By Tom Moyle, AESES President

I would like to welcome you to our website and thank you for taking the time to visit us online. Our aim is to provide current relevant information for members on an ongoing basis. As we become more comfortable with the electronic information delivery we expect that other forms of electronic communication will become critical in our education/communication strategy with the membership. Our aim is to explore the use of Facebook, Twitter and Blogging in relation to member communication and look at other union’s experiences with these forms of communication over the next year.  The Communications Committee, under Chair Susan Wiste, will be undertaking this important initiative and will be reporting on progress at the 2011 Annual General Meeting.

At both major universities there is a significant amount of uncertainty as each has embarked on several large and costly capital campaigns that will expand facilities and ultimately raise operatingcosts. Government revenues have slowed and the annual budget will increase, but not sufficiently to offset rising costs of existing operations. The University of Winnipeg negotiated days off without pay for a guarantee of no layoffs in year one of the contract and is seeking voluntary days off without pay from members in year two.  The contract began on March 21, 2009. At the University of Manitoba the ROSE project has been launched to make the campus more efficient with an eye to ultimately reduce costs on an ongoing basis.  In addition to ROSE all departments were asked to project budgets for 2010/11 based on a 5% reduction. Vacancy management has been in place since October 2009 with no sign of an end to this practice. Although no significant layoffs have occurred to date, it is unlikely that our UM-AESES membership numbers will remain at current levels.

A final area of interest that I would like to discuss is the ever changing world of benefits at both universities. At the University of Manitoba major changes to pension, long term disability and the commencement of benefits premiums have been at the forefront for the past couple of years.  At The University of Winnipeg the defined benefit pension plan has finally resolved the surplus funding issues and paid out over $8 million dollars to the plan members in March 2010. AESES will now focus on evaluating the defined contribution plan which is the current pension option for new employees and existing employees who opted to not stay in the now closed defined benefit plan.   For both universities the pension plan landscape and regulation is changing.  The Federal and Provincial Governments are considering changes necessary to make pensions financially stronger and available for all employees.  AESES is currently working on its position regarding pensions to present to the governments.

The political arm of AESES is now finished its elections and a new two year term for the Board of Representatives and Executive Council will begin in May of 2010. I encourage members to consider participating in the association as an opportunity to effect positive change with regard to working conditions and benefits and to help AESES meet the needs of current and future members.