August 31, 2023
Dear FSA Members:
We're happy you're back with us on Stó:lō Temexw and looking forward to representing you this fall. It was good to see so many of your faces at the welcome back BBQ on the Abbotsford campus.
Congratulations to the Winners of the Welcome Back BBQ FSA Draw
- $100 cascade cash Korina Gratton, Library Technician
- $50 cascade cash Leah Sperling, Assistant, Director of the School of Health Studies
- $50 cascade cash Courtney Boisvert, instructor, Computer Information Systems
The FSA office will reach out directly to these members.
Labour Day Family Picnic in Mill Lake Park
All FSA members are invited to spend Labour Day at the Fraser Valley Labour Council picnic in Mill Lake Park, 32960 Mill Lake Rd., Abbotsford, Monday, September 4, from 11am-2pm. This free, all-ages event features food, prizes, and children's activities. We hope to see you there!
Labour Day Honours Union Work
However, as you celebrate on Monday, we're grateful to unions for the improvements we have won since the first Labour Day holiday in Canada in 1894, including:
- Workplace health and safety
- Reasonable work hours, weekends, statutory holidays, & vacations
- Parental leave, sick leave & special leave
- Collective bargaining & fair wages
- Diversity & workplace equity
- Retirement benefits.
Labour Day is a time to remember that while we have gained ground, there is much left to do to work for better wages and working conditions for all of our members. UFV faculty are among the lowest paid at comparable institutions. Inflation has eroded staff wages. For some of us, sessional faculty, and auxiliary staff, pay equity, benefits, and job security are out of reach. We at the FSA are working to minimize and eventually close that inequity gap.
Did you know that your Faculty & Staff Association is one of only two such unions that represent both faculty and staff in the province? And that we are the largest association--the other being the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology Employee's Association in Merritt?
Your FSA is a member of the Fraser Valley Labour Council: https://fraservalleylabour.ca/
Your FSA is a member of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, the provincial voice for BC teaching universities: https://fpse.ca/.
We are a member of the BC Federation of Labour: https://bcfed.ca/
And we are a member of the Canadian Labour Congress, that lobbies for workers at a national level: https://canadianlabour.ca/.
These organizations support workers taking job action, speak out on issues such as government budgets and legislation affecting workers, climate action, sustainability, social justice, pay equity, living wages, increasing minimum wages, workplace health and safety, 2SLGBTQ+ rights, reconciliation and decolonization, racism, violence against women, reproductive rights, issues affecting non-unionized workers, particularly precarious and gig workers, the right to organize, and address extraordinary events like we have experienced in the past few years--the pandemic, flooding, and now a summer of extreme heat and fire.
Benefits for Workers in Distress
Heat, fire, and smoke have been stressful for all of us, following long years of pandemic uncertainty and 2021 flooding. Some of us may have friends or relatives evacuated from other communities staying with us or we may know someone who has lost their home or property. If you are struggling for any reason, our workplace benefits programs can help.
Counselling, wellness resources, and life coaching can be found through UFV's Employee and Family Assistance Program: https://www.ufv.ca/hr/compensation-benefits/employee-family-assistance/.
Help Wildfire Evacuees
Consider volunteering for or donating to the United Way BC Wildfire Recovery Fund: https://uwbc.ca/campaign/wildfires/.
In solidarity,
FSA Executive
