News

On May 3, 2019 Rose Vogt, UWSA President and Lawrence Folland, UWSA President-Elect attended a consultation process organized by Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board.  The intention of the consultation with public sector employees and bargaining agents was to receive feedback and discuss “in good faith” on how to manage Ontario public sector compensation growth in a way that results in wage settlements that are modest, reasonable and sustainable.  The feedback was supposed to directly inform any next steps taken by the government to manage growth in compensation costs.

When the Staff Enhancement Grant committee met last December, they reviewed many applications from members seeking funding. Among the recipients they chose was Lynn Long. who works at the Centre for Teaching Excellence. In her own words, here is Lynn's experience.

The 2019 Staff Conference was held April 8 and 9, and we hope you were able to attend all, or at least part of this fantastic event. UWSA is a proud sponsor of these annual conferences. This year, our corporate partner, Johnson Insurance sponsored a draw for an Ipad Mini 4 and everyone who visited the UWSA table in STC was able to enter their name for a chance to win. 

Co-op supervision and U-Waterloo

A message from the University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) as seen on Daily Bulletin Nov. 27, 2018

As a member of the Waterloo community, you may have had concerns about the recognition and impact of the time and work you put into supervising co-op students. These concerns may apply to both what is written in your job description and within an interview setting when applying for supervisory roles.

Lisa Brackenridge used SEG funding to work toward upgrading to an honours degree, with a long-term goal to apply for graduate school.

Plant Operations working with Retail Services to provide vending machines

(From Plant Ops) - The decision to discontinue the feminine hygiene product dispensing service was made within Plant Operations about 10 years ago following a high number of incidents involving vandalism of dispensers and theft of product and/ or money. Unfortunately, we have been unable to determine if there was ever any communication to the University community at the time of the decision and it appears the winding down process was disorganized at best.

Looking at employee benefits

A UW’s Pension and Benefits Committee meeting was held last week. Our consultant let us know that with the change in Ontario’s government, there might be some consequences to our pension plan. They’ll be monitoring this and will be reporting back. There were three very interesting reports included in the agenda.

In accordance with Policy 5, Salary Administration, University Support Staff, the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Staff Compensation (PACSC) met several times over the past few months to discuss a compensation recommendation in light of market data, the findings of the staff salary review concluded in Winter of 2018, and other compensation arrangements on campus. 

Here is the recommendation forwarded by the Provost to the Board of Governors for consideration at its next meeting on 5 June 2018:

Murray Zink received $250 staff enhancement grant to support his visits to a tool lending library and repair cafe in California.

SEG funding supported a member's experience walking with the Mayan indigenous community to learn about their culture, history and current challenges, study and observe ongoing projects currently funded by MCC and to provide support for these projects.