As YUSA President, I will make best efforts to send out regular communiques on the list serve to keep the membership up-to-date on developments and events.
We are working hard on a number of items and preparing for the remainder of 2013 to be busy and productive. The YusApuY Executive Board has set out the agenda for the year and will continue to move forward on many issues.
We recognize that there were many concerns identified during the election in 2012 and we will be addressing these issues in various forms, such as constitutional changes to be brought to the membership for a vote, policy changes and/or new policies and an opportunity to reflect on ways to improve the overall process. We will continue to seek input from the membership and keep you abreast.
We will provide notification of the 2013 budget meeting in the next week and provide the membership with details on the mail-in ballot that will follow.
Looking ahead, we have a number of arbitration and ongoing Labour/Management meetings to address many of the issues we’re facing, in addition to emerging issues. Some action items are the TRT system, the exclusion grievance process on a go-forward basis, and the research workers integration into Unit 1 and Unit 2, just to name a few.
One such emerging issue is the York Pension Plan. We will be sending out notification of a Pension Information session that YUSA will host to present the membership with detailed information on the existing plan and also highlight issues that the employer would like to discuss. These issues are complex and we intend to assist the membership in navigating this complicated topic and having a greater understanding of the Plan and any potential changes.
We are also looking to finalize the Unit 2 Pay Equity Plan and Job Evaluation system to lead us to achieve a new collective agreement in the near future. This will conclude a process that has been going on since 2005.
Lastly, we will be seeking feedback from the membership in the near future through the Bargaining Survey. Although 2014 may seem long away, we will need to determine our priorities and conduct some open forum discussions later this summer and likely into the autumn.
As I indicated, we have a great deal of work to accomplish, but we are optimistic that with support and participation from the membership, we will all succeed together.
In Solidarity,
Joanie Cameron Pritchett
President, York University Staff Association
