Seasons Greetings from Your KFA

Dear Kwantlen Faculty Association Members,

Season’s Greetings! We are sure you are looking forward to a well-deserved break in your busy schedules and to spending time with family and friends during the holidays.

As 2019 draws to a close, it seems an opportune time to reflect on the work YourKFA has been doing over the past year.

The KFA would like to thank all those faculty members who work voluntarily on behalf of the association and our membership all year long. Thank you for your work on search committees, on area district labour councils, at the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, on the Working Conditions committee, the Disability Management Rehabilitation committee, the Faculty Performance Review Committee, the Labour Management Relations Committee, the Occupational Health and Safety Committee, and the .6% Professional Development Committee.

Your Executive Representatives have also been busy representing faculty members regarding a number of issues including regularization, chair & search committee elections, respectful workplace rights, support for members, understanding NR1 & NR2 work, and organizing retirement & pension workshops.

Other highlights include:

• Tanya Boboricken, KFA LGBTQ2S+ Committee representative, organized an event with Out In Schools to facilitate a discussion/short film presentation in recognition of Transgender Day of Remembrance
• Seema Ahluwalia, Decolonization, Reconciliation, & Indigenization Committee representative, has been working with FPSE committee members on an anti-racism workshop for the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators
• Cherylynn Bassani, the KFA Status of Women Committee representative, organized the December 6th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women – Memorial Service.
• Ann Marie Davison, Disability Management Rehabilitation Committee Co-Chair locally and Chair at FPSE, has been supporting Regular and Non-Regular Type 2 faculty members who are absent from work due to illness or injury until their return to regular duties.

Table Officers continue to work on local & provincial bargaining and grievance resolutions along with continued advocacy and support for all of our members. Looking ahead to 2020, we are excited to welcome our second Member-at-Large, Betty Cunnin, to the KFA Executive.

We would also like to take the opportunity 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 the larger faculty membership.

On the bargaining front, KFA bargaining proposals were developed by our bargaining team based on the bargaining priorities approved by our membership at the 2018 Fall General Meeting. During 2019, we met with the employer on eight occasions to exchange proposals and work toward a fair and reasonable deal. 

Local bargaining was then put on hold in October as KPU administration participated in local bargaining with the BCGEU, and the KFA took part in the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) Template Table negotiations at the Provincial level. Although KPU is not one of the signatory institutions at the FPSE Template Table, the KFA participates in all caucus discussions and all bargaining sessions.  Any improvements negotiated at the Template Table are then brought to our local table for bargaining.

At this moment, we are tentatively scheduled to meet with our employer a number of times in January and February, 2020.

The KFA office will close as of 11:30, Friday, December 20th and reopen on Thursday, January 2. If you require assistance during this closure, please email any of the Table Officers. We will be checking email intermittently over the holidays.

Sincerely,

Bob Davis, Diane Walsh, Raphael Lagoutin, Romy Kozak, & Mark Diotte