President's Message

Dear LUSU members,
 
Given that the President's office has announced that there will be a  
community meeting next Tuesday, March 30, 2010 in the Governor's  
Lounge, where Dominic will outline future directions for the  
university, as well as the 2010-11 budget process, I thought it  
fitting that I send you a little update as well.
 
LUSU is losing two more term positions due to the cancellation of the  
Alumni magazine.  Yes, the Alumni magazine.  It will supposedly only  
be in online format from now on.  I guess because it is online they  
figure they don't need writers anymore?  I guess the only  
correspondence they will get from the university now will be the  
letter asking them to give, give, give, every year.  Nice way to  
cultivate support.  Falls nicely in line with naming a run-down,  
underused cafeteria, with no service, on their behalf.
 
We have also lost a permanent position.  Do you know how LUSU can  
loose a permanent position, when no one has been declared redundant,  
and no one has been laid off?  Wait for it...... make the person a  
manager!  LUSU terms and temps are experiencing increasing frustration  
with the university for not making your repeatedly renewed positions  
permanent, or at least going through the posting procedure in a timely  
manner so that there is no break in your service.  LUSU is constantly  
told that the budget committee just hasn't made a decision yet; that  
there are many very important budgetary decisions to make, so it takes  
a long time.  Well this permanent position was converted to a  
management position in the blink of an eye!  There is no money for  
LUSU positions, but apparently we needed one more manager.
 
And, speaking of management, we are getting a new Vice-provost for  
Georgian College!  Isn't it lovely that the university could just make  
up a brand new position? This position has been posted, and it will be  
filled.  I can't wait to see the next provincial Sunshine list to see  
what the latest upper administration salaries are costing us in this  
time of economic turmoil.  Our new, but less qualified, President is  
making about $100 000 more than the last one, and we have two new VP's  
who were external candidates from other universities, therefore must  
be getting far more than the previous incumbents, and now, a brand new  
position.
 
Dominic keeps telling the rest of us that we have to find $2 million  
in savings for next year.  And, the budget committee has shirked their  
responsibility by downloading decisions for the budget cuts to the  
Deans.  This year they were not allowed to go and make their case to  
the committee as to what monies they would need for their various  
departments/programs.  They attended, and were told what their budget  
would be, and that they would have to figure out how to deal with the  
shortfall on their own.  At meetings with the faculty members it was  
brought up that the university could make us all take 12 days of  
unpaid leave over the Christmas break, and that would cover the amount  
needing to be cut!  Someone took the time to calculate this out.  Here  
we go with "Dom Days" again.  Too bad Floyd Laughren wasn't at the  
last Board of Governor's meeting to remind them all what effect that  
had for Bob Rae and the NDP government.
 
I guess the budget committee couldn't figure out how to do the job  
because they have no LUSU members on the committee!  To that end, I  
will take a page from Rick Mercer's photo challenge:  The LUSU budget  
challenge!  I invite all of you to come up with creative ways to help  
these poor souls out, and tell them where best to make cuts to the  
budget.  And if anyone wants to have fun doctoring photos of the  
administrators in creative ways and send them to us, that could be fun  
too!
 
Finally, just a quick reminder that the LU 50th Anniversary  
celebration is today, Friday, March 26, 2010.  It will be held in the  
Great Hall from 12 noon to 1:30 pm.  The President has, graciously,  
allowed all employees to take an extra 45 minutes for lunch so that  
they can partake in the celebration.  I'm told that the last big  
anniversary celebration that took place resulted in all employees  
getting the full day off, and there was a huge party at Science  
North.  I guess a 50th anniversary is not as special.  Make sure you  
attend, as this helps to add up to that 3.5% increase that the  
university couldn't afford to give us in negotiations because they  
have no money.
 
In solidarity,
Tracy