responsibilities of an Executive Representative” and By-law 4.2 for information about these roles. Please also see the KFA Conflict of Interest Policy. 

Nomination Period – March 26 to April 17, 2024

The nomination period runs from March 26 to April 17, at noon. Nomination forms are to be sent to the Chief Returning Officer (C.R.O.), Rachelle Hollaway. Three calls for nominations will be made during this time period. In the event that the call for nominations results in only one nomination being received by the close of the nomination period, the nominee shall be acclaimed at the Annual General Meeting on April 18, 2024. If there is more than one nominee, an online election will be held.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can find more information about the election process on our website.

Rachelle Hollaway, Member-at-Large

Officer Responsible for the Election

Regularization? Increase to regularization?

Hello colleagues,

We understand that your regularization or increasing your regularization is a concern for a number of people right now. To help make sure everyone knows their rights, the KFA would like to summarize these for you.

Regularization is defined in the Collective Agreement as an entitlement to “ongoing work.” If you have ongoing work then you would have worked at least 50% during two consecutive years, and at least 50% work is available (or performed) during the third year. Work as both NR1 and/or NR2 counts towards regularization.

If you are working or are scheduled to work during the timeframe where you should expect to be regularized (or have a verbal or email promise of work), then you are entitled to be regularized regardless of paperwork in hand, though it is nice to have that paperwork in hand as soon as possible.

Part-time regular faculty who have been consistently working above their regularization percentage through additional work each year are entitled to an increase in regularization percentage. This increase must occur. The new language says:

After the initial determination of the regularization percentage, if there is a reasonable expectation of an ongoing workload over and above the initial regularization percentage, the member shall have their regularization percentage increased by the corresponding amount.

Ongoing work is defined in the same way as above, over a three-year time span. If this describes your workload history, then you are entitled to a regularization increase. If you have been regularized at a workload below the workload you have performed over the past three years (even prior to regularization), then your regularization percentage needs to be increased now.

Your rights exist now if you are entitled now. We are advocating “behind the scenes,” as it were, with KPU admin to continue with regularization and to take action on increases to regularization even in our current uncertain times. Even if we have enrolment problems that result in fewer sections of available work at some future point, entitlement to regularization is a right that exists as of that third year.

Furthermore, the layoff procedures in the Collective Agreement are designed to deal with a decrease in work at the point the work is actually decreased. Not before. Being regularized and then laid off is far better than not being regularized because we have mitigation, severance, and recall rights as described in the Collective Agreement.

Next steps you can take: if you believe you are due to be regularized or to have your regularization increased, you can contact your dean’s office, enquire, and ask for an appointment letter. If you’ve already done this, you may want to ask again for the appointment letter if you have not received it in a reasonable amount of time (if, for instance, it’s been a month since you last heard anything related to your regularization from the dean’s office).

Contact the KFA if your enquiries don’t yield an appointment letter or you prefer not to enquire, and we will follow up on your behalf.

Addendum 

Part-time regulars: If there was non-regular work in your department and you were not offered the work, you should have been. It is improper to offer out non-regular work before offering it to a part-time regular faculty member.

Therefore, this work should be included as part of what will make you entitled to a regularization increase.

In solidarity,

Diane