Hello my fellow ASPA members! Greetings to all of you. My name is Adi (Aditya) Manek and the ASPA executive at the May 2025 executive meeting selected me to continue serving as your President for 2025-2026. For 2023-2024, I was one of the two Vice-Presidents in my very first year on the ASPA executive and President for 2024-2025. Over the last two years, I was able to dive into the responsibilities of the ASPA leadership, make some meaningful connections with the university leadership, get involved with several committees that work towards the benefit of our ASPA members, and seek a lot of relevant training making it easier for me to continue in this leadership role. I am a firm believer of open communication and encourage all of you to talk to me or the ASPA office if you are curious about your rights in the workplace or want to discuss any ideas that can help ASPA include positive and meaningful changes in our working conditions. I also want to give a shout out to our ASPA staff members, Angeline (welcome back from maternity leave!) and Emily (term ended on April 30, 2025-thank you!) who do all the heavy lifting in our office. Your efforts are invaluable and always appreciated.
I wanted to inform you that our MSO, Glenn Billingsley, decided to move on to a new adventure and hence his last day with ASPA was June 15, 2025. Thank you, Glenn, for your services over the last three years! We are currently in the recruitment process to find a new MSO and will update you once we have successfully completed the hiring process. In the meantime, you can always reach out to me for any issues or concerns that you would typically go to Glenn for.
I would also like to give a shout out to all our ASPA members who are working from our satellite locations in Prince Albert, and Regina. Your involvement is equally important and always appreciated. I look forward to interacting with you again this year.
Additionally, I would like to thank the ten ASPA members who put their name forward for the five open positions to join the ASPA executive this year and the nominations committee of 2024-2025 for doing a stellar job of recruiting candidates and running a successful online voting process. In the history of ASPA, this is the first time that we have ever received a nomination to join the executive from a satellite location. This speaks about the increasing engagement of our super talented members. For those of you who could not make it in the top five, please consider putting your name again for next year. Also, if you are interested in joining any of the ASPA committees as a volunteer, please contact myself (aditya@aspasask.ca) or the ASPA office (aspa@aspasask.ca). We are always looking forward to hearing from you.
I’d like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance and guidance I continually receive from past ASPA leaders and former Executive members. I want to recognize contributions from the outgoing Executive members of 2024-2025 for their roles in devising various initiatives to enhance the membership experience. Our union is fortunate to have an exceptional contingent of ASPA members who volunteered their time for various committees. I encourage all ASPA members who can find some time to volunteer for ASPA committees and consider running for future leadership roles.
Finally, I would also like to thank Ken Glover for his work continually providing IT support to ASPA.
ASPA Updates:
Executive Committee
The new Executive Committee members assumed office as of May 1, 2025, and we are excited to have the most diverse Executive Committee we’ve ever had, with 2SLGBTQIA+ and Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour representation. We held our first meeting on May 08, 2025. During that meeting, four leadership roles were filled for 2025-2026, including Candice Pete-Cardoso and Robert Procyk (from Prince Albert) as Vice-Presidents, Erica Li-Humen as Treasurer, and I was voted into the role of President.
The members of the Executive are as follows:
- Aditya Manek
- Alexis Dahl
- Candice Pete-Cardoso
- Darla Read
- Dawn Giesbrecht
- Erica Li-Humen
- Evan Potts
- John Costa
- Karen Mosier
- Paige Larsen
- Robert Procyk
- Simona Meier
The 2025-2026 Executive Committee met twice so far, and we have been discussing ongoing issues and working towards new policies and procedures that will benefit current and future ASPA Executive members and staff. Additionally, we are closely monitoring the layoff situation on campus and preparing for the upcoming bargaining year.
General Membership
The ASPA membership continues to stay strong with 1647 members as of this month. Fluctuations in membership numbers are usually due to casual employees, such as markers/proctors.
Overview of Membership Numbers
- As of April 1, 2025 – 1683 Members
- As of May 1, 2025 – 1659 Members
- As of June 1, 2025 – 1647 Members
Standing Committees
Communications and Public Relations Sub-Committee (Part of Engagement Committee)
This committee has been working hard to improve membership engagement and transparency on what goes on behind the scenes, while updating some of our communications processes and tools.
There is a “Suggestion Box” on the website, which you can find it at aspasask.ca on the right-hand sidebar. Please feel free to leave any of your comments and suggestions for the Executive Committee. Changes have been made to ensure it is anonymous for those who chose to be.
Education Sub-Committee (Part of Engagement Committee)
This committee has been working towards identifying learning opportunities for our membership. The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) Spring School was held in May of 2025, and I am happy to update you six of our members attended this event and had nothing but great things to say about what they learned and gained at the spring school. You’ll hear more about their experiences in the upcoming July newsletter.
Social Sub-Committee (Part of Engagement Committee)
This committee has been working to improve our engagement. We are working on new social events and lunch and learn sessions. Stay tuned for updates.
Research Committee
This committee has remained available to respond to Executive and member requests. On behalf of this committee, I thank you for taking the time to fill out surveys prepared by this committee to seek valuable feedback from you. Recently, a member satisfaction survey was completed. Thank you to all the ASPA members who provided feedback on the Merit survey. We rely on your feedback when we raise concerns with the employer through the Merit Audit Committee.
Strike Manual Committee
I am pleased to inform you that the Strike Manual Committee has generated a final draft of the manual which is currently being vetted by the ASPA Executive, and we will share a copy with the membership once it is ready for review. Having an official strike manual provides us with a lot of confidence and the ability to let the employer know that ASPA is united and well prepared for the upcoming bargaining year cycle.
Merit Audit Committee
In our Collective Agreement, there is language around having a Merit Audit Committee to discuss how the merit process is working across campus and have the employer share statistical data on the merit distribution. After a hiatus of ten years, four members from the Executive and the ASPA staff met with the employer in November of 2024 to discuss the terms of reference for this committee. We will assess the feedback that we receive from the ASPA Merit survey that was recently sent out
General Office
As a reminder, our Financial and Administrative Assistant Angeline Hainstock is in our general office and is available to help answer your questions. The ASPA office hours are Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm, 304 Kirk Hall, or 302 Kirk Hall. Please feel free to contact us any time at 306.966.2471, by email at aspa@aspasask.ca, angeline@aspasask.ca, or by stopping by.
Member Services
I am very happy to Inform you that we have successfully concluded the search for a new Member Services Officer. We have recruited Mr. Shayne Meggs to take on this role. Shayne has been a teacher for the last 16 years, and for eleven of those years, was actively involved with both the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) and the Saskatoon Teachers’ Association (STA) until he decided to join us as ASPA’s Member Services Officer.
Shayne has served in various roles and developed a strong passion for labour relations, governance, and collective bargaining. In addition to a Bachelor of Education, Shayne also holds a bachelor’s degree in human resources and Labour Relations. Shayne’s first day with ASPA was Monday (July 14, 2025) and he is keen on meeting with ASPA members on campus and across satellite locations over the next couple of weeks. Thank you for being patient throughout the search process. Once Shayne is feeling more settled in his role, the ASPA leadership (myself and the Vice-President’s) will work closely beside him on any issues or concerns that our ASPA members might need addressing.
We currently have three grievance cases that are active. In addition, ASPA filed one policy grievance (Vacation Accrual) that has now been closed.
If you have any questions or would like information regarding your union, or if you believe you are being treated unfairly or in ways that do not align with your contract, you can contact Shayne at 306.966.7392, or by email at shayne@aspasask.ca, or by stopping by at 304 Kirk Hall.
I hope you get to enjoy the lovely summer weather. For those of you impacted by the current forest fires grappling our province and neighbouring provinces, our thoughts are with you and your loved ones. On behalf of the ASPA Executive and staff, we wish you nothing but the best.
In solidarity,
Dr. Aditya Manek,
ASPA President (2025 – 2026)