• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Your Union
    • CCFA Executive
    • Committees
    • Policies
    • Careers
  • Collective Agreements
    • Know Your Rights
  • News
    • Calendar
    • Confluence Blog (Newsletter)
      • Academia & Education
      • Arts & Leisure
      • By Members
      • Committees
      • Community
      • Equity & Social Justice
      • From the President
      • Indigenization
      • Labour Relations
      • Workshops & Infosessions
      • The Confluence Newsletter Archives
  • Resources
  • Contact

A New Contract Needs New Stewards

October 4, 2023 by Lynelle Yutani Leave a Comment

Call to Act, if not you, who?

(on behalf of your new Contract Management Chair, Peter Ove)

I know we are all pleased with the improvements and gains in our new Collective Agreement and we have much to celebrate. However, ensuring that our employer honours all the new terms in the contract takes a team and the start of a new contract is a great time to join the Contract Management Committee. Even though you’ve heard me talk about CMC before, you might be more familiar with the term “stewards” or “shop steward” as they are more commonly referred to.

Historically, the steward system was created to help newly formed unions stay functional by creating a formal leadership role within the local. This structure served to support members and make sure the collective agreement was enforced. A steward’s primary job was to make sure that collective agreements were worth more than the paper they were written on. The same thing can happen with a new contract and that’s why we need YOU more than ever.

Stewards play a vital part in building a stronger union. They have two fundamental roles:

  1. Make sure working conditions reflect the collective agreement.
    Without a steward, the collective agreement is just paper. A steward’s job is to bring it to life. How? By making sure management follows all the clauses that your union negotiated in bargaining. Stewards deal with complaints, investigate grievances, and ensure that working conditions live up to the contract. Stewards combine knowledge with practice to solve problems and build healthier, happier workplaces. 
     
  2. Connect members to each other – and to the union. 
    ​Stewards act as hubs for union networking in the workplace. Direct contact with members helps keep us knowledgeable about working conditions all across the College. That’s why a steward’s ability to engage and connect with members is essential – from casual face-to-face contact to local meetings to regular communication like newsletters and updates on websites and social media. 

When members are connected, they participate. More participation builds stronger unions and better working conditions for all. 

Every department and division should have union representation and there are different levels of involvement and responsibility! Email Peter Ove if you’d like to learn more or volunteer to join the Contract Management Committee, today!

Lynelle Yutani, CCFA President 2021-2023

Lynelle Yutani (she/they)

President, Camosun College Faculty Association

ac.ytlucafnusomac@tnediserp

Lynelle is a queer, leftist rabble-rouser galvanized to guard the rights of union members and is on a crusade to convince you that you get out of your Union what you put into it. Lynelle serves on a number of Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) Committees and FPSE affiliate committees in CAUT, the BC Fed, and the Canadian Labour Congress. Lynelle also serves as V.P. of her Strata Council & oversees a rooftop community garden which partners with Harvest & Share Food Aid Society to grow fresh produce for local foodbanks and community food security programs.

    Send Us YOUR Content for the Confluence Blog!

    This is what we mean when we say that the Confluence Blog is for members, by members. Your colleagues are interested in what you have to say! Contact us or send your article in by College Email. New blog posts can be published daily, accounting for staff availability. Feel free to include images licensed through Creative Commons, that you personally own rights to, or other royalty free open resource images.

    Related

    Filed Under: News & Announcements Tagged With: collective agreement, Rights

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    Professional Development Funding

    • How to submit an application?
    • When is the next PD Committee Meeting?

    Collective Agreements

    • We have a new Collective Agreement! What’s in it?
    • Current CCFA Wage Table
    • 2022-2025 Collective Agreement FAQ
    • 2019-2021 FPSE Common Collective Agreement
    • 2019-2021 CCFA Local Collective Agreement

    Search

    Sign Up for Announcements

    President

    Lynelle Yutani
    ac.ytlucafnusomac@tnediserp

    Young Building Y222
    Phone: 250-370-3594

    Administration & Operations

    Peg Ford
    Laurence Toffoletto

    ac.ytlucafnusomac@afcc

    Office Hours:
    Young Building Y221 / Monday- Friday
    8:30am – 3.30pm
    Phone: 250-370-3655  

    Footer

    About CCFA

    Your Union represents the voices of over 600 continuing and term members employed at Camosun College. We support and advocate for your employment rights under our collective agreement and seek to improve your working conditions through collective bargaining.

    Together we are stronger.

    The CCFA is proud to be a Unionized Employer.  Our staff are members of CUPE 1004.  You can view their local agreement by clicking here.

     

    Useful Links

    • CCFA 2023/24 Executive
    • Professional Development
    • Member Resources
    • Committees
    • About CCFA
    • The Confluence Newsletter Archives
    • Calendar

    Search

    Administrative Login

    Share or Re-blog with Creative Commons Attributions:

    Creative Commons Licence
    CCFA Website & Confluence Blog by Camosun College Faculty Association is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
    Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at ac.ytlucafnusomac@tnediserp:otliam.

    The Camosun College Faculty Association serves it’s members while residing on the traditional and unceded territories of the Lkwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees) and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples. We express our profound gratitude to our traditional hosts’ welcome and tolerance of our uninvited presence while we strive to dismantle our colonial, patriarchal, and racist cultural biases.
    Copyright © 2023 CCFA