Non-Regular Faculty Rep Report

Recently your Non-Regular Member at Large and Non-Regular Faculty Committee FPSE representative, Kendal Adam, travelled to Vancouver to attend the Federation of Post Secondary Education, Non-Regular Faculty Committee meeting. The Non-Regular Faculty Committee gathers representatives from the nineteen member Locals to summit on issues shared by all non-regular, term, and precarious faculty members. Not a Term member? Please read on regardless to help your Term colleagues.

Certain issues were identified as priorities of the committee on behalf of Non-Regular members of the post secondary community:

• Monitoring of Non-Regular member numbers:
  • Historically the college has been reticent to provide easily accessed information on who term employees are. This was highlighted by term CCFA members having to apply to receive their rightly earned retroactive pay. We need to KNOW you in order to help YOU! Please ensure you are telling your Term colleagues upon hire to visit our website to provide us with their contact information.
    • Moving forward CCFA will endeavour to provide information during the beginning of each term as new employees are hired throughout the year and may not have access to information on the CCFA. This includes e-mails, updates, posters around campus. Help us spread the word to new employees that they belong to the union!
    • Drop by our offices in the Young Building at Lansdowne and speak with our Staff & Stewards who can help you understand and access your rights, like Professional Development Funding!

• Non-Regular member organizing:
  • As a fellow term faculty member, I entirely understand that we are already in a position of being under paid and over worked. Much is completed off the side of our desks that would cause the wheels of progress in our courses or departments to grind to a halt if not completed.. even if it is off the clock. The CCFA wants to provide more opportunities for Term faculty and non-teaching faculty to come together, compare notes, and ensure fair treatment for all without making our members feel another loss of their precious free time. We’re afraid to stand out due to fear of reprisal not realizing how strong in number we are or that we have a strong union to protect us!
    • Please fill out our survey to notify the CCFA what times would work best for Info Sessions on your rights and potentially other group get togethers in our community (or on zoom) as a social occasion. We implore you to consider this as a benefit for yourself and your compatriots, not an obligation of your time related to the College.

• Fair Employment Week Local Activities – Fall 2024:
  • In keeping with the theme of valuing your time, we want to optimize Fair Employment Week to be as productive and useful to our Term members as possible.
    • Info-sessions on the most important issues to Term members: Right of First Refusal, Regularization, Appraisals, and Benefits that Term members have access to (did you know we can qualify for Professional Development Funds?)
    • Being Term member can be a lonesome and stressful situation. CCFA would like to host an in person social event at a local establishment which would be a great way for us to come together in solidarity and show we are many and never alone with the CCFA on our side.
    • Social media campaigns that receive participation from members – how can we engage you more? Let us know!
    • Ways for Continuing colleagues and the CCFA to show appreciation to our Term members (pst… we need to know you to make this one work, subscribe to our announcements and provide us with your Member Details!)
    • In person, on campus events to educate our colleagues (and perhaps unknowing members) about what it means to be a Term employee and encourage solidarity.

Hey Continuing Faculty Members! The purpose of our union is to come together in solidarity as a collective unit. Solidarity amounts to words of support in action and one way to show your own is by helping Term colleagues find the resources they need. Continuing faculty, help us reach your Term colleagues by sending them our way! Term members, join the cause and participate in advocacy for our own benefit!

Term employees arguably have the most difficult time managing to create a communal feeling due to the disjointed nature of our employment. Let us work together to change that!

If you have ideas, questions, or want to get involved, please e-mail ac.ytlucafnusomac@pergernon!