Candidates Acclaimed: FSA 2024 Board Elections

Candidates Acclaimed: FSA 2024 Board Elections

In this year’s election, the FSA welcomed Board nominations for positions of President and Vice President, 2024-26.

Nomination Details

• Nominations were accepted from March 15 until April 3
• We received one (1) nomination for one (1) President position
• We received one (1) nomination for one (1) Vice President position
• Both Candidates were acclaimed
• Questions can be directed to the Chief Returning Officer, Denise Calvert through fsa@bcit.ca

Meet the Acclaimed Candidates

Candidate statements below are those of the individual candidates and do not represent official positions of the FSA.

Vice President

It’s truly an honour to serve you as FSA Vice President and I am respectfully seeking your support for another term. We’ve had a dynamic and productive past two years, and the next two years promise to be equally important ones for our union.

Last year brought our new Collective Agreement, following a busy bargaining cycle led by President Colin Jones. While Colin took on the role of Chief Negotiator, I carried extra duties — and I relished the opportunity to spend even more time working with FSA Members and Departments on your concerns, priorities, and issues.

Sharing information about Department Rights was one of my key activities: Department Rights including, especially, your rights to decision making about workloading, Selection Committees, and your Department Plan. Department Rights presentations are one example of the FSA’s strategic initiative to continue to enhance the availability of information to support our members — and something I will continue to be involved with if I am elected for another term.

Chairing Tech Rep meetings is another of my vice presidential activities — one of my favourites — which allows me to share information with and hear candidly from those who represent your Departments. These conversations are essential to supporting our members when and where and how you need the union’s help the most.

At Tech Rep meetings and General Meetings I also had the opportunity to bring forward some important policy issues which emerged over the past two years; in particular, the proposed amendments to BCIT’s course attendance policy for students, along with Policy 5401, about which I’ve communicated extensively in recent FSA blogs (https://www.bcitfsa.ca/).

As FSA Board Policy Trustee, I will continue to monitor BCIT’s policy review process and help communicate with members about key changes that impact you and your Departments. The FSA is fortunate to have the diversity of many different Departments in our union; as well as our many teaching Departments, our membership is also enriched with Departments such as those in the divisions of Research, Education Support, Student Services, IT Services, and others. The reach of our members’ expertise around BCIT makes us a strong, influential, well informed union.

The strength and solidarity of our union helped secure gains in the new Collective Agreement, including significant wage gains. This included our PTS members receiving an extra wage bump. As a Program Head for PTS, I am aware of many specific issues PTS members face — such as lack of infrastructure and job support — and I will continue to advocate for improvements, especially via the FSA’s Caucus on Part-Time Studies (COPTS). The COPTS most recently helped inform the FSA’s successful advocacy efforts to counter proposed cancellations of two PTS programs: ISEP (International Student Entry Program) and PELD (Professional English Language Development).

I have been at BCIT for over 20 years and involved with the FSA for many of those. I am committed to doing everything I can, to continue to advocate for your rights and support you in the amazing work you do.

President

Hello colleagues,

I would like to, again, put my name forward to serve as FSA President. I have learned an incredible amount during four years in this role and would be honoured to again serve as our association President.

Much has changed since I first joined the FSA Board 15 years ago. Over those years, I have discovered a lot about how the FSA works. I have also learned a lot about how BCIT works – and doesn’t work. FSA board members have an opportunity – and responsibility – to bring forward issues identified by our members, and work with BCIT to see improvements.

Having spent 3 rounds on our association’s collective bargaining team, I was asked by the board to serve as our first member-spokesperson since the 1980’s. I’m so happy I said yes. Leading our Collective Agreement Committee and Bargaining Teams for the past two rounds of bargaining has been one of my most rewarding accomplishments at BCIT.

I have also had my eyes opened to the value we receive from our affiliates and relationships throughout the sector. Building relationships with our siblings at CAUT and cousins through FPSE and the BCFed have created a newfound solidarity in recent years, knowing that thousands of our colleagues will be there for us when we need them – as we are there for them when they need us. We are stronger together.

Should I have the pleasure of serving two more years as President of our FSA, my focus will be building capacity in our ranks. It’s time to spread out the responsibility – and work! – to ensure a healthy and vibrant future for the FSA. I will work to identify and empower advocates from within our membership to lead us going forward.

Meanwhile, with the backing of our board, I look forward to supporting our staff as they defend the longstanding tenets of academic freedom and shared governance that are the cornerstones on which BCIT was established. These, alongside Departmental and member rights, are paramount to our union. I strive to find opportunities for BCIT and the FSA to communicate more, not less, and work together to solve the complex problems we all face – tackling them as partners, not adversaries.

You’ve probably heard me say it before – I love BCIT. I will never forget the first time I arrived on campus for an infosession. BCIT was amazing to that 17 year old kid. From starting in Computing, to a student employee in Computer Resources, to a more than 26 year career, BCIT has been really good to me and my family. But, my most rewarding time has been serving as your President and Chief Negotiator. It has given me the opportunity to see the incredible work that is done by FSA members each day – the work that makes BCIT work.

If elected by our members, I will amplify your voices, advocating for the improvements required to do our jobs even better.