Here’s Yessenia’s report from the Area Representatives meeting on May 9:
Meeting staff
Recently, we’ve been at a few events, visiting our wonderful staff in Cambridge, eating pizza with our members at Block Three Brewing in St. Jacobs, and at the reception for Teaching & Learning Conference.
It is evident, everywhere I go, how essential staff are, not only in keeping the university in functioning order but also inspiring, educating, training, contributing to innovation at Waterloo. The role of the UWSA in all this, is to empower and help you thrive as staff. We of course, have a lot more to offer with our services too, so please consider having us come to your department for a presentation and Q&A.
Branding
We are planning to update our look! In alignment with our strategic plan and in efforts to truly represent the essence of the association today, we are looking into re-branding, including designing a new logo. We are in the early stages of this project and hope to share more details with you in the coming months.
T2200 forms
Though we were disappointed with the lack of an announcement from the administration on these forms, we are proactively trying to make sure that the process will be clearer for next year. The UWSA continues to address this situation with the proper university contacts.
Parking
Sustainable transportation, formerly known as Parking Services, has put a pause on their plans to open parking lots, though you will note the increase to your fees. The parking advisory committee is busy investigating options for the implementation of the “open parking lots;” the Staff rep on the committee brings a focus on how the new plan can best serve staff. I attended the last parking advisory committee (as a proxy for our rep) and suggested that an open session be held for stakeholder consultation. We are hopeful that the committee will plan for this to occur soon.
Salary discussions
We’ve all seen what FAUW was able to obtain for their agreement. Though historically we have seen the Staff Association strike similar deals to FAUW’s, we are still in talks. We should also note that anything related to benefits is referred to the Pension & Benefits Committee. I want to emphasize we can’t make any guarantees but we are hopeful that UW will recognize the value of staff within this agreement. There are yet a few more meetings to attend and I acknowledge that the discussions are going past the normal time frame, but I reiterate that this can be a positive sign for staff.
Voluntary Retirement Program
As you might have already seen there is a Voluntary Retirement Program now available for eligible employees. HR says that this is part of a multi-modal approach to managing the operating budget deficit. It may be of interest that we have a relatively low proportion of staff eligible for the program compared with faculty. There will be information sessions for this program available on May 29 and June 11. Please get in touch with HR should you have any questions.
Suggestion box Q&A
Through our suggestion box, some questions have come in that did not indicate a desired response, but that are of interest to mention here.
Q: Can the staff association start to look at the job descriptions, titles and pay grades across campus?
A: The Staff Association has advocated for a review of this information for years and the University currently has a Strategic Talent and Performance Management Framework project underway that aims to address these very issues. Though this will take some time, the administration is working towards its implementation and has been consulting with the UWSA.
Q: I'm interested in having a better understanding of how performance appraisal scores impact my salary increase.
A: We’ve previously shared information from HR regarding performance appraisals. Here is that information in case you missed it:
2024–25 budget summary
In April, the UWSA Board of Directors passed a budget for the fiscal year 2024–25 prepared by the Operations Team and focused strictly on operations. It will be updated with any board expenses or projects later in the year once the board has a treasurer in place.
The UWSA is 82% funded by member dues, and we want to make sure you know how we’re spending your money. We've published an overview of the budget in our members' area on Confluence. If you're not logged in to Confluence, you'll get a "We couldn't find what you're looking for" page; click the sign-in button in the top right and log in with your UW credentials.
Through our suggestion box, some questions have come in that did not indicate a desired response, but that are of interest to mention here.
