President's Report: December 2025

It seems winter is officially upon us, and the blanket of snow falling as I write this is a welcome reminder to slow down, embrace a little flexibility, and take care of one another.

I want to first express my sincere gratitude to outgoing President Lisa Habel for her leadership and for the time and care she took integrating me into the UWSA team this past year. Her guidance prepared me to hit the ground running…and there is plenty of ground to cover, as you will see here!

I also want to wish a very warm welcome to our new directors, Emilie Mechler, Gregory McIntyre, Khyati Nagar, Sarah Seabrook, and Tracey Beirness, who have been onboarded following the election, and congratulations to Angela Rooke on re-election to our board! I also must say a tremendous thank you to our outgoing directors, Agata Antkiewicz, Bill Baer, and Tim Ireland. Bill will of course be staying in his new capacity as our president-elect!

We have an ambitious timeline to renew our MoA and aim to share a draft with members early in the new year ahead of a ratification vote. The centrepiece is adding a robust compensation negotiation framework, as highlighted in my recent joint statement with President Vivek Goel. This change, coupled with other important clarifications and updates, will strengthen our position as the representative for staff.

We’ve heard questions about why this round of MoA revisions doesn’t address more items. The short answer: we want progress now, not years from now. By focusing on a few high-impact items with a quick turnaround, we can create the leverage needed to advance many of the other suggestions members have shared—whether through our Board, the Staff Relations Committee, or future MoA updates. Some ideas require deeper exploration and broad consultation to ensure any changes truly meet staff needs, and we’re committed to doing that work. This approach lets us move forward strategically while keeping momentum strong.

I thank UW for recognizing the immense value of staff and for the collaborative approach throughout this process. I am excited to share more soon, including updates on the 2026 salary agreement.

UW recently shared an update on its three-year plan. Of note, we now have confirmation that fewer than 50 staff have lost their positions due to budget reductions this year. While we appreciate the noted commitment to minimizing further job losses, we also recognize that reductions of all kinds, including contracts not being renewed and positions not being backfilled, are contributing to heavier workloads and uncertainty for many staff. We will continue to monitor this closely, advocate for transparency, and amplify staff perspectives at every opportunity. More details are expected at the Budget Information Forum in January.

Flexible and Hybrid Work Guidelines

This remains a top concern for many staff that we regularly raise with UW admin. Further, we will launch a comprehensive survey in the new year that will include this topic because your feedback is crucial to our continued support of members.

A few days ago, we hosted a special Area Reps meeting with senior leaders for a candid discussion about how the guidelines are affecting staff. I thank Jacinda Reitsma, VP admin & finance, Michelle Hollis, chief human resources officer, and Nick Manning, AVP communications, for their time and engagement. The topics ranged from the rationale and timing of the change, consistency of implementation, caregiving impacts, equity concerns, accommodations, and return-to-campus logistics (parking, health and safety, and more). As always, there were more questions than we could address in an hour. We will follow up on the outstanding items and update members with key learnings.

Pension and benefits

As we know, UW is exploring a possible transition to the University Pension Plan (UPP) and we’re encouraged that no change can occur without consent from two-thirds of eligible plan members, and each staff vote counts. While a vote is not imminent, we will keep members informed of updates and engagement opportunities from UW (which should be announced soon), as well as explore additional ways to engage members directly. I thank those who have shared feedback so far, including helpful information like the recent article from WATtimes, the Retirees Association magazine (p. 8).

Additionally, UW has proposed splitting the Pension & Benefits (P&B) Committee into a new Pension Committee and separate Benefits Advisory Committee. The P&B summary in our 2025 Committee and Officer Reports (p. 8) has a comparison to the current structure. UW’s proposal is available in the October 3, 2025 P&B agenda (p. 77). The discussion will continue at the January 9 P&B meeting and we thank our staff P&B representatives for their invaluable contributions.

Campus Plan

UW has launched its third Campus Plan survey, open until December 3. As a UW alum myself, I can't help but feel excited to help shape the future of our campus, but I also recognize this comes at a time when staff are experiencing a number of immediate challenges. I encourage everyone to participate in the surveys and other opportunities for input so staff voices are reflected in decision making.

Connecting with members

We hope to visit with as many departments as possible in 2026! Let us know if your team would like to learn more about who we are and how we support members.

I’d love to stay in touch with everyone too, so please don’t hesitate to reach out by Teams, email, or adding me to LinkedIn. I’m also very happy to meet up on campus any time if you’d like to chat.

Thank you

As I step into this role, I’m seeing every day how passionate, dedicated, and resilient our staff community is, and I remain committed to elevating staff voices throughout the year ahead as we navigate these changes together.

Thank you, and for anyone that I don’t see before we break for the holidays in a few short weeks, I wish you a restful and restorative holiday season.