News 26/05/10

1. Selection of Chief Negotiator
2. Georgian College
3. Grievances
4. Resignation of Office Assistant
5. Correction
6. New Board

Selection of Chief Negotiator: The LUFA Constitution requires the Executive Committee to submit the name of a recommended candidate for chief negotiator to the June meeting of the LUFA Board. The Board will make the final selection.

If anyone is interested in being considered by the Executive for this position, please email Vice-President Emily Donato by Monday June 8. (edonato@laurentian.ca)

The Chief Negotiator will be responsible for concluding negotiations when the current collective agreement expires on June 30, 2011.

Georgian College: The University continues to be in negotiations with Georgian College based on the MoA it signed with LUFA last December. LUFA itself will come to the table at a meeting scheduled later in June at which Peter Simpson from CAUT will also be present.

Meanwhile, Senate has approved a recommended candidate for the position of Vice-Provost for LU@Georgian. This recommendation must now go to the Board of Governors for final approval. The President of LUFA, Jim Ketchen, sat on the Selection Committee—although in his capacity as a representative from the Law and Justice program.

Grievances: Chief Steward Linda St. Pierre has announced that in the interests of saving both time and money—for both parties—a significant number of current grievances will be bundled together for resolution by an arbitrator in June.

Resignation of Office Assistant: Christina Szewczyk has resigned effective June 11. Christina has been with us for three years and can frequently be seen greeting visitors at the main entrance to the LUFA Office, C-305.

In real life, she is fully bilingual and a top graduate of our Interdisciplinary Master’s program in the Humanities. No wonder she was hired by Parks Canada to work in the correspondence section of its main office in Ottawa. We wish her the very best when she locates to that city.

Correction: The last general newsletter noted that unused professional development funds from 2007-2008 (the $66,657 referred to in the newsletter) were only available until June 30, 2010. In fact, the 2005-2008 Collective Agreement provided only a one-year carry-over.

The new two-year carry-over was negotiated into the 2008-2011 Collective Agreement. So effectively, the funds made available to members on July 1, 2008 will continue to be available to them until June 30, 2010. LUFA apologies for any confusion.

New Board: Here for reference is a list of the incoming Board which will guide LUFA affairs beginning July 1.

We particularly wish to thank outgoing President Jim Ketchen and out-going VP Emily Donato for their tireless work in these offices. Dr. Ketchen heads off on sabbatical, and as you can see, Prof. Donato continues to serve LUFA as a member of the Board:

EXECUTIVE: