Welcome Back
Welcome back to the fall semester, and a special welcome to the many new SAFA members! I trust you had a good summer if you were on vacation. If not, I hope your summer classes went well. The summer of 2023 was extremely busy at the SAFA office, but it was quieter this summer. I suspect that we have resolved some of the issues that we had last summer, which helped make this summer run more smoothly.
Heading back into this semester, I just want to remind the members of a few items:
- Faculty members should keep an eye on their workload to ensure that your Academic Chair has properly allotted your CCH, CMA and PD time to allow time for marking, student interaction, and professional duties. If not, please contact the SAFA office. General information about the Workload Guidelines is available in the attached document and Section 36 of the Collective Agreement.
- Many faculty will be asked to approve a mutual agreement form to work hours or perform duties outside of the agreed-to provisions in the Collective Agreement (for example, work more than 4 hours in a row, work before 8am or after 6pm, or work more than 6 hours in a day). If you have any questions or concerns about this, please discuss with the SAFA office or your Division Rep.
- Negotiations with SAIT will resume in September. The two teams met six times last spring to exchange proposals and begin discussions. Bargaining was on hiatus over the summer, while teams took time to discuss each other’s proposals. We are now in a position to start seriously considering those proposals. SAFA will be hosting a town hall to discuss some of the issues that have arisen in bargaining – keep an eye out for the date.
With all that said, I wish all SAFA members a great semester and I look forward to meeting more of you throughout the year.
In Solidarity,
Craig Coolahan
SAFA Labour Relations Officer
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Know Your Collective Agreement: New Series
Starting this fall, we will run monthly Know Your Collective Agreement (KYCA) articles to educate you about your rights, responsibilities, and options under our current contract. This month, we are starting with a basic question:
How do you access your Collective Agreement?
Did you know that the SAFA CA is available in multiple formats? You can:
· Pick up a print copy of the agreement at the SAFA Office (Senator Burns, NN201)
· Download a PDF copy of the agreement from the SAFA website – it is searchable!
· Access a webpage version on the SAIT website.
You can find an archive of past Collective Agreements, Letters of Understanding, and other important documents on the SAFA website. SAIT also has faculty workload related documents on the SAITNow site.