UPDATE: Candidate statements are up!


Candidates statements are up!

We have yet to receive any nominations for the position of Secretary, so nominations for this position are ongoing. To nominate yourself, complete a nomination form and drop it off to the TSSU office (AQ 5129). You may submit your candidate statement to coordinator@tssu.ca.

Secretary: Stipended. Takes and distributes minutes. Ensures minutes are properly archived. Keeps record of motions and reminds executive of them. Is a legal signing officer.

Please find position descriptions, candidate statements, and important dates below.

For more details regarding positions up for election, consult the Bylaws.

Candidate Statements:

Chief Steward: Salaried at 25 hours a week. Helps run day to day operations. Act as an advocate for members and chief bargainer in negotiations in conjunction with our Member Representative in regards to our Collective Agreement. Helps run the Steward Network with the Organizer.

Derek Sahota

I'm a PhD student in the Physics Department, current member of the Contract and Member Mobilization Committees and am asking for your support for my candidacy as Chief Steward of TSSU.  I found my passion for fighting injustice through roles with student organizations during my undergraduate degree, and that work naturally morphed into union activism while working as a Teaching Assistant at McMaster University. Since returning to SFU I've been involved in TSSU at many levels: from committees, to bargaining and also as your previous Chair. I'm running for Chief Steward to continue to fight for fairness and equity for our members. In addition to fulfilling the duties of the position I have three goals I want to achieve in my term:

 1. Reconstituting and revising the Grievance Committee to allow increased member participation in the grievance and arbitration process

2. Effectively transitioning the knowledge around bargaining unit “numbers and data” that currently resides within a small group of Contract Committee members to a more continuous structure

3. Frustrating the Employer with grievances until they realize its easier to obey the contract and the law, rather than breaking the contract and hoping they don't get caught.

With a 3 year break until we have to bargain our Collective Agreement again, the willingness of members to come forward with problems will play a key role in the success or failure of the Chief Steward. Through two strikes with a combined duration of almost 9 months, we've won substantial improvements in our Collective Agreement. But those improvements are only real if our Employer abides by the contract we've both signed. In the past, SFU hasn't lived up to its word, most recently leading to our settlement of a $310,000 grievance over the childcare fund. Already this semester members caught our Employer trying to disallow international students from signing up for the Extended Health Benefit Plan. The Chief Steward and Member Representative can only fight to protect members' rights if they know about them being infringed. To maximize our chance to defend our rights, every member needs to be on the lookout for violations of the contract.

I ask you today not to just vote for me, but to continue to show your support for the TSSU and current and future members, by being on the lookout for tricks the Employer will play, by emailing or coming to the TSSU office when you have a problem that needs to be solved, and by standing up to the Employer when they violate the contract. Together we can build a stronger, even more activist union and achieve the equitable workplace we desire.

Treasurer: Stipended. Ensures week to week payroll and bills are paid and reported. Helps prepare yearly budget (no former training in accounting required however will learn basics in SAGE). Sits on two committees, one of which must be Finance Committee. Is a financial signing authority.

Kailey Wright

Greetings TSSU,

My name is Kailey Wright and I am seeking re-election to my current position of treasurer. I am a Masters Student in the Chemistry Department, where I have served as a steward since 2014. I have also been an active volunteer on several committees over the past two years.

So far in my short term I have implemented a strong surplus budget, invested our funds in a fiscally and socially responsible manner, and begun to run the year-end financial duties. I plan to continue to work with the finance committee as well as members of the Executive to adapt to the Union’s financial needs.

As TSSU Treasurer I plan to:

•       Ensure smooth operations of the day-to-day workings of the Union’s finances

•       Maintain a strict execution of our annual budget.

•       Maintain transparency to our members in all matters relating to the Union’s financial operations.

•       Continue to codify many of the duties as required by treasurer to enable future treasurers to complete their tasks to the best of their abilities.

I would welcome the opportunity to continue my service to the Union by serving as Treasurer. Specifically, I would bring my aptitude for numbers, efficiency, straightforwardness, and commitment to bettering the future of our Union.

Thank for your consideration and feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding my candidacy at kailey_wright(at)sfu(dot)ca.

In solidarity,
Kailey Wright

Trustee 2: Stipended. Oversees executive and elections, ensures bylaws are adhered to. Sits on two committees, one of which must be either Finance or Internal Relations Committee. Helps run elections with other Trustee or Official Electorial Officer in November and March.

Reagan Belan

Hello! My name is Reagan Belan and I would like you to consider accepting me as your second Trustee for the TSSU. In the nearly 4 years that I have been involved with the TSSU - first as Member Mobilization Commissioner and then as Chief Steward - I have become quite familiar with the bylaws and policies and feel confident in my ability to both uphold those bylaws and provide institutional memory of decisions past.

 In Solidarity, R*

Ex-Officio: Stipended. Helps provide institutional memory, must have held a previous executive position. Non-voting.

Phillip Dluhy

Hi, my name is Phil Dluhy, and I am looking forward to the possibility of serving the union as ex-officio after this election. As ex-officio is a non-voting member of the TSSU executive, I will use all of my experience working with the executive as Membership Mobilization Committee Commissioner during the recent round of job action to help retain institutional memory and fight for the core principles of TSSU: our commitment to members and the feminist, non-hierarchical, directly democratic principles that provide the foundation of the union. I am especially interested in looking at how we can encourage more people to be involved in the union and I believe that focusing on the the feminist, non-hierarchical, and directly democratic values of the union are an excellent way to do that.

I am a former M. Sc. student in the physics department and have done work as a TA most recently in the Fall semester. I was MMC Commissioner for a year and half, with my tenure ending in December of 2015 and have been a departmental steward, a member of MMC and the Social Justice Committee, and sit on a local health and safety committee. Thank you for reading this! I hope you will choose me for this position and I look forward to serving you.

Social Justice Commissioner: Stipended. Coordinates activities of Social Justice Committee.

Matthew Greaves

Hello fellow TSSU members,

My name is Matthew Greaves, and I’m running for the position of Social Justice Commissioner. I’m a doctoral candidate in the School of Communication, where I study coal mining in nineteenth-century British Columbia. During my time at SFU I’ve held positions as a sessional lecturer and teaching assistant in the School of Communication; I’ve also been appointed as a sessional instructor for the past two semesters in the Labour Studies Program.

I’ve held a number of roles within TSSU. From the summer of 2013 until last semester, I served Communication as a Departmental Steward. In both 2015 and 2016, I’ve represented our members at the Vancouver and District Labour Council. During the most recent round of bargaining, I was elected to the Strike Committee as the general member. From the fall of 2013 until the present I’ve sat on the Social Justice Committee. I have also been involved with community and political organizations in Toronto and Vancouver, contributing to the free and accessible transit campaigns of the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly and the Coalition of Progressive Electors.

At the February 2016 general membership meeting, I proposed changes to the Social Justice Committee on its behalf. At present, the Committee faces serious structural impediments to its proper functioning. Ironically, its current bylaws limit rather than promote social justice outcomes. Rather than asking member-activists to make durable connections with progressive social movements, their time is spent deciding which organizations will receive donations. Put succinctly, this does not embody the potential of the union movement. Of course, Social Justice has donated to some truly fantastic causes, including (but not limited to) the Unist’ot’en camp, Forest and Femme, and Spartacus Books. The work of these groups is admirable, and I am pleased that they received our support. The problem is indeed not that Social Justice has funds to distribute, rather it is that Social Justice must distribute funds to three groups per semester. This is an encumbrance that wastes our activists’ time and energy, as committee members scramble to find organizations that meet the parameters of our bylaws for donation. Once our bylaws our re-written, Committee members will be better able to engage social-movement causes. We will move from a committee that oversees charitable donation to one which fosters the creation and maintenance of solidarity with social movements and progressive causes.

Creating durable ties to social movements will, moreover, promote a robust trade unionism within TSSU, which has the potential to further mobilize our rank-and-file membership. It cannot be stated strongly enough that social-movement victories within the university or in the larger community are union victories, even if they occur outside of the wage relation between our members and the employer. If elected to the position of Social Justice Commissioner, I look forward to working within my mandate to foster connections between our union and anti-colonial, anti-racist, socialist, environmental, and feminist organizations.

In solidarity,

Matthew Greaves

Important dates:

Closing of Nominations for Secretary: Tuesday, March 15 at the Segal Building GM

Electronic Election Period (emailed tokens): February 29-March 6 at noon

"Protest of Unfair Ballot" Period: March 7-13

First day New Officers can Take Office: March 14 (Flexible according to schedule)

 

Candidate statements are up!

Candidate statements are up!