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Season’s Greetings from Your KFA

Dear Kwantlen Faculty Association Members,

Season’s Greetings! We hope this email finds you and yours safe and well.

At the close of 2020, we would like to share an update on the work of your Union.

First, the KFA would like to thank all colleagues who volunteer on behalf of the association and our membership all year long. Thank you for your work in areas such as search advisory committees, labour councils, the Bargaining Committee, the Disability Management Rehabilitation Committee, the Labour Management Relations Committee, the Occupational Health and Safety Committee, the .6% Professional Development Committee, the Political Action Committee, the Anti-Racism Working Group, Federation of Post-Secondary Educators’ committees, and of course, your Union Executive.

Some highlights from this year include:

  • KFA Members turned out in higher numbers than ever for our online general meetings as well as our first-ever online election forum.
  • The KFA membership ratified the new 2019-2022 KPU-KFA Collective Agreement on July 21, 2020.
  • The Union and Employer jointly agreed to the COVID FAQs, addressing our working conditions during the pandemic.
  • Seema Ahluwalia, KFA Decolonization, Reconciliation, & Indigenization Committee representative and one of our delegates to the Vancouver & District Labour Council, was elected Member-at-Large on the VDLC Executive and played a significant role in helping the VDLC establish its Anti-Racism Committee.
  • Tanya Boboricken, KFA LGBTQ2S+ Committee representative, in conjunction with KDocsFF Outreach, student R from the KSA, and PDEC, organized a showing, keynote, and panel discussion of the award-winning, KPU alum-directed documentary, My Name Was January, in honour of the life of trans activist January Marie Lapuz.
  • Kristi Dukewich, KFA Occupational Health & Safety Committee Chair, and Mark Diotte, Member-at-Large, hosted the “KFA Presents” workshop “Making Your Courses More Manageable,” with over 120 faculty members attending via Zoom.
  • Balbir Gurm, KFA Labour Community Advocate, co-wrote Making Sense of a Global Pandemic: Relationship Violence & Working Towards a Violence Free Society, which can be found at https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/nevr/. This free ebook has 25 chapters and 512 pages covering relationship violence against all genders.
  • Many grievances were resolved in the mediation process prior to arbitration.
  • Our Administrative Assistant, Amy Nagi, welcomed baby Noor on December 3rd! (Photo below).

Your Executive Representatives have also been busy representing faculty members on a number of issues, including regularization, performance review, and understanding NR1 & NR2 work. In addition, we have just approved the KFA 2020-2021 Work Plan and the Priorities of Anti-Racism, Member-Engagement, and COVID-19 Planning.

Throughout the year, your Table Officers have continued to work on many joint Union-Employer committees and grievance resolutions, as well as advocacy and support for all of our members.

Looking ahead to 2020, Mark Diotte begins his term as Vice President, Negotiations, and we welcome Rachelle Hollaway as our appointed second Member-at-Large.

We would like to thank our support staff, Kyla Rand and Amy Nagi, for all of the hard work they do year-round to support the KFA Executive and membership. We also wish to welcome Gill Jones to the team as our interim Administrative Assistant while Amy is on leave.  

The KFA office is closed as of Friday, December 18th and will reopen on Monday, January 4th. If you require urgent assistance during this closure, please email any of the Table Officers. We will be checking email intermittently over the holidays.

Happy Holidays! Wishing you a restorative break,

Your KFA Table Officers

Gillian Dearle, Diane Walsh, Raphael Lagoutin, Mark Diotte, Romy Kozak, and Betty Cunnin

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