Halloween Social

CFA and MoveUp are hosting a joint Halloween Social on Wednesday, October 28th - 12:30pm to 2:30pm in LB322.

We will also be celebrating Reini Klein’s retirement!

After more than 25 years of dedicated service to Capilano University and the CFA, Reini is off to enjoy a well-deserved retirement. Please join us in celebrating his many contributions to the CapU community and wishing Reini all the best as he begins this exciting new chapter.

Special Event - Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong

Dear Faculty,

Please join us in celebrating the book release of Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong, by Musqueam Elder Larry Grant and co-author Scott Steedman, on Tuesday, September 29, at the Capilano Centre for Performing Arts (formerly called Blueshore Theatre).

This special event will feature Elder Grant—respected educator and knowledge keeper—co-author Scott Steedman, and Sarah Ling, a community historian and documentary filmmaker. Sarah’s film, All Our Father’s Relations, which documented the journey of the Grant family to their ancestral village in China, was released in 2016.

Ten years later, the three speakers will share stories behind the book, reflecting on a remarkable life shaped by resilience, identity and belonging. Elder Grant will also share his reflections on reconciliation, drawing from his lived experience and lifelong journey.

Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong traces Elder Grant’s experiences growing up with Musqueam and Chinese heritage, the impacts of exclusion under the Indian Act, and the broader histories of Indigenous revival, residential schools and migration in Vancouver. It’s a powerful and deeply personal story that invites reflection and conversation. Copies of Reconciling will be available for sale on site by Chinatown Wonders. Net proceeds from book sales will go towards the production of a multilingual children's book on Elder Grant's childhood in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, Chinese, and English.

Doors open at 10:45. The event runs from 11 am to 1 pm, and after the talk, the two authors will sign copies of purchased books.

In solidarity,
CFA executive committee

Our Collegial Model – a timely explanation

Recently, we have heard some members of the University administration describe the Capilano University Collegial Model (Articles 2.5 to 2.8) as if it is no more than a simple practice of being civil to each other. Some have reframed it as “collegial management.” We believe it is critical that we move together with a shared understanding of what a collegial approach to decision-making means here at CapU, so we want to correct these inaccurate statements. We will be exploring this further in upcoming workshops. 

While many post-secondary institutions subscribe to “collegial management,” the Collegial Model as codified in our Collective Agreement is unique. We have talked with chief stewards and bargainers from across the province who confirm that no other university or college has a model like ours. 

What makes our model unique is not the word “collegial”—it is that we have a decentralized Collegial Decision-making Model. This model delegates decision-making authority over a defined set of subjects to functional areas and coordinators. This approach supports the autonomy of faculty to manage their immediate spheres of influence. This statement from our Collective Agreement underscores the distinction of our approach:

“This model is predicated upon a belief that indicated recommending bodies are usually best positioned and qualified to make the following decisions and determinations." (Article 2.8.1.1) - In other words: for certain subjects, groups of faculty (departments and schools) are in the best position to make the decision.

The subjects are set out in article 2.8.2.5. On these subjects, the departments are the initial decision-makers. They pass their decisions to deans, who can object to the decisions if they have specific reasons to do so (valid reasons listed in 2.8.2.1). But the decisions begin with the departments, not the other way around. And they are decisions, not requests. If a dean refuses a decision, the dean must cite specific reasons. This enables two-way dialogue, but dialogue that empowers faculty.

It is vital to CapU that we move together with a shared understanding of what our unique collegial model means, and not let it get watered down as if it means only that we are nice to each other. While being civil or “nice” to each other often helps, it is not at the core of our decision-making model. Our framework fosters collaboration, autonomy, and trust, reflecting participatory values that are central to our faculty association's identity and our institution’s history. 

You may recall that, in the last round of bargaining, the administration proposed deleting the Collegial Model. They proposed replacing it with deans making the decisions, after consulting departments if, when, and how the deans chose. We refused to give up our model for that kind of managerialism. But if we forget what makes our model unique and accept the idea that it is merely about being collegial, we risk accepting in practice what we refused to accept in bargaining and will risk losing our decision-making authority..

We will be holding more workshops on the model in the spring term, starting with new employee orientation on 14 January, and as part of a set of workshops during reading week in February. We look forward to continued dialogue with you about how the model works, why it matters, and how to make it better.

In solidarity

CFA president Tim Acton and CFA stewards Michael Begg, Doug Alards-Tomalin, and Diana Twiss

August pay: solution for RPTs who were underpaid

Dear colleagues: we are following up on the problems many regular part-time faculty have encountered with pay for August. We met with HR, and believe we have found a solution to get you the pay you deserve.

 As we advised you on 30 August, it turns out that the administration chose to pay regular faculty in August based on their commitment level, regardless of their workload in 2023/24. That was contrary to the discussions the CFA had with HR last May.

 We met with HR about this last week and are happy to report that they are now willing to provide the additional pay - though they want additional paperwork from some faculty (see below). This is the response we received late on Tuesday:

University’s Approach to Compensation for the August 2024 Transition Month

Compensation at Commitment Level:

Faculty will be compensated based on their commitment level for the 2023/24 academic year.

 Additional PD Compensation:

Faculty members who have completed professional development (PD) beyond their 2023/24 commitment level during the August 2024 transition month will be compensated for those additional hours, provided the PD proposal was submitted and approved by their Dean/Director/AVP. The University will require these approved PD proposals to confirm the additional hours of PD completed beyond their 2023/24 commitment level.

 How to implement this:

If you are an RFT or an RPT who worked your commitment level in 2023/24, you do not need to do anything different. The PD report we had already advised you to submit through your department is fine.

 If you are an RPT who worked above your commitment level in 2023/24, we ask that you complete two tasks, which HR is insisting on to justify topping up your August pay. They are only asking this for RPTs who worked above commitment last year.

1) Please make sure your 2023/24 PD report includes the following:

Due to the change in academic year, I performed two weeks’ worth of additional PD, pro rata to my workload in 2023/24, for a total of ___ days, including creative and scholarly activity and/or research in the period May through August 2024.

This additional PD is at the rate of 1.25 days per section. So, for example, if you worked a total of 6 sections in 2023/24, you should put 7.5 days into the blank above.

2) Please complete and give to your coordinator, in a separate document (template attached—click here), a PD proposal dated in May 2024, with the text above, but changing "I performed” to “I am performing.” (This is already in the template.) Please insert the same figure in the blank. Then submit that to your coordinator along with your report on PD from the past year.

For co-ordinators: we ask that you hold off on submitting the department’s PD proposals and reports to your dean until RPTs have had a chance to provide this special May proposal.

For other regular faculty: if your PD report is already based on your 2023/24 workload rather than your commitment level, it should already match the recommended text above. We just ask that you check to make sure your report on extra PD is based on your actual workload. HR is not asking for a special May PD report from anyone except RPTs who worked above commitment last year.

We regret the inconvenience of this procedure. We have explained to HR that the special PD proposal is not the way faculty propose and report PD, but they are insisting. Rather than drag this into a grievance, we want to secure the money for you asap. This is the best way to do so.

If you have questions, please attend the CFA general meeting on 17 September at 11:30 (here is the zoom link for this and all CFA GMs, third Tuesday of each month).

When will I receive the adjustment in Pay?

Since payroll for September is fixed this week, your pay for September won't include extra pay. We are talking with HR about a separate payment (not waiting until October payday), but first we have to confirm this process with them. However, we anticipate that they won’t authorize the payment until deans have received PD reports from departments.

We regret the continuing challenge of ensuring fair pay during the adjustment to the academic year. We hope that this will finally resolve the issue so we can move on and focus on what we are here to do: create a great community of teaching, learning, and scholarship.

 In solidarity,

Tim Acton, CFA president, and CFA stewards Michael Begg, Doug Alards-Tomalin, and Diana Twiss

Notice to regular members about August pay: Employer based your pay on commitment level, not actual workload in 23/24

Dear members, this is a message for regular members who worked in 2023/24.

Most of you will have seen your August pay by now. The CFA learned today that the HR department assigned your pay for August 2024 based on your commitment level, rather than on your actual workload in 2023/24.

If you worked above your commitment level in 2023/24, your pay for August will be lower than the income you received in the previous months of 2023/24.

This is not what the CFA understood the University was going to do during our discussions about the change in academic year last May. And it is contrary to what we bargained when we agreed to change the academic year from the old start of 1 August to the new start of 1 September. (That agreement stated that “no employee shall suffer any detrimental impact to their pay” due to the change in academic year.)

We are going to meet with HR to attempt to resolve this. If necessary, we will grieve the shortfall.

This issue only affects August 2024. Your monthly income in September onward will be based on your actual workload for this academic year (September ’24 through August ’25).

We will update you about this next week.

In solidarity,

CFA stewards Michael Begg, Doug Alards-Tomalin, and Diana Twiss

Bulletin ~ Collective Agreement: Updates on changes to pay and benefits

Dear members: we are writing to update you on the implementation of the new Collective Agreement, focusing here on salaries (including retro pay) and benefits. The short version is that the administration expects that our February pay will be at the new rates and will include our retro pay; and that our Canada Life benefits have not been updated yet.

Our other Collective Agreement updates, including the effect of the change in the academic year, are in the document we sent last month (linked here).

 Salary 

The HR department has told us that the administration will be sending an announcement about salaries and retro pay. We have not seen the draft announcement yet and don’t know the timing, but wanted to update you with what we do know:

The Finance department has advised that they are implementing our new salary rates on our February pay. That pay deposit should also include our retro pay for April 2022 through January 2024 (they are doing final coding for this now). The retro will be included with our February wages as one payment. This will, unfortunately, make it difficult for members to check that the retro payment is accurate.

The good news is that in response to the CFA’s grievance about the lack of information on pay stubs, the employer has hired a computer programmer to create monthly pay descriptions that set out how our pay is calculated each month. This pay description will be provided separately from the pay stub itself, but we are expecting it to accompany our monthly payments—once it is ready. 

Finance tells us that they are hopeful that the pay description will be ready for our February pay, and that it will break down our normal pay and the retro pay. We have not yet received confirmation of whether the pay description will be ready for February. When the pay description is working, the administration says it will show faculty pay details going back approximately two years.

Regarding tax and other deductions: we asked HR and Finance again about options for minimizing a disproportionate tax deduction on our February pay due to the addition of retro. They have now advised that there are no options. Their only suggestion is for members to maximize their RRSP contributions. However, this won’t affect the amount of tax deducted on our February pay.

We have asked the Finance department to prepare an explanation of the calculation of deductions for taxes, CPP, EI, etc. and to post that along with a Q&A for faculty to read.

 Benefits

Although we are now entitled to the new benefits coverages (see again our summary of the changes), Canada Life won’t reimburse us based on the new benefits until the administration has updated the contract. 

Expenses you incur now that rely on the new benefits will be reimbursed, but not until the contract is updated.

The HR department has not notified us of the timeline for updating the contract. 

 In solidarity,

CFA stewards Michael Begg and Diana Twiss