SFU Budget
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
Compensation Negotiations Payouts: Your retro GWI pay was paid out on December 29. Please get in touch with your department's HR Business Partner if you have any questions.
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.
Several members have raised concerns about the changes in massage benefits, noting that they're having difficulties with Pacific Blue Cross honouring the 12-month doctor's note instead of the six-month note. If you are having similar issues, please get in touch with hradmin@sfu.ca.
Athletics Position Eliminations
Recent and very unfortunate position eliminations in SFU Athletics and Recreation have caused controversy in the news. The Province | Daily Hive | CBC
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.
Pension
The University has given APSA, CUPE and PolyParty new administrative plan text to review, which appears to include only minor text edits and incorporates no substantive changes. The Pension Advisory Committee will make recommendations to the board, and the final changes will be presented to the Employees' Joint Pension Committee (EJPC). We hope to resolve these changes by February 29, 2024.
APSA and SFU LR are close to resolving an issue regarding the pension plan with members. The affected members will be updated on the next steps.