SFU Budget
APSA, along with other SFU employees, received communication from SFU about the need to make operational changes. They further announced administrative job losses and a voluntary separation program, which APSA was not consulted on. We will pursue all avenues available to prevent any job loss to members. We will inform you of any announcements after our meeting on Thursday, March 7, 2024.
SFU has published their third quarter financials in the Financial Committee for the BoG, which we are including here. Of note, SFU must file for deficit approval to the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills by the end of the second quarter. To date, SFU does not appear to have made such a filing — there have certainly been no public announcements that the University has done so. We will update you with further news as we learn more.
Negotiations
Basic Agreement Bargaining: APSA and SFU were in negotiations for the Basic Agreement on January 15-19 and February 1. While we had hoped to reach an agreement, the negotiations will now be with the assistance of mediator Chris Sullivan. Non-binding mediation is set for mid-April. Please learn more here.
APSA has filed two grievances based on article 9.2 of our Basic Agreement. These grievances are for the professional development fund reimbursement payout for temporary members from our last round of bargaining and the University's aggregation of sick leave for concurrent illnesses. We are working to resolve these disputes with SFU.
Joint Compensation Review Committee: APSA received an arbitrated award from Colin Taylor in the 2015 round of negotiations. The committee works together on items such as market comparisons, salary, and other total compensation pieces as mandated by the award. We will have further substantive updates on this ongoing issue soon.
APSA advocates have several ongoing grievances and investigations on accommodations, return to work and hours of work. We can't give any details due to confidentiality issues. Please see this infographic on the Life of a Grievance to learn more about how the grievance process works.
The changes in massage benefits for Pacific Blue Cross have been resolved. If you are having issues with Pacific Blue Cross honouring the 12-month doctor's note, please get in touch with hradmin@sfu.ca.
Hiring Freeze
On December 4, all SFU employees received an email from Dilson Rassier outlining further budget cuts. SFU expects units to cut 5-8% in their budgets over the current and next fiscal year — negotiated increases to member's wages and benefits are unaffected. We're working vigorously to prevent member job loss and learn more about the alleged state of SFU's financial health.
On January 31, 2024, the University held a town hall where they announced further cuts and the continuation of a hiring freeze. You can find the recording on the SFU HR website.