February 2024 – What has ASPA been up to?
Prince Albert Campus Visit
The ASPA president and two vice presidents and our admin assistant visited the PA campus on November 20, 2023. Currently, there are seventeen (17) members at the PA campus and twelve (12) of the ASPA members working on PA campus attended our lunch and learn gathering. ASPA members from PA campus appreciated our visit. They also had many questions to leadership regarding issues such as benefits, leave, salary revision/reviews, vacation accumulation, and hosting events/socials in PA. Thanks to Bonnie Kraska, Operations Manager, from PA campus for coordinating this event.
Regina Campus visit
We (ASPA president, two vice presidents and our admin assistant) visited Regina campus on December 8, 2023. Annie Either, Assistant Manager, and Nicole Gates-Willick, Administrative Coordinator of Clerkship, from Regina campus coordinated this visit. There are nineteen (19) members at the Regina campus with thirteen (13) of them attending the lunch and learn gathering planned. During this session, many questions to leadership were brought by the members regarding the Lunch and Learns that are held monthly, benefits, salary and raises, the Collective Agreement, and having socials out in Regina. The Regina members planned and had a Winter Social of their own at Baller’s Rec Room, January 12, 2024.
Voting Rights in Academic Money Purchase Plan – AMPP (ASPA Pension Plan)
ASPA currently has a seat on the plan board as an observer. As an observer, obviously ASPA does not have any voting rights. The Faculty Association and University nominates the rest of the board members who have full voting rights. On this front, Ken Glover our observer to the AMPP board did a presentation to ASPA executive at our executive meeting held on October 12, 2023. He briefly discussed various issues related to our lack of voting rights and suggested some solutions. We took up this lack of real representation in the November 2023 Administrative Employees Consultative Committee (AECC) and the employer is asserting that the AMPP was set up based on the bargaining with USFA. Employer also stated that the voting rights to ASPA are not going to drastically change anything in the AMPP board as it is a plan for the collective unions, rather than individually. We are still pursuing this idea to get a voting seat for ASPA in the AMPP board. We will update members when we get some new information at the next AECC meeting, March 6, 2024.
IT Software Committee Creation
The ASPA Staff have been finding the software we are currently using to be affecting the efficiency levels in the office. We are looking for experts in Information Technology, computing, and software to form a committee to help the ASPA executive to decide on the current and future needs of software as above.
ASPA, being a 1600+ member organization, deals with hundreds of member issues. We need to have a robust system to track, process, investigate, document, and archive these member issues. A thorough review of our current processes and technologies is to be done to make ASPA technologically equipped to deal with the myriad of member issues. This committee will require the Administrative Assistant and the Member Services Officer to be a part of it.
A formal call to the membership of this important committee is in the process.
Unions Working Together Meeting (UWTM)
Our monthly meetings with all campus unions are held on the third Thursday of each month. We submitted a joint letter to President Peter Stoicheff of the university requesting the need to consult campus unions in confidence before implementing Administrative Services Renewal (ASR) and Integrated Services Renewal (ISR) initiatives. The President directed the senior leadership and project implementation team to update all campus unions. The project leaders presented a brief project outline including the tentative timelines. We understand that similar presentations were also done by the project leadership to our campus unions. In our last couple of UWTM’s we discussed the need for better detailed, substantial, and timely updates by the employer to ensure that unions are aware of the details and their impact on the union members. Subsequently, we drafted a joint letter to the project leadership. We are waiting for available dates from the project team to host a lunch and learn regarding the ASR and ISR initiatives.
Strike Manual
The ASPA Executive has decided to develop a strike manual in the case that the union goes on strike or lockout in any round of bargaining. The call to create a committee for this has been sent out to the membership.
General Office
ASPA’s financial and administrative assistant, Angeline Hainstock, will be taking her maternity leave starting from May 1, 2024, for 12 months. We are looking for a replacement for a 13-month term starting from April 1, 2024, to April 30, 2025. This will allow a one-month overlap to ensure training and a smooth transition. We would like to find a suitable candidate from our members who have recently been laid off, or terms who are ending. Please watch out for detailed job posting coming in late February 2024, and if you know of someone who can be a good fit, please have them apply.
ASPA’s reporting software is accessed on About Us each month, pulling new members, current members, retiring members, eligible service award recipients, along with important statistics compiled for data tracking each month. Please ensure that your information on PAWS is up to date to ensure accurate tracking. This is appreciated!
The ASPA General Office hours are Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 4:00pm. Please feel free to stop by and say hello to our staff. They are in Kirk Hall, rooms 302 and 304. If you have any inquires, you can contact us at aspa@aspasask.ca or call us at 306.966.2471.
Member Services Officer
The Member Services Officer has been busy answering members’ calls and assisting with their concerns. The office is currently wrapping up the Covid Policy arbitration and then moving on to the preparations for an upcoming Judicial Review for Improper Distribution of the Bargaining Unit. ASPA has also initiated four (4) grievances over the last couple of months and are now moving them through the grievance process.
Our Member Services Officer continues to represent members in meetings with management, fact-finding investigations, compensation inquiries, and many more numerous concerns. The office is extremely busy, but please feel free contact us to set up a meeting for any member that has a question regarding their terms of employment, representation rights, or hours of work. You can send the Member Services Officer an email at glenn@aspasask.ca or call him at 306.966.7392.
ASPA Standing Committees
If you or someone you now are interested in volunteering on an ASPA Committee, please email us at aspa@aspasask.ca. If you would like more information, you may find it on the website here.
Engagement Committee
The ASPA Committees have merged three major committees into subcategories of the Engagement committee. The three are the Education committee, Communications and Public Relations committee, and the Social committee.
Currently, the Communications and Public Relations volunteers are working hard editing emails that go out to the membership and working to improve the ASPA Website. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not forget about the suggestion box, which can be found in the sidebar of our website at aspasask.ca. Submission via the suggestion box can be anonymous.
The Education volunteers have been busy with sending Executive members and general members to professional development events such as the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour’s Occupational Health and Safety Conference, as well as a Union Labour Conference. Lunch and Learn sessions have also been on their agenda, with the last one being about Domestic Violence in the Workplace, facilitated by Andrea Howe. Our sessions are recorded so if you missed one, you may watch them on the website here.
The Social volunteers have also been hard at work planning the upcoming Winter Social. This will be held February 14, 2024, in the Marquis Hall Exeter room from 11:30am – 1:30pm. This is a come and go event for our members to mingle with each other, meet the Executive members, and have any inquiries answered. There will be food and beverages provided, along with forty (40) gift cards to be won!
Research Committee
The Research volunteers have been standing by for direction from the Executive. There has been one survey released since bargaining regarding the satisfaction of the membership with ASPA’s services. This survey, and your responses, are critical in guiding the future strategic direction of ASPA. The report will be posted to the website once approved by the Executive. Other survey reports can be found on the website here.
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) and other SK Labour Union News
In November of 2023, the ASPA Executive met with SFL President Lori Johb and Secretary-Treasurer Kent Peterson, who had reached out requesting a meeting to hear member concerns regarding the rising cost-of-living, a crisis in healthcare, and dangerous workplaces, amongst other issues. ASPA Executive members raised our concerns regarding flat provincial funding to post-secondary institutions and rising tuition fees, and how this is impacting employee working conditions and student access and wellness.
The SFL’s Speak Up Saskatchewan campaign, made for and by workers, was launched by SFL affiliates and partner unions in the summer of 2023. The campaign is designed to raise issues, build capacity, and take action to raise the credibility and value of the labour movement in Saskatchewan. In 2023, this included a digital ad campaign (335,000 Saskatchewan people saw 1.7 million ad impression), collection of signatures on petitions and mailing lists (over 13,000 people have “endorsed” the campaign via www.speakupsask.ca), member training via two “Mobilizer School” events, and an October 10th rally in response to the provincial government’s egregious use of the Notwithstanding Clause. Expect to hear more from the Speak Up Saskatchewan campaign as election day approaches in the province.
Other SFL-related events included the Annual Occupational Health and Safety Conference, which was held September 13 – 15, 2023, with twenty (20) of the ASPA membership being sent, and a Unions Supporting Unions Conference on September 28, 2023, to which ASPA sent six (6) Executive members and ten (10) of the general membership. The latter event was presented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1400, and welcomed “union-side labour lawyers, labour representatives, shop stewards, and union members” to hear from guest speakers as they shared their successes, challenges, strategies, and impactful arbitration decisions.
The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) has gone on strike twice in January. ASPA sent out messages on January 12th and January 22nd regarding our support and how ASPA members can manage disruptions to their work. We encourage you to direct any frustrations to your MLA and to the Honourable Minister of Education, Jeremy Cockrill, and to continue to support teachers via their Tell Them Tuesday campaign.
Finances
The ASPA Treasurer, Erica Li-Humen, will be ending her term on the ASPA Executive as of April 30, 2024. Erica has done a terrific job in her time serving this crucial role and will be sorely missed. If you have skills related to financial management and/or bookkeeping, please consider putting your name forward to be on the ASPA Executive and think about volunteering as the Treasurer.
The yearly audit for ASPA has been started and the financial reports will be available at the AGM in April 2024.
Nominations Committee
The call for the Nominations Committee went our January 24, 2024, with the intention of recruiting volunteers by the end of January. Stay tuned for upcoming information about what it means to serve on the ASPA Executive, and to put your name forth for the ASPA Executive for 2024-2025.
In Solidarity,
Paul Jacob, ASPA President 2023-2024
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Do you have concerns/suggestions to share with ASPA leadership? Share your feedback, with or without your name, at aspasask.ca.
ASPA (Administrative and Supervisory Personnel Association) 