Welcome to the Fall Semester!
September 4, 2024
A friendly hello to our FSA members and the whole BCIT community! Whether you were on-campus or not this summer, I hope you found time for some rest and rejuvenation. We’ve had a very busy spell the last few months here at the FSA offices and we’ve already begun the push into the fall semester.
The FSA will be focused on preparing for bargaining throughout this academic year. We appointed our Collective Agreement Committee (CAC) in June, which will oversee the development of bargaining proposals for the upcoming round of negotiations with the employer. With your Member Engagement Officer, I also visited with Departments and Caucuses to see what the membership wants to see in our next contract. Watch for our bargaining survey in your inbox this fall.
On the Operations side of the union, the FSA is amid a full website redesign. The result will be a more accessible and up-to-date site, with information laid out in an easier-to-find way. We expect to go live with the site later in the fall, and I can’t wait for the launch. Thanks go out to the staff and members who contributed their time and expertise to the redesign process.
In August we said goodbye to our Information Officer Pierre Cassidy, who’s been the central driving force in moving the FSA from a paper to a digital organization. More generally, Pierre wrenched the FSA’s information and data gathering activities into line with current best practices. We wish Pierre the best in his new role with our cousins at the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators.
As we embark on the new academic year, I am excited by the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead. The job of a union is to make the working lives of its members better, not just at the bargaining table, but through robust labour relations, operations, member engagement, and other member services. I look forward to putting in this work with the FSA Board and staff to better your experience of working at BCIT!
Colin Jones,
BCITFSA President