July’s council meeting was held on July 12th, 2023 from 14:00 – 17:00.
The main topics of this council meeting was information regarding the CREW campaign, the planning of Fall Orientation Events, and the approval of the hiring of this year’s Council Chair and Minute Taker.
Representatives from CREW joined this council meeting to answer questions regarding the transition from TRAC to CREW and expand on CREW’s next steps. Representatives explained how they ran their successful campaign to get petition cards signed to transistion from TRAC-PSAC to CREW-CSN. CREW admits to going door to door as a part of their campaign, explaining that they believed other methods had been exhausted and maintaining that TRAC was using the same methods. They explained that the decision to leave TRAC was largely due to the union’s unwillingness to negotiate for raises in line with the rate of inflation and TRAC’s ability to accept an agreement from the university unilaterally. CREW explained that they are making efforts to mend the rift between those who voted to leave and those who voted to stay with TRAC. CREW representatives asked for the GSA’s help in reaching TAs and RAs regarding the ongoing transition from TRAC to CREW. It should be noted that there was no explicit support for TRAC or CREW during this session as the council of directors were simply looking for more information about the situation as a whole.
In terms of Fall Orientation events, there are currently three initiatives that are officially in the planning stages: a steps challenge (called walkathon in the minutes), an online buddy program, and a sports week. Details of these events were not discussed, but proposals for all events will be presented at the next council meeting.