News 04/14/09

1. Elections
2. Merit Awards
3. Ergonomics
4. The Constitution
5. CAUT Grievance Handling Workshop

Elections: Tony Ransom has been acclaimed as LUFA's Chief Steward for the next two years; Ashley Thomson will also continue as Director of Communications.

Merit Awards: Members who have been recommended for merit awards this year have still not received confirmation of their award from the Vice-President Academic because Dr. Sawyer is waiting to receive all recommendations before notifying individual applicants of his decision on their case. The delay in signing the collective agreement last fall threw off normal time-lines on this matter.

Ergonomics:Over 70 members were assessed for ergonomic equipment recently. Their application forms have been converted into an order spread sheet by the purchasing office-and at this point, it looks as though there will be enough funds to satisfy most requests. Shortly LUFA will sit down with the administration to make the final determination and will alert anyone who was not successful this time around. Those applications will be retained for the new competition which will be run in September.

Those scheduled to receive various pieces of equipment should count on a late May or June arrival date. More specifics will follow when they become available.

The Constitution:At the General Membership meeting, the draft constitution, still on the LUFA website, was brought to members as a discussion rather than a decision item. We will invite further membership input early in the fall with the view to bringing the document, with any revisions, for a vote at the fall meeting.

CAUT Grievance Handling Workshop:Members are reminded that this workshop led by Chief Steward Tony Ransom, assisted by former Chief Negotiator David Leadbeater, takes place Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Members should know that while Mr. Ransom is ours, he has presented this workshop at other universities under the auspices of CAUT. That organization is sponsoring the workshop here and felt it only made sense to use Mr. Ransom locally.

The object of this training workshop is two-fold. Firstly, to bring stewards or potential stewards up to date with some of the significant changes in the new Collective Agreement and, secondly, to ensure that stewards are aware of the investigative steps required in the grievance procedure.

LUFA has the legal obligation to provide fair representation to its members. To fulfill that duty, stewards must be aware of the enquiries that need to be made in order to properly investigate a complaint/grievance. In addition to outlining the changes of the new Collective Agreement, the two-day course offers basic training to faculty association members in the art of investigating, filing and negotiating grievances.

The workshop is open to all LUFA Members including those in the Association's three affiliated locals: Huntington, Thorneloe and Sudbury Universities.