Negotiations Call for Special Meeting & Ratification
Collective Agreement Update:
Special Meeting & Call for Ratification
The Negotiations Committee has requested a Special Meeting with all members of the LCFA; to review the proposed/negotiated Collective Agreement between the Lethbridge College Faculty Association and The Lethbridge College Board of Governors. This Special Meeting is scheduled as follows:
Combined Room IB 1101/1104 & online through Zoom
Wednesday February 15th, 2023, beginning @ 4:30 pm
Included in this email is a copy of the negotiated Collective Agreement, a Statement of Changes, and a copy of our current Collective Agreement. Please review these documents prior to the meeting so you can come prepared to ask questions.
A calendar invite with the Zoom link will be circulated shortly. If you know of any faculty who are not receiving these emails please reach out to Mike Mayo to have their name added to the distribution list. Copies of these communications can also be found on our website LCFA.ca/news.
Executive Council would like to thank the Negotiations Committee for their dedication and hard work in bringing forward this proposal to membership.
Best regards,
LCFA Executive Council Members
Negotiated Collective Agreement
Statement of Changes
Current/Expired Collective Agreement
Teaching Excellence Awards
LCFA/SA - Teaching Excellence Awards:
Teaching Excellence at Lethbridge College
2022-2023
Each year, the Lethbridge College Faculty Association, and the Lethbridge College Students' Association team up to present awards to some of the best instructors at our institution. This years awards are for the 2022-2023 academic year. These awards are based on student nominations that will be collected over the coming weeks.
This years awards are for:
1) Rookie of the Year
2) Teaching Excellence
If you have any questions please reach out to Mike Mayo, Faculty Relations Officer at mike.mayo@lethbridgecollege.ca.
Nomination submissions are open from Friday February 3rd, 2023 thru Friday March 10th, 2023. Winners will be announced in early April 2023.
Negotiations Update
Negotiations Update:
On behalf of your negotiating committee and myself, I wish to inform you that as of last Thursday Jan 26th, 2023, we the Faculty Association have a tentative agreement with Administration and the Board of Governors to complete this round of bargaining.
What are the next steps?
We need to review our Articles and sign off on the minor changes from our last meeting.
We then do a review of summaries on all Articles and LOU's (Letters of Understanding).
The Negotiation Committee will make the recommendation to the Executive Council to move the proposed Collective Agreement to members for review.
Members will be given an opportunity to review the proposed Collective Agreement; usually five (5) working days, after which an information and ratification meeting will be called. This meeting is to clarify and answer any questions related to the proposed Collective Agreement from members.
Finally, members will participate in a ratification vote to accept or reject the proposed Collective Agreement recommended from the Negotiations Committee.
I personally want to thank my committee for all their hard work and dedication to try and get this round of bargaining settled. Finally, I want to thank you the members, for your confidence to allow us to do the best we can in this extremely trying times to settle this contract.
Please stay tuned as we move through the next steps to get all this information out to each and every one of you. Once again thank you one and all,
Sincerely,
Ryan Kaupp
VP Negotiations
Reminder: LCFA General Meeting January 30th, 2023
Hello folks,
Our LCFA General Meeting is still scheduled for January 30th at 4:15 pm in room CB1005 (Westwinds Theatre). This meeting will provide updates related to Faculty Association business including negotiations, finances, ACIFA updates, and other activities of interest to faculty. Please download the agenda below for more details.
If you have any questions please reach out to our Faculty Relations Officer Mike Mayo and he will be happy to assist you.
Click here for the agenda.
Thank you all,
LCFA Executive
Announcement: General Meeting January 30th, 2023
Announcement: General Meeting
January 30th @ 4:15 pm
Room CB1005 (Westwinds Theatre)
Hello folks,
Welcome to 2023 and a fantastic year ahead. The LCFA would like to invite you to our General Meeting on January 30th at 4:15 pm in room CB1005 (Westwinds Theatre). This meeting will provide updates related to Faculty Association business; including negotiations, finances, ACIFA updates, and other activities of interest to faculty.
Our hope is to meet face to face; but if you are unable to attend in person, a Zoom link will be provided in your calendar invite to join online. A formal agenda will be circulated in the coming days for you to come prepared to participate in our General Meeting.
If you have any questions please reach out to Mike Mayo our new Faculty Relations Officer and he will be happy to assist you.
Thank you all,
LCFA Executive
Bargaining Update: January 13th, 2023
Hello Faculty,
On behalf of your Negotiating Committee we hope you all had a great and well deserved Christmas break.
We just want to bring you all up to date on where we are with Bargaining.
We are scheduled to be back to the table on January 26th; and if needed, Feb 7th, 2023.
If all goes well; we are hoping these will be our final meetings with Administration to finalize an agreement, to then bring forward to you the members for ratification.
We have two items to discuss on our agenda, and if those to are mutual agreed on, this extremely long journey will finally come to a close. I as well as my committee would like to thank each and every one of you for your support and patience as well have been trying to reach an agreement with Administration which has taken way too long.
In conclusion the next update you see from me will be notice of ratification.
Once again, thank you one and all,
Thank you again for your support
Ryan Kaupp
LCFA Bargaining Chair
Introducing Your New Faculty Relations Officer
A new, but experienced, face will lead LCFA's Administrative Side
Hello everyone,
I hope that this email finds you with all grading completed and on your way into the holiday break in good spirits.
This will likely be my last message as the FRO for your faculty association, and I wanted to use it to (re)introduce the individual who will be filling my role in the new year after I depart. I am pleased to announce that Mike Mayo, who had held this role previous to myself, will be returning to LCFA on January 9 to take over as the new FRO for the Association. Should you require the services of the faculty association before January 9, please reach out to Dave English or Kerry Edwards (or any of our other elected representatives - a list of whom can be found at lcfa.ca).
Mike brings with him a wealth of experience in the College community, and I have no doubt that he will serve the Association and its members well into the future. On a personal note, I feel much more assured leaving the administration of the Association with someone so experienced.
Once again, I would like very much to thank all of you for the opportunity to serve this organization and its membership. It’s been an incredible opportunity to see the strength and resilience of faculty from all walks of life as they have come through an incredibly challenging period. The passion and commitment of college teachers to continue their vital work despite everything stacking up against them is genuinely impressive and inspiring.
I have said before that institutions like this one are where the rubber hits the road in terms of social equity and making life better for working people and their families. They provide roadmaps and avenues for good jobs that sustain communities, and they give our neighbours opportunities. I will always believe that – and this experience has made me grateful for the people who do the work of this place day in and day out.
So: thank you again, and all the very best into the future.
Keith
An update from the LCFA Bargaining Team
My fellow faculty members,
It is with great regret that your Negotiating Committee has to inform you all that we could not come to an agreement with Administration on our efforts to bring forward a new Collective Agreement for ratification.
What does this mean?
It means that both parties are at an impasse on certain items in our contract and need outside assistance.
What does outside assistance mean?
Outside assistance means that both parties agree to move to the next level which is call Informal Mediation.
What is Informal Mediation?
Both parties bring their final proposals on outstanding Articles or Letters of Understanding in a package and present those articles to a Mediator to go over those Articles or Letters of Understanding to try and workout a compromise to get to an agreement.
Does this mean we are going on Strike or possibly being locked out by Administration?
The answer to that question is NO not at this time. There are many levels we need to get to before job action will take place. At this time we do not have an Essential Service Agreement with the College so that process if needed will still have to be implemented. Both parties have agreed to a joint application for a Mediator and the College has at this time agreed to the individuals who were recommend by our Labour Relations Officer from ACIFA..
How long will this process take?
We are going to try and get all our paper work in before mid December. I have been advised that we are most likely looking to mid January to the first part of February before a mediator is in place, but I will keep you all update as this process moves forward.
With all that being said, I Ryan Kaupp will be stepping down as Official Spokesman for our Negotiations Committee during mediation and Brian McCullough from ACIFA will take over my duties. I am still the Chair, but Brian has the expertise working with other Institutions going through this same process and knows these individuals more than I do.
I want to thank my committee for all their hard work and all the time they have devoted trying to come to an agreement, but unfortunately at this time it is not to be - which is frustrating for all of us, especially you, our members.
I am going to ask that you respect the process of mediation and that is our final items will remain in confidence as we can not disclose information for the mediator to bargain with. Any information I can share I will share at the permission of the mediator.
Personally, I never thought we would end up here. I had hope that we could come to an agreement to bring forward for ratification and for that please accept my personal apology for not getting us to that point.
Thank you all for your support over the past 23 years I have done the best I can for you the members as that is what Executive Officers and Executive are elected to try and accomplish. I wish I had better news but unfortunately this is the cards we are dealt with.
Please if you have any questions I may be able to answer send me an email, or stop by my office. It was discussed at our meeting to do a town hall online. I am open to accommodate for your convenience.
Thank you again,
Sincerely,
Ryan Kaupp
VP Negotiations and Welfare
Letter in Solidarity with Striking University of Lethbridge Faculty
This letter was sent to Dr. Dan O’Donnell, President of the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association by Dave English, President of LCFA on behalf of LCFA’s Executive Council.
Dear Dr. O’Donnell,
I am writing today on behalf of the Lethbridge College Faculty Association (LCFA) and its members to express our profound support and solidarity with the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) as your organization engages in a historic first strike of academic staff at public post-secondary institutions in our province. As instructors ourselves we know full well the impact that advanced education has on the lives of our students, the quality of life in our community, and the economic opportunities that are available to Southern Albertans. Our members and yours have much in common, and we hope to see a speedy resolution to the work stoppage so that we can continue to work together to benefit our community and province.
As we work within our own institutions to preserve values of equitable access, independent scholarship, and strong mentorship, LCFA would also like to express our willingness to work with your organization and other relevant stakeholders in our post-secondary sector to push back against the pernicious and short-sighted policies of the provincial government which have, in many ways, forced your institution into its current position.
As a diverse organization that counts tradespeople, nurses, engineers, scientists, law enforcement officials and social workers as members, we understand how vital education is to the working people of our province. LCFA believes strongly that in order to strengthen our system in the long-term Alberta’s post-secondary institutions require long-term investment, stability, and a return to strong public interest mandates free from undue interference. Post-secondary education is a vital ingredient for our province’s economic and social future, and without the work being done at our institutions Southern Albertans will be left behind by the economy of the 21st Century.
In closing, we wish to again express our solidarity with your members, and if there is anything that LCFA can contribute while your organization undertakes this historic action, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
Dave English, President
Lethbridge College Faculty Association
End-of-Year Report from LCFA President Kevin Wiber
Looking Forward to summer.
To say it has been a busy year is an understatement. We recognize that since this time last year all of you have been performing miracles in terms of shifting teaching assignments and dealing with the many obstacles and the uncertainty that face all of us. I have heard accolades all the way to the board level and each of you deserve credit for the job you have done. We recognize that last summer was very busy transitioning to the blended format, we hope this summer will be restful and rejuvenating.
The year in the Faculty office has also been busy.
In July we hired Keith as our new Faculty Relations Officer. Keith has been a very valuable addition to our team, his experience and expertise, particularly in the political arena have provided us with significant insights. On a personal level I would like to thank Keith for all the effort he has put in to become familiar with the organization and the work he has done to support me in my role. As many of you realize the faculty office has moved to temporary quarters while renovations to the Patterson building are completed. Keith can be reached by e-mail of by the office phone, the number remains the same. Like many of us, Keith is working from home when he can so before you make the long trek to TT2965, at the top of the southern stairs in the TTRIP building, it might be a good idea to ensure he is in.
As part of our ACIFA commitments Cheryl, Ryan and I have been attending weekly meetings as part of president’s council and Cheryl and Ryan have also attended meetings of the executive. Ryan is chairing the NAC and Dave is a member of the PAC. ACIFA executive and Presidents Council met with Minister Nicholaides often this year. We have had numerous discussions around the budget changes, and as a provincial group we have expressed great concern around the performance based budget formulas, including the impact on students and auxiliary infrastructure it will require driving growth in administration. Ryan will report on the implications of the government influence in bargaining which has also been a hot topic of these meetings. More recently we have been attending town halls and hearing proposed results of the 2030 McKinsey review of Post-secondary in Alberta and the Skills for Jobs task force. Bill 67 introduced earlier this month is expected to bring significant changes to the Trades and apprenticeship training in the province, including expanding the apprenticeship model into other occupations and professions, while recognizing trades training toward academic credentials. Minister Nicholaides has indicated that we can expect a bill to introduce changes driven by the recommendations of the Alberta 2030 review very soon. More information on the 2030 process can be found in the slide deck from the minister’s office at this site - AB 2030 Townhall slide deck dated Jan 6, 2021 - ae-ab-2030-townhall-slide-deck.pdf
ACIFA is working with Public Interest Alberta to provide information hoping to inform the public and influence public opinion while lobbying the government around the budget issues with Post-secondary. The campaign is centered around the theme “learning conditions are working conditions”. You may notice adds on bus shelters or busses and in newspapers across the province, and you can visit the web site stopPSEcuts.ca. Our local effort started with lawn signs, which are still available through Keith, followed by a social media photo campaign. March 30th we participated in a town hall around the impact our institutions have in the region. The video can be found at https://youtu.be/5oF4pDs4WIc
The pandemic has impacted our landscape and will continue to do so in some ways as we emerge from the immediate conditions. The minister announced a return to face to face and then another variant, this time potentially more aggressive, emerged. Lethbridge College announced earlier that we will plan to continue in a blended format prior to the minister’s announcement but that seems like the most reasonable course of action under the circumstances. Once we can return to our preferred educational methods, we will certainly benefit from our experience this year. In our school of trades we often hear, “there will never be another snow day”. Some faculty have asked if they can continue with the on-line delivery and some have begun to explore a HyFlex delivery model. All these have potential in the right application and administration have expressed an interest to explore the options. I want to congratulate the teams tasked with keeping our workspace, students, faculty and staff safe. Up until the variants emerged most recently, Lethbridge College had done a great job of keeping the virus at bay in our institution, very few if any transmissions were traced back to the institution. In our area we had students arrive with the symptoms or AHS contact them due to close contacts, even faculty who had been flagged, but to my knowledge our protocols have been quite effective. I sincerely hope those teams can stand down proud of a job well done in the near future.
The new Bylaws are finally ready to be introduced. The bylaws committee has been working on the required updates and filling in the details for some time. As the Faculty executive has changed so have faces around that table. I’d like to thank all for the exceptional long hours contributed to the project and encourage everyone to look at the by-laws in preparation for a vote to adopt them at the Annual General Meeting May 10th. The general meeting on Monday April 26th will focus on bylaws and negotiations, there will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.
Your executive has attempted to address any questions as they arose during the year. It is a challenging environment because we often feel we do not have access to the correct people for our questions. Many of the decisions that we hear about are driven by government policy and we have tried to address those questions with the minister through ACIFA. Governance issues are the interest of the board and we try to address issues there while not ignoring the administration. We meet with ELT to discuss issues from a management perspective and recently we started talking about attending Deans Council meetings periodically to address more fundamental questions in that forum.
Ryan has attended the Board of Governors meetings with me through the course of the year and I have provided a report to the Board for each meeting. At these meetings we do not speak except to answer questions but I have expressed concern over the stress created by the environment we are in now. Board members have expressed their concern for the health and wellbeing of faculty, and appreciation for the work faculty have done in dealing with the pandemic.
ELT meetings have predominately been updates to current conditions around government policy, budget and Alberta Health Services mandates. It was at this level that the decision was made to suspend full time faculty evaluations in order to separate the instructor from the conditions imposed by the pandemic in the eyes of the student. (Course evaluations and evaluations of those on probation continue.)
We are engaged in discussions on many other topics in sub-committees around the college, primarily dealing with negotiations. We have sub-committees dealing with workload, Distance Learning, Faculty Full-Time to non-continuing ratio, and policy development. In addition the Faculty association is working on issues like providing better definitions for the role of the chair, defining categories of work integrated learning and understanding the implications of Hyflex delivery. We were invited to participate in the Health and Wellness strategy development and the People Experience committee. I’d like to thank all the faculty members who have volunteered and contributed time to many of these efforts.
A significant change to the governing regulations is set to arise in 2022 as the Post-secondary Learning act continues the transition to the Labor Relations act. This would see the association officially become a union, and the association needs to understand the implications. We have done some research on the topic through ACIFA, and through ACIFA we have asked Minister Nicholaides to reconsider and allow associations to retain sole bargaining status, at least for the time being. Although the minister has expressed general support he has not had an opportunity to follow up to this point. In the interim the executive has tried hard to understand the implications of moving to a union status, including how the right to strike or lock-out could potentially affect our members. ACIFA has some training planned and we have reached out to our legal counsel in an effort to provide the most accurate information to our members specific to our contract. Once we have all that information we will try to provide a synopsis.
Our association executive has developed stronger ties with AUPE and the student association through these troubled times. We have met on many occasions, visited with MLA Neudorf, MLA Philips and PSE critic David Eggen together. The three groups worked together with university representatives on the PIA campaign. I believe this association makes each of us stronger.
Have a great summer, hopefully we have a chance to spend some time in our chosen pursuits, with the people we would choose to be with.
Post-Secondary an important part of Southern Alberta’s economy, heritage, and future.
This op-ed, signed by three stakeholder groups at Lethbridge College appeared in the February 17, 2021 print edition of the Lethbridge Herald.
Over the next few weeks, Alberta’s government will be making some important decisions that will shape our City and our region’s future for years to come.
The 2021-22 provincial budget comes after a year in which Alberta has sustained one hit after another – from the pandemic to a collapse in global energy prices to a sustained jobs crisis that is putting more and more pressure on our families and neighbours. There can be no doubt: the choices in front of the Kenney government are difficult, and come at a time when our province’s treasury is challenged by low revenues.
That being said, the Premier and his ministers must be mindful that their choices in this year’s budget do not sow the seed of unintended consequences that could hamper our region’s (and our province’s) recovery – or more worryingly, make our current economic problems worse. Southern Alberta will be particularly impacted by the priorities that the government will set around post-secondary education in our province. Given the uncertainty in the sector and in the economy, including a number of long-term and expensive reviews by this government, we believe that the Government of Alberta needs to reconsider its current policy of defunding post-secondary education, and use Budget 2021 as an opportunity to acknowledge the cultural and economic importance of advanced education to Southern Albertans, and to invest in our collective future.
Advanced education in our community has deep, fibrous roots that reach back decades into our region’s history. Our post-secondary institutions weren’t just gifted to us by governments in distant Edmonton, but rather the result of years of advocacy and labour by visionaries and workers in Southern Alberta. These remarkable forebears saw the incredible potential of our region’s people, and how we could make incredible contributions if we had access to the education we needed right here at home. After years of advocating that we shouldn’t have to send our kids hundreds of miles to get an education, Lethbridge College was established in 1957 as Canada’s first publicly funded community college, with other institutions following over the subsequent decades. As our government debates the future of post-secondary in our province, the same is true today as it was in the days of our institution’s founders: Southern Albertans deserve educational opportunities here at home, and our communities need to remain attractive places for young people to make their homes and raise their families.
Without these opportunities and the infusion of new members of our communities, Southern Alberta faces realities not unlike those in other parts of our Canadian prairies.
Aside from the fact that our kids and young people deserve world-class opportunities here at home, the Kenney government also needs to realize the remarkable economic impact that our institutions have on our regional economy. In a recent study completed by an independent research firm, it was estimated that Lethbridge College created over $425 million in economic impacts within our region. More than this, when we combine the impacts of the College’s operations with the spinoff impacts of employee spending, outside students spending money into our community, and increased economic activity from LC alumni, it’s estimated that the College supports 4,792 jobs in our region – almost one in every 20 jobs in the Lethbridge area. Further, it’s estimated that for every dollar invested by Alberta taxpayers, the College returns $3.70 in value to tax payers through increased revenue and lower expenditures in other social programs.
When we pull back and look at this, it’s clear that our region needs our provincial government to support our institutions, not just to preserve our kids’ access to advanced learning close to home, but also to provide stability to our regional economy.
The students, staff, and faculty of Lethbridge College know that our province has had a tough year, and that many of our neighbours are hurting and anxious right now. Many of us know the gut-churning reality of what it means to be out of work, and we are eager to help our region and our province relaunch after the pandemic gloom begins to dissipate. But we can’t do that, and our institution cannot continue to fuel jobs and the economy in our region if the Kenney government does not put its plans to defund our sector on hold.
If there is one thing we want to communicate clearly to Premier Kenney, his ministers, and our provincial representatives in Southern Alberta it is this: we know that money is tight, but making reductions to advanced education isn’t just a rebuke of our region’s history and culture, it threatens jobs and the economy here, and our province’s future.
Signed by:
Lethbridge College Faculty Association
Lethbridge College Student Association
AUPE Local 71/01 Lethbridge College
Statement on Recent Job Action Taken by AUPE Members at Health Facilities
The Lethbridge College Faculty Association expresses its support for workers who are deeply concerned about their jobs and the quality of service they are able to provide to Albertans. We support calls for the government to address the very serious and very real concerns these workers have raised, and urge the government to deal with these concerns through the orderly bargaining system contained in Alberta law.
Welcome to the 2020-21 Academic Year!
Welcome back! It’s been a strange summer but I hope you have found some relaxation.
The faculty association has been busy this summer.
Our faculty Relations Officer, Mike left us to help Canadian Blood Services establish a new service. I would personally like to thank Mike for his excellent service to the faculty association and wish him well in his new venture.
Please allow me to introduce our new Faculty Relations Officer, Keith Gardner. Keith joined the Faculty association at the beginning of July and has already demonstrated he will be a great asset to our team. You can read more about him in our about section.
Please stop by if you are on campus and say hi, otherwise reach out to Keith in the FA office 3217 or by email with your Faculty association needs.
With the pandemic limiting our activities the executive felt it would be better to plan our annual general meeting once we had access to facilities and faculty. As you are aware the opportunity has not yet materialized. We do need to hold an annual general meeting so we are exploring a blended format in September. We will try to provide an opportunity for those who wish to attend in person (following AHS protocols) as well as access for those who wish to participate on Zoom. We will provide a complete agenda and more details once we can finalize arrangements.
The AGM is our election platform and this one will have many opportunities to participate in the Faculty association. There will be vacancies in many of the standing committees and executive positions, watch for a complete list in the near future.
Ryan met with College administration in May on behalf of the negotiating team. Negotiations will begin in early October.
The bylaws committee are prepared to wrap up the work on the by-laws. They have done extensive work on restructuring the bylaws to meet the new standards and will be prepared to present them to faculty very soon. Our current bylaws require changes be presented and voted on at the AGM however your faculty executive would ask that you allow us to present the complete document to you by e-mail, allow you adequate time to review it, host a separate meeting for an opportunity for questions and input, then vote on the bylaws separate from the general meeting. We have heard that faculty do not want meetings drawn out too long and wish to ensure you have adequate time to consider the proposed bylaws. Please let me know as soon as possible if you feel this departure from the current bylaws is not acceptable and we will follow the current bylaws.
The Lethbridge College team has been working hard to provide for a return to classes in stage two relaunch. 5 teams have identified and worked on areas that need to be addressed to facilitate a safe return for students, employees, and faculty. They have produced guidelines and rules designed to protect those on our campus. Please respect the rules if you have to be on campus.
Lethbridge College has worked hard to meet the needs of students and faculty through this challenging time. They have tried hard to anticipate each barrier and do what can be done to eliminate each. If you face some unforeseen difficulty please reach out to the college supports available.
I have met with president’s council of ACIFA weekly over the summer. As you can imagine the implications of the budget changes and then the pandemic provided us with a great deal to talk about. The institutional responses have varied dramatically and I have to say I am very pleased by the response of our college.
The ACIFA conference fell victim to the pandemic and so they were unable to host an AGM. They will do a blended AGM with elections October 24th at 9 am. The meeting will be open for anyone who wishes to attend. Please contact Keith for contact information closer to the date.
Keyano was at the heart of the flooding in Fort McMurray, many faculty members were affected and the association suffered significant damage to their building. ACIFA provided a financial donation to the faculty association and another to the food bank on your behalf.
We met with Minister Nicolaides Tuesday Aug 25th to talk about moving forward in post secondary in Alberta. Although he was not able to share a lot of detail he did tell us that they recognize the important role post-secondary education will play in restarting the Alberta economy. While financial restraint is still paramount they intend to pull back and reevaluate the strategies around strategic change. There is a provincial review of the sector underway which will provide input and we will have several opportunities for input into that process which may have significant implications for post-secondary education in Alberta.
Trades instructors returned early in August and our first intake started August 24th. Instructors and new students suffered a crash before 8 am on day one when the ZOOM website went down. They were up and running quickly with minimal impact. Despite the excitement each instructor reports good progress and student success through the first week.
I wish you all the best in this new circumstance. I believe we can accomplish lots when pressed into an uncomfortable situation. Have a great year.
Kevin Wiber, President
Lethbridge College Faculty Association
ACIFA Covid-19 Impact Survey
ACIFA Survey
Impact of COVID-19
Good morning,
ACIFA is seeking to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the working lives of staff at universities, colleges, and polytechnics across the province. This information will be used by ACIFA to inform our policy and advocacy work.
While the survey is entirely voluntary, we are asking for your full participation to ensure as many academic staff are included in this critical study.
The survey consists of approximately 40 questions-some multiple-choice and some open-ended- that should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. The survey will be open until June 8, 2020.
Please circulate this Provincial survey for members on the impact of COVID-19 to your members, and let me know how many people you sent the survey to.
The link is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/93SHFPY
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Victoria Kirchner, Executive Assistant, admin@acifa.ca.
Thank you,
Victoria Kirchner
Executive Assistant
Alberta Colleges & Institutes Faculties Association
317, 11010 142 ST NW
Phone: (780) 423-4440
www.acifa.ca
LCFA President's Newsletter
Message from your LCFA President
It has been quite a year has it not?
The faculty Association started the year with unfinished business in settling a contract, we barely concluded that contract and we are back at the table.
As a college we dealt with a mid-year budget cut that caused a lot of uncertainty. I was pleased that the Administration called the Faculty association, AUPE and the students association in to share the news with us.
ACIFA executive and Presidents council took Cheryl and I to Edmonton to meet with Minister Nicholaides. Our first visit expressed the displeasure of the post-secondary sector in the concept of a performance based budget. In later visits, once performance based funding was a reality we pressed to maintain educational standards. Later visits were cancelled by the minister’s office, largely because it was very close to the budget release, and later by Covid restrictions. Early in the process a group representing LCFA, Students association and AUPE met jointly with MLA Neudorf to express our concerns. That meeting primarily dealt with the impact on the students. We participated in a conference call, then invited MLA Phillips to meet with the same group, she provided us with some advice from her perspective which was helpful. ACIFA continues to be a strong supporter of all the institutions in the province, presidents council has been meeting weekly to share what is happening at individual institutions. Based on what we have heard at those meetings I am very pleased with the communication and support of our administration through these times. I wish I could report we had more success at the political level.
As a college we then dealt with the budget cut for the upcoming year and the extra challenge of performance based funding. Once again the Executive Leadership team invited us in the share what news they have received. The news has not been easy to understand and many things are still somewhat confusing for the post-secondary sector.
As we all dealt with major budget challenges we are faced with a historical pandemic. Once again we were told early how the college planned to deal with conditions, however conditions are steadily evolving. I want to thank the faculty for making such dramatic adjustments in order to help our students complete the term.
The executive council has discussed another item we as an association need to deal with, our annual general meeting. There are other institutions facing the issue and many have pushed the AGM later in order to explore their options. Our issue is our contract in which our end date is coming up quickly while many faculty are facing the new challenge of a hasty switch to on-line delivery. Given the uncertainty and turmoil in all our lives right now we would like to delay the AGM until September. We understand that this does not match our By-laws but these are exceptional times. If anyone has concerns please raise them with myself of Mike, it is easiest to contact us by e-mail.
Please stay healthy through your time away, here’s hoping we can return refreshed and find a new year with more answers and fewer challenges.
Kevin Wiber
President, Lethbridge College Faculty Association
Chair Crooks school of Transportation, Center for Trades
Automotive Service Technician / Heavy Equipment Technician
403-320-3202 ext. 3264 or 3219
3000 College Drive S., Lethbridge, AB T1K 1L6
LCFA Negotiations Survey Coming
LCFA Negotiations Survey
Faculty,
I hope you are all doing well in these uncertain times we are all living in. I just want to share with all of you that even though we are not eligible to work face to face your Negotiations Committee has been trying to do their best in continuing their commitment to you with our virtual meetings to prepare for bargaining. It has not been easy, but I feel we have made great progress under these circumstances.
With that being said, Mike will be sending out a survey in regard to your concerns about bargaining and the direction you want your Committee to take.
There will be a short introduction and some directions on how to fill out the survey to try and obtain the best results for all your efforts.
Please participate in this survey as this is your Collective Agreement and you the faculty direct us to Negotiate for what you want the Collective Agreement to stand for.
These are tough times for all of us physically, financially and of course emotionally but we still need to try and do business to the best of our ability with the cards we are dealt with.
Thank you for giving me a few minutes to give you a heads up with what is coming and remember please fill out the survey when you see it in your email.
Take care,
Ryan Kaupp
VP Negotiations
ryan.kaupp@lethbridgecollege.ca
403 320 3202
EXT 5325
ACIFA Conference 2020 Update
ACIFA Conference 2020 Update
On Behalf of ACIFA
Due to the COVID-19 situation, the upcoming ACIFA conference, which was scheduled for May 2020, has been canceled.
Fairmont Hotel will do a mass cancellation, and as such, there is no need to call the Jasper Park Lodge hotel for individual room cancelation. The hotel will issue refunds, where applicable, without a prompt.
The ACIFA office will be issuing refunds for the registration fee for those who had paid via PayPal tomorrow. Anyone who has paid by e-transfer, please e-mail your mailing address to the ACIFA office (admin@acifa.ca) to receive a refund via cheque.
The annual ACIFA spring conference is a big part of the life of our association. Next year’s conference is scheduled to be hosted at the Banff Springs Hotel from May 9th to 11th 2021, hope to see you all there!
Take good care of you and yours,
Anna
Anna Beukes, PhD
President ACIFA
ATA Building
Suite 317, 11010-142 Street
Edmonton, Alberta, T5N2R1
P 780.423.4440
Faculty Presidents’ Message
Faculty Presidents’ Message
Faculty
These are incredible times. Our lives are being impacted by forces we could never have imagined. As one young child was quoted on social media this morning “It’s like Mother Nature has put us in the corner for a time out”. As we navigate these difficult times please support each other. Look for the positive wherever you can find it.
The faculty association has been asked questions surrounding next steps, the college policy and college positions. Let me reassure you ELT has been as open and transparent with us as they can possibly be. As you have noticed the message comes from different sources ranging from the Prime minister, federal health authorities, World Health Organization to our provincial leadership and health services. The tough thing is the message is not always the same. In an effort to maintain some sense of order the College leadership has elected to follow the recommendations of Alberta Health Services. AHS seems to be re-evaluating daily sometime around 4 o’clock, and Lethbridge College will try to keep up with the latest information supplied at that time.
Many of you have asked the Faculty Association about working from home and self-isolating. In my personal opinion the college has presented a consistent message concerning working. We are here, on campus to provide the best opportunities for our students. While some of you feel prepared and ready to work from home the message needs to be consistent, having said that we understand there are extenuating circumstances created by the pandemic, usually illness and childcare. When you consider these issues please do not rely on previous statements around working from home, we never imagined these conditions when we discussed those guidelines. Please discuss your individual case with your associate dean or your dean. As information comes from AHS they will be the best informed people and they can assess each case on it’s own merit. When the issue of illness arises treat it the same way. Follow the recommendations of Alberta Health services, discuss the issue with your associate dean or your dean, but please be reasonable and honest as you asses your personal situation, don’t let fear be the driving factor. Please also remember that we are all in different circumstances, the best solution for one may not work at all in another situation and these circumstances may be personal and private
I believe the college has the best interests of students, staff and faculty at heart. We are in this together, and by working together we can get through it.
Thank You
Kevin Wiber
President, Lethbridge College Faculty Association
Chair Crooks school of Transportation, Center for Trades
Automotive Service Technician / Heavy Equipment Technician
403-320-3202 ext. 3264 or 3219
3000 College Drive S., Lethbridge, AB T1K 1L6
Teaching Excellence Framework Additional Information
Teaching Excellence Framework
The Teaching Excellence Framework committee is seeking individual feedback about the TEF project. Please view the following PowerPoint and speaker notes (Engagement Sessions Round 1 (1).pptx) and provide comments through the feedback survey located on the final slide.
Thank you,
Jess Nicol (she/her), MA, PhD Candidate
Educational Development Specialist
Centre for Teaching, Learning & Innovation
403-320-3202 ext. 5813
3000 College Drive South, Lethbridge, AB T1K 1L6
ACIFA Conference News Letter
ACIFA Conference News Letter
OUTSTANDING
The LCFA would like to take a moment to congratulate this years ACIFA award recipients from Lethbridge College.
Cheryl Meheden - Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award.
Sphere Team - Innovation in Teaching Award.
Sheri Wright
Marie Laeren
Heather Gordon
Madisyn Chambers
Michelle Moors
Please take a moment to read the latest ACIFA News Letter which includes the President’s message and conference invitation.