To be voted on: Chief Steward, Treasurer, Ex-Officio, & Trustee #1. After the jump are all statements – look for your unique voting token in your email March 17th. Election will be open March 17th - March 22nd.

(For these position descriptions please consult the bylaws or our executive page)

TRUSTEE II
 1 Candidate

Trustee II:  Murray Martin

Hello, my name is Murray Martin and I am running for the position of Trustee II. I am  currently enrolled in the Sociology-Anthropology Department  and working on my MA. My area of research involves labour and migration. Before returning to university, I worked for 17 years as a telecommunications technologist. I was active in my previous union and held various positions from shop steward to Vice-President of TWU local 10. Presently I work as a TA and also represent the TSSU at the Vancouver and District Labour Council  where I was recently elected to the executive. I have also been active with the Social Justice committee of the TSSU and have been a community activist for many years. I hope you will consider me for the position of Trustee II, and I look forward to serving the TSSU in any capacity.

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EX-OFFICIO
1 Candidate

Ex-Officio: Jeffrey Zurek

An Ex-Officio is suppose to help with institutional memory. Primarily, helping the executive with why/what/how decisions that were made in the past so as to not re-invent the wheel. I believe I can fill this role as I have been a steward, contract committee member, trustee and chair for the TSSU over the last 4 years. If elected, I will use what I have learned through the many positions I have had with the TSSU to provide the executive committee with what has worked, and what has not over my past tenure. With a our contract expiring, my experiences during the last contract negotiations will be a value both from an organizational standpoint, but also with communication practices. My ultimate goal is better advocacy, protection and representation for our members.

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Treasurer
2 Candidates

Treasurer: Ashley Livingstone

Hello fellow TSSU members. My Name is Ashley Livingstone; I have been TA’ing for the past two years and am currently an active part of the Member Mobilization Committee. As the daughter of a Canada Revenue Agency Accountant, I have been exposed to the requirements and skill set needed for Treasurer. If elected Treasurer for the 2014/2015 term, I will, with the help of the Finance Committee, continue to refine any budgetary issues in order to provide a transparent, well-defined budget.

My greatest strength as candidate for Treasurer is my confidence that, wherever this time of bargaining will lead the TSSU, I will be able to keep a very focused eye on the internal finance, structure, and budget of the union.

I truly look forward to becoming more involved with the TSSU. Please feel free to contact me at alivings(at)sfu(dot)ca.

Thank you for your time.

Treasurer: Haida Antolick

Hi, my name is Haida Antolick and I'm excited to be running for Treasurer of the TSSU. I have been a very active member of the union for the last two years, first joining as a departmental steward, then joining the Social Justice, and Joint / Contract Committees.  I feel I'm uniquely suited to serve as Treasurer based on my experience volunteering in several different capacities with the TSSU, as well as my financial and administrative experience in leadership roles with the Graduate Student Society (GSS). I'm currently working on my master's degree in English Literature.

Serving as a departmental shop steward in the English Department since 2012 I've had the chance to learn a lot about the inner workings and history of the TSSU, while staying connected to the changing issues of the general membership.  After the 2012 strike I wanted to become more involved and joined the Social Justice Committee which works to connect our labour struggles with the broader community, and other social justice issues around the Lower Mainland, and beyond.  At that time I also joined the Joint Committee, which was an interim committee of TSSU representatives and SFU administration.  We met with the Employer regularly over the last year to work on solutions to issues that couldn't be resolved in the last round of bargaining.  Drawing on this enlightening experience I'm now serving as an elected member of the Contract Committee, as we map out bargaining priorities for this year's round of negotiations with the Employer.

If elected as Treasurer I plan to work closely with the Coordinator to keep the internal machine of the TSSU running smoothly while we go into an intense year of bargaining. I'd also like to work with the Executive to find ways to make the TSSU's finances and internal procedures more accessible and transparent to the general membership.  We are a union, and of course need to keep certain information confidential from the Employer, but I also think there are ways we can make details of our day to day decision making and finances more accessible to our members.  I genuinely believe that our greatest power as a union lies in maintaining an informed and active membership, and I hope to help foster that by equipping our membership with greater access to information about their union.

As we work and study in an increasingly neoliberal university system a strong TSSU is absolutely vital, both to protect our rights as workers, and to preserve a strong public university for ourselves and for our students.  I believe that my combination of financial and administrative skills, knowledge of the TSSU, and commitment to social and economic justice make me a good fit to serve as Treasurer in this upcoming year.  Please contact me with any questions about my experience or approach at hma18(at)sfu.ca. Thank you for your consideration.

In solidarity,

Haida Antolick

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CHIEF STEWARD
2 Candidates

Chief Steward: Reagan Belan

Reagan Belan, PhD Candidate
Department of Chemistry
Chief Steward Nominee

Hello! My name is Reagan Belan and I'm running for the Chief Steward position of the TSSU.  I am a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry and I have been actively involved with the TSSU since the Fall of 2012 when I became a departmental steward and the Commissioner of the TSSU's Member Mobilization Committee (MMC).

As a member and commissioner of the MMC, I have learned that the most valuable tool we have is an informed membership. Through being a part of the organizing committee during the strike in Fall 2012, we became the strongest as a union when we had a membership that was aware of the issues at hand and ready to stand together to achieve our collective goals. Looking forward to the current round of bargaining, I will continue to fight for the issues that have been aptly identified by the TSSU membership. I have spent  many hours talking to the membership through my caucus, TSSU events and through electronic surveys in order to: 1) find out what issues are of the most importance to advocate for and, 2) to inform the membership about policies that directly impact their lives while providing strategies that each member can take to empower themselves and strengthen our collective voice.  I am confident that, as the Chief Steward, I will continue to advocate for the betterment of our members rights and the teaching environment at SFU.

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

In solidarity,

Reagan Belan

Chief Steward: Karol Swietlicki

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