A general membership meeting was held on Friday Sept. 14th.  LFA President, Lynn Carter updated those present about discussions held recently with other FPSE locals at the Presidents' Council meeting. 

This bargaining round, FPSE locals will be bargaining locally and each plans to open as they and their members become ready. The timing will vary across the province.

Lynn also described the bargaining climate and reported out briefly about what was happening with other public sector unions.  Lynn pointed out that the recent news from the provincial government about freezes on spending for the public sector and projected deficits for the next three years will likely chill the bargaining climate.

Lynn told the members that the College has informed the LFA that Rob D'Angelo,Executive Director, Labour Relations at the Post Secondary Employers Association will be part of the Langara College Negotiating team. Apparently he will also be a part of the employer teams at VCC and Kwantlan.

There is a FPSE-organized Bargaining Conference scheduled for October 22, 2012.

The Langara Bargaining survey went out this week, with a return deadline of Thursday Sept. 20, 2012.

Chief Shop Steward Cheryl McKeeman said that there are usually two surveys, one in the Fall, one in the winter to poll faculty on their priorities for bargaining.  However the LFA Board will wait to see the results of this survey in order to determine if another survey is needed.

Results of the survey(s) will determine the LFA bargaining priorities. These priorities will be presented to a general membership meeting to be ratified. 

Recently Lynn sent an email to the LFA membership, asking for volunteers to serve on various committees.These include FPSE committees and Departmental hiring and evaluation committees.  At least twelve members have volunteered so far. Training for the volunteers will be organized soon.

There was a brief discussion about the LFA's membership in FPSE.