Posts Tagged ‘insideAESES’
AESES 2024 Children’s Winter Holiday Extravaganza Registration
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
Join us December 1!
The AESES Activities Committee is excited to announce the annual AESES 2024 Children’s Winter Holiday Extravaganza! It’s been renamed!
Enjoy an afternoon filled with entertainment from Brian Glow, “International Illusionist and Comedy Magician,” face painting, balloon twisting, food, and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Sunday, December 1, 2024, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
MPR, 220-224 UMSU University Centre
University of Manitoba, Fort Garry Campus
- Dependent children aged 10 and younger will receive a hot meal and gift, courtesy of AESES.
- Lunch will also be available for purchase for parents /guardians and children over the age of 10. This is a cash only event.
- This event is for signed AESES members. If not yet signed, visit: aeses.ca/forms/membership-application to fill out a form.
The deadline to register is November 6, 2024.
The Committee is also looking for volunteers to help during the event. Visit the registration form above to learn more.
New Faces
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
Welcome new members to AESES!
Visit our New Faces page to view the latest AESES hires for October 2024 at both universities, as reported to us by the University of Manitoba (UM) and The University of Winnipeg (UW). The lists include full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees.
AESES Volunteers’ Appreciation Banquet 2024
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
Annually, AESES acknowledges, thanks, and celebrates its Board of Representatives and longstanding volunteers. This year’s event took place at the Viscount Gort Hotel in April. Chris McCann, AESES President presented the following pins and awards after supper:
Bronze Pin – 5 Years of Service
Tracey Clifton-Hanslip and Jennifer Holbrow
Silver Pin – 10 Years of Service
Glenn Bergen, Melissa Blonjeaux, Daniel Matthes, Funmi Owoade and Blair Zelinsky
Jennifer Holbrow, Melissa Blonjeaux and Blair Zelinsky
The Dedicated Service Award was presented to Meaghan Michaluk for her consistent and unwavering dedication to AESES, for which we are profoundly grateful. Meaghan started at The University of Winnipeg over ten years ago in Kinesiology, then took on further roles as an Academic Advisor, then the Faculty of Education. Meaghan made time for AESES, stepping up and serving in many important roles such as a member of the Classification, Finance and Diversity Committees, as a Board rep, and serving as Vice-President for UW.
Meaghan Michaluk and Chris McCann
The final presentation of the evening was for Laurie Morris, AESES Honourary Life Member – Past President. Until she retired from the Department of Philosophy in 2023, Laurie had worked at the University of Manitoba for 42 years. For AESES, she was a wonderful presence. Laurie joined the board in 1999 and served AESES is so many capacities. She was an organizing force for the Activities Committee, diving into Negotiations and being a leader at that bargaining table through four contract negotiations and serving on the Executive Board first as Secretary way back in 2008 and then Executive VP for four years and culminating with eight years as AESES President. Chris thanked Laurie for all the time and wisdom she provided over the years! Congratulations on this prestigious award.
Tom Moyle, Laurie Morris, Chris McCann
Can You Tell Me? Caregiving Leaves
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
Caregiving Leaves
Situations may arise where an employee needs time off work to care for a family member with a serious illness or injury. Leaves are available through the AESES Collective Agreements and the Employment Standards Code of Manitoba allowing members time off work to manage longer-term caregiving obligations.
Members required to care for a family member facing a significant risk of death can take Compassionate Care Leave. As covered in Article 18.5 in the AESES-UM Collective Agreement and Article 16.5 in the AESES-UW Collective Agreement, Compassionate Care Leave provides eligible members with up to 28 weeks of unpaid leave. It can be taken in one or two periods, but each must be at least one week long.
UM members are eligible for this leave once they have completed 30 calendar days of employment, and UW members are eligible once they have completed 90 calendar days of employment. When possible, UM members are to provide their supervisor with notice of at least one pay period, and UW members are to provide at least 10 working days’ notice. Members must also submit a medical note as soon as possible stating that the family member has a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks and requires the care and support of one or more family members.
Compassionate Care Leaves in both the AESES-UM and AESES-UW Collective Agreements state that an eligible family member means a family member as defined by the Employment Standards Code of Manitoba. Family is defined very broadly in the Employment Standards Code. Children, stepchildren, parents, grandparents, spouses, common law spouses, brothers, sisters, step-brothers, step-sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews are all considered family members. The definition also includes those who are not related, but whom the employee considers to be like a close relative.
If the family member is not at risk of death, another option available is Leave Related to Critical Illness provided under the provincial Employment Standards Code. Employees can take up to 37 weeks of Leave Related to Critical Illness within a 52-week period to provide care to a critically ill child under 18 years old, and up to 17 weeks within a 52-week period to provide care to a critically ill adult. It can be taken in one or more periods, however, each period must be at least one week long. Leave Related to Critical Illness is an unpaid leave.
An employee caring for a critically ill child must have worked at least 30 days with the employer to be entitled to this leave. While an employee caring for a critically ill adult must have worked at least 90 days with the employer to be eligible. When possible, employees must give at least one pay period of notice before the leave and provide their employer with a medical note as soon as possible. Employees are still entitled to Leave Related to Critical Illness even if they are unable to give notice.
Compassionate Care Leave and Leave Related to Critical Illness allow employees time off to deal with these obligations without the loss of their job, but they are unpaid leaves. AESES members may be eligible for the federal EI (Employment Insurance) special benefits for workers who take time off work due to caring for a critically ill or injured person or family member. To find out more, call Service Canada toll-free at 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232) or use their online Benefits Finder: canada.ca/en/services/benefits/finder.html
If you need consultation on a caregiving situation, contact us at LabourTeam@aeses.ca.
For info on short-term family care leave options, see the Can You Tell Me: Resources for Family Care article in the December 2023 insideAESES newsletter.
Safety and Health Corner – October 2024
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
Announcing the New AESES Safety & Health Committee
The AESES Board of Representatives recently established the AESES Safety & Health Committee to connect safety representatives across the AESES membership and promote consistency between workplace health and safety policies and practices at UM, UW, and St. Andrew’s College. The Membership consists of the AESES President or a designate, the Contract Administrators for UM and UW (Rob Parker and Joan Duesterdiek), and AESES Labour Relations Officer Lorne Hilton.
The rationale for creating this Committee is to be more supportive and connected to safety and health in the workplace. This new corner of the newsletter will be used to highlight the committee’s work, as well as share important safety & health tips and information to help nurture a community of caring – for our colleagues and ourselves.
Stay tuned for updates on the Committee’s activities in this section of the newsletter. Any workplace safety and health items you would like to bring to the committee’s attention can be emailed to labourteam@aeses.ca.
Currently we have 19 AESES appointed representatives on the safety committees at the UM and 3 at the UW.
There are vacancies in the following Local Area Safety and Health (LASH) committees:
- Nursing
- Education, St, Paul’s, St. John’s, NCTR, CATL
Any AESES-UM members working in the above areas interested in being the AESES appointed representative on the respective vacant LASH committee for a 2-year term can email labourteam@aeses.ca.
For more info on UM LASH committees, visit the UM Intranet website. For more information on the UW Workplace Safety & Health Committee, visit the UW Human Resources website.
Call For Constitution and Bylaw Changes
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
Submit your suggestions
The AESES Constitution and Bylaws govern the manner in which AESES must conduct itself. Procedures such as the selection of the bargaining team, election of the Executive and the method by which the AESES Board of Representatives is chosen, which are all spelled out in the Constitution and Bylaws.
Members have the opportunity to propose changes to the AESES Constitution and Bylaws. Suggestions for changes are reviewed by the Board of Representatives, whose job is to then present the proposed amendments for a vote at a future Annual General Meeting (AGM). Member proposals for Constitution and Bylaw changes are published in the AGM booklet in advance of the meeting.
Please take the time to read through our current Constitution and Bylaws, available for download: aeses.ca/publications/constitution-bylaws
If you would like to see any amendments made to the Constitution and Bylaws, please submit your suggestions to us via email at aeses@aeses.ca. The deadline for submissions of proposed changes is November 10, 2024.
Extra, Extra: insideAESES Newsletter (December 2021)
Wednesday, December 1st, 2021
Welcome to December! The snow has arrived, and before you realize it, the calendar will have flipped over to 2022.
Grab a tall glass of egg nog and take a few minutes to read the latest edition of insideAESES. Inside this issue, you will find:
- A message from Laurie Morris, AESES President, including an update about the PSSA
- More about the definition of “flex” time
- A report about the Confederation of Canadian Unions (CCU) convention
- 50th Anniversary planning
- Ongoing union and member grievances
- The 2022 proposed budget
Confederation of Canadian Unions Affiliate Report – June 2022
Saturday, July 22nd, 2000
AESES thanks the Confederation of Canadian Unions for inviting us to Laval, Quebec, the traditional unceded territory of the Huron-Wendat people. AESES members live and work on Treaty One Lands, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
AESES has experienced a significant change since the last meeting of the CCU. Laurie Morris has stepped down after eight years of serving as President. Laurie did great things in her four terms, not the least of which was reaching out to the CCU and bringing us in as an affiliate. Interestingly, this was not the first time AESES considered membership in the CCU. Joining the CCU was one option put to a vote by our members as part of a strategy to fend off a raid by CUPE in 1977. We would like to again acknowledge and thank Laurie for her service. While she is beginning the transition to a new lifestyle involving a lot more fun travel for her and Ron, we know she will stay involved with the union movement that she has been instrumental in advancing over the years. AESES has elected to new executive roles Chris McCann as President and Gloria Saindon as Executive Vice President (University of Manitoba – Fort Garry). Continuing in their roles are Melissa Blonjeaux, Vice-President (University of Manitoba – Bannatyne); Meaghan Michaluk, Vice-President (The University of Winnipeg); Will Christie, Treasurer; and Joan Duesterdiek, Contract Administrator (UW). New to our Executive Board are previous CCU delegates, Karen Simpson as Secretary and Rob Parker taking over as Contract Administrator (UM).
AESES is pleased to report that we have been able to agree on a new contract with the University of Manitoba after more than three years. The contract covers seven years and includes general salary increases of 6.5% over the life of the contract. It also consists of expansion to the last four steps of each job classification, with over a third of our members seeing immediate increases of up to 9.5%. All members can receive these increases as they gain seniority. We also negotiated accelerations in vacation accrual for junior members and new language to allow the union to attend investigative meetings to defend members before discipline is applied. Several of these benefits would not have been allowed under the Conservative Government’s Public Services Sustainability Act. Although we were able to make achievements beyond the limitations imposed by the unproclaimed act with time and persistence, we are still seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. It is important that the courts have the chance to rule that governments cannot abridge our Charter Rights to free and fair collective bargaining to prevent future governments’ misuse of the law.
This agreement was accepted by 78% of our membership. Some members against this contract expressed frustration at the offer and were very vocal, correctly feeling disrespected by our Provincial Conservatives and their interference. AESES has targeted several more disruptive members for recruitment to positions within our union. The sh*t disturbers make great unionists.
Negotiations with The University of Winnipeg are still ongoing, but we have made progress with offers and counteroffers being exchanged. We are using the U of M contract as leverage. However, the funding models and realities of the two Universities are very different. We are optimistic we will be able to take an offer to our membership soon.
As reported at the last CCU Executive Board meeting, AESES grieved the cessation of rapid testing at the University of Manitoba for employees unable or unwilling to take a COVID vaccine. We have successfully settled that grievance with the employer with those few members able to return to work and made whole, or nearly so, for time missed from work.
AESES continues to work with both Universities with an anticipated return to full in-person instruction this September. There will be many challenges with managing the return safely and the many members who have become comfortable with the work-life balance afforded by working from home. As we move forward with this next phase of the pandemic, it will be necessary for affiliates of the CCU to share knowledge and experience to organize safe and beneficial outcomes for all our members.
June is Pride Month, and AESES members participated with their universities by walking in the Winnipeg Pride Parade on Sunday, June 6th, where they proudly carried the CCU Pride Flag. Ceremonies were held to raise the Progress Flag at both The Universities of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba. The University of Manitoba has committed to the Pride Flag being permanently flown over the campus. The Progress flag incorporates new chevrons symbolizing intersex, trans and marginalized people of colour. The arrow pointing to the right shows forward movement and illustrates that progress towards inclusivity still needs to be made. As symbolized with this flag, much of the “progress” is due to the allyship between the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Two-Spirit (LBTQ2S+) communities and unions. The CCU called for Canada’s Federal and Provincial governments to include sexual orientation as prohibited grounds for discrimination in their Human Rights Acts in a 1987 resolution and has repeatedly advocated against discrimination against sexual orientation. The only protection the LGBTQ2+ community had in the workplace was their union card in many places. With trans people currently being attacked in neighbouring jurisdictions, progress has to continue in all areas. We should also, as unions, look to the successes of the LGBTQ2S+ communities and learn the lessons from their achievements.
AESES expresses our support for the CCU elevating the issue of mental health care at this June Executive Board meeting. Recently, the University of Manitoba’s results from participating in the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey have shown an increase in students self-reporting feelings of moderate or severe mental distress, an increase in contemplation or making a plan to seriously attempt suicide and a decrease in knowledge of how to access mental health resources. These findings align with the overall Canadian averages. The CCU and affiliates must strongly advocate for a universal, accessible, and affordable mental health care system for all Canadians.
AESES is excited to announce that 2023 will mark the 50th Anniversary of our initial certification as a bargaining unit. We have started preparing activities to recognize this milestone. If the CCU plans to hold a board meeting in Winnipeg next year, we will look to arrange our planned ‘Manitoba Social’ to coincide with that meeting.
I wish everyone a great and rejuvenating summer. The pandemic challenges are still very present in our lives, and we all deserve a chance to disconnect from work and enjoy time with our families and friends.
In Solidarity,
