Words from the SAFA President
I want to talk about a document circulated by the Academic Chairs last week (Guidance supporting symptomatic individuals).
I want to be clear rendering first aid or medical assistance is a choice not an obligation of your employment. If you are not a certified first aider then you should request training for the same from your employer. Call campus security and your supervisor if one of these conditions presents itself on your “watch” in the class room. Your obligation in all this is firstly your own safety secondly the safety of others, COVID is highly transmissible and in most cases airborne.
The facts are undisputable in the province right now – the highest case counts and hospitalizations are in the 18-29 year old’s and by all counts, this group happen to have the lowest vaccination rates. Of course these same individuals would make up the majority of population at all post-secondary institute’s in the province. My personal thought on this is, it’s simply a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Due to the recent conditions and government update, for the immediate future the SAFA office will remain closed and there will not be an on campus presence. Should you need a meeting with either myself or Al Brown (SAFA LRO) please book a teams meeting with us through Kathie Dann.
Currently for SAFA the words “Safety First” certainly replace the words “Students First or Student Success”
Another topic that has crossed my in box as of late is about obligations of care to family members versus working on campus.
The best possible solution is have medical documentation for a needed accommodation and provide same to SAIT where possible. The family status portion of the human rights legislation is fairly new. But an employer has obligation under the legislation to accommodate to the point of undue hardship.
That coupled with the fact that SAIT has achieved a Budgetary Surplus (again) despite the slow down of the pandemic, undue hardship would indeed be a very high bar for the employer to reach and SAFA is more than willing to act on a members behalf in that regard to what ever degree that might entail.
Masking
SAFA supports the SAIT decision for mandatory masking for nothing less than the safety of its members. Having said that, I personally know how hard it is to teach face to face while wearing a mask (I taught a few Saturday con ed course’s under that very same condition and it’s not easy. Having a classroom equipped with audio enhancements (microphone and speakers) would not be an unreasonable request for faculty considering the employer mandated the masking policy.
Should faculty run into any issues with this type of request from your Academic Chair, Associate Dean or Dean based on the “budgetary constraints”, bring that issue directly to me and I will have a conversation with the SAIT Executive Management team who implemented the masking policy and are in a surplus budget (again).
Mutual agreement forms
My inbox has been flooded with these over the last two weeks ( yes I get a copy of every single one of these) and it takes me a bit of time to go through them (yes I look at every single form)
It has been no secret that SAIT wants to alter the collective agreement through collective bargaining to allow instruction after 6 pm evenings and on weekends. But SAIT simply must come to the table with that where it can be worked out with the bargaining teams.
I would caution every single member to think long and hard about an assignment to work outside of the collective agreement hours that has “program requirements as the reason to get mutual agreement” SAFA views this only as a measure to side step the collective agreement process and bargaining with individual’s under the statutory freeze period. Certainly the easiest word to write or speak is NO we all learn this word at a very young age.
Bargaining is set to resume later this month and I’m sure there will be lots of add-on’s from the employer side of the table as things in the province progress. The month of September will seem a lot busier with the addition of a couple of elections (federal and civic) – not sure how that will unfold but appears to be a roller coaster ride so all I can suggest is “buckle up “.
The ACIFA presidents council only met once over the summer but I’m sure a bimonthly schedule will resume later this month.
Stay safe, stay strong, and stay united as we cross the threshold into new territory this academic year! Please check this website for updates and watch for townhall meetings from SAFA as things unfold this year.
Always in service of members,
Best regards,