Your 2025 AGM Election Results & Highlights

Congratulations to your newly elected CCFA Executives!

We are happy to announce that the following nominees have been elected or acclaimed to Office for 2025-26:

• President: Lynelle Yutani (HSHS)
• VP: Blair Fisher (A&A)
• Treasurer: Muyang (Mike) Zhong (STEM)
• Contract Management Committee Chair: Peter Ove (A&A)
• Contract Negotiating Committee Chair: Michael Stewart (A&A)
• Professional Development Committee Chair: Martha McAlister (Learning Services)
• Secretary: Erin Dibattista (HSHS)
• Member-at-large: Kendal Adam, Term Rep (HSHS), Pei Mei Chia (A&A), Derek Murray (Learning Services)

We are also pleased to inform you that Isabel Grondin (HSHS) has been re-elected to the position of CCFA Representative on the PD Committee, effective immediately.

The Executive Committee extends our gratitude to the Nominations Committee—Candace Fertile, Margaret Fast, and Janet Doherty for organizing and conducting an effective election. We would also like to thank Peg Ford and Eva Jaycox for all of their hard work in putting together our AGM meeting and arranging the catered lunch that followed!

You may have noticed that the same dedicated Exec members were re-elected to serve you. Continuity is essential during these times, and we are grateful for your trust. However, our Executives, Appointees, and Committees may experience unprecedented turnover during this time of financial crisis. Right in the middle of bargaining, our employer has chosen to lay off our Organizing Coordinator and our Human Rights and International Solidarity FPSE rep – even though there were alternatives that could save both their jobs.

The College Executive Team and HR have disregarded nearly all of the submitted canvass proposals, despite the fact that there were many good alternatives to laying people off. They have indiscriminately dismissed other employees who do critical work in equity and enrolment at Camosun. They are even hiring a new Associate Vice President at the same time as they’ve dismissed the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. We didn’t ask for any of that, and of those two, who do YOU think we need more at Camosun? During our talks with the employer, we’ve been adamant that we didn’t need ANY more new highly placed exempt executives or contractors. More bloat at the top isn’t going to improve our domestic enrolment, but having a capable and effective manager of student enrolment might have.

These are the things that are most troubling when you look around; what is happening here at Camosun is happening across all of British Columbia. Bad decisions are being made for worse reasons. In the coming weeks and months, we are “open bargaining” with our employer and their agent, the Post Secondary Employer’s Association (PSEA). OPEN BARGAINING means you get to see and provide feedback on everything we are proposing. We’ve posted the whole package on our Discord server.

We promise that you’ll have transparency, accountability, and meaningful consultation on every part of our next contract. No surprise, our employer sure doesn’t want that. They’re seeking to isolate you from the truth about what they’re seeking to gain, and what it will mean to our working conditions and our students’ learning conditions. You deserve to be IN THE ROOM when we bargain, and you’ll be able to be a part of every counter. It’s going to take all of us working together like never before to obtain the best contract possible in this next round of bargaining.

The first dates are just around the corner. Contact your CCFA department representative to learn when and how you can help. If your department doesn’t have one or you don’t know who it is, contact our Organizing Coordinator.

#myheartispurple #purplewave #ibleedpurple #purplepeoplepower #showyourpurple #iusepurplehearts #purpleismyfavouritecolor

New Logo Adopted

The membership unanimously approved permanently adopting our commissioned 50th Anniversary logo.  The new logo symbolizes our union’s core functions of stewardship, negotiation, and advocacy, represented by three leaves of salal, a plant with medicinal significance across a number of indigenous cultures. We picked the salal because it flourishes on both campuses no matter the time of year.  This logo embodies our commitment to healing, supporting and protecting each other – more important than ever right now! It’s the inspiration of artist, Melissa Mills, a full-time continuing CCFA member who also serves on the Contract Management Committee.

Members discussed our current use of AI, the interim budget, the current state of labour relations, and bargaining preparations. In the afternoon members participated in the Job Action 101 Workshop presented by Weldon Cowan of the Federation of Public Service Employees. All of the Executive reports were attached to your meeting invite so you can catch up in case you missed the meeting. If you see someone you know in the pictures above, just ask them what you might have missed!

The PD Committee reminds you to GET YOUR PD APPLICATION IN BEFORE THE SUMMER BREAK! We only have 3 more meetings, and the deadline for the final meeting before we resume in September is NOON, THURSDAY JUNE 19!!! Please contact the CCFA office if you have any questions. ac.nusomac@DP-AFCC

Thank you to our Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) 2025 AGM Delegation!  These members travelled to Vancouver from May 12-15 to represent the CCFA at the provincial level. If you’d like to know more about the work done there and what we learned, @ us on Discord! I’m also honoured to report to you that I was re-elected to serve as a Member-At-Large on the FPSE Executive for the Presidents Council.

From Left to right in the first image: Keith Yacucha, Mike Zhong, Janice Niemann, Peter Ove, Michael Stewart, Paula Littlejohn, Janice Shewey, Blair Fisher, Lynelle Yutani, and Dulcie Thompson!

Thank you so much to everyone who attended the AGM last week and for giving me the opportunity to serve you for another year as your president!

Our Administrative Services Coordinators are staffing the office Monday-Thursday mornings for most of the summer. The CCFA office will be closed from August 4 – 8. Coverage notices will be posted on our doors, available online, by email, and on Discord.