President's Update 
  

As we say goodbye to October and pack away the Halloween decorations, we continue to give thanks to our Canadian war veterans who fought and continue to fight for our freedom. Remembrance Day is observed on November 11 each year, which marks the anniversary of the Armistice agreement of 1918 that ended the First World War. 

On October 17 of this year, Canada Post released a stamp honouring the life and legacy of Tommy Prince, one of the most decorated Indigenous war veterans in Canada. Tommy was from the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation in Manitoba. He was awarded a total of 11 medals for his service in the Second World War and the Korean War. You can learn more about Tommy Prince and his amazing story of bravery, cunningness, defence of his country and pride in his people here. I would also like to acknowledge National Aboriginal Veterans Day on November 8.

Did you know that MRU provides Military Memorial Bursaries in the name of former students, faculty and staff? You can read about many of these fallen soldiers who  gave their lives in the pursuit of freedom. We are forever grateful for their service.

Let us never forget. 

Committee membership call out

Are you interested in developing policies and procedures? Do you have a love of writing or web design? Are you passionate about professional development? We have positions on several committees including Governance, Communications, and Professional Development and we would love to have your input and expertise. Release time is negotiated for these committees and your service to the MRSA community.

Let us know if you would like more information or have interest in joining one of our amazing teams at mrsa@mrustaff.ca.

Constitution Update

One of the many tasks the Governance committee has been working on is the amendment of our MRSA Constitution. A constitution is a set of rules that defines and guides how an organization functions, including expectations for how it will function. We hope to have this very important document ready to present to the membership over the next few months so that you may better understand how the MRSA must answer to our membership on the operations of our association.

Prevention of Workplace Violence and Harassment training

A reminder to complete this important training module by November 30. In the interest of creating awareness, education and a safe work environment for our community, this training intends to inform every individual of their health and safety rights on campus. Please ensure that you are aware of your psychological and physical rights in the workplace.

Choose your 2023 HSA and PSA options November 7 -18
All employees with benefits will receive an email from Benefits within the next week detailing instructions on how to make your 2023 Health Spending Account and Personal Spending Account allocation choice. If you do not respond, your funds will revert to HSA only.

Michelle LoGullo | President
Mount Royal Staff Association
mlogullo@mtroyal.ca

MRSA Annual General Meeting 

You are invited to attend the Annual General Meeting, in-person (J301: Lincoln Park Room) or via livestream, on November 23 from 10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. In the coming weeks, members will receive the agenda, 2021-22 externally-audited financial statements, and a link to the live stream. 

Please note, access to the live stream will only be available to @mtroyal.ca email accounts. The meeting will be recorded.  

Staff are invited to submit questions and comments for the Executive Board ahead of, and during, the meeting.

Collective Agreement Article 7.3 states: 

Time off with pay shall be granted up to a total of two and a half (2.5) hours to be used over two meetings to Association members for the purpose of attending the Annual General Meeting and the General Meeting provided these occur during the Employee’s normal working hours…

We hope you can join us. 

Treasurer's Report 

Even though I am writing the Treasurer's Report on Halloween there is nothing scary to report!

With the latest increase in the prime interest rate to 5.95%, the interest rate on our savings at Servus has increased from 3.45% to 3.95% (prime minus 2%). While we recognize that the increase in rates has an impact on borrowers we are pleased that the corollary is beneficial for our member savings.

The Audit and Finance committee has confirmed its' priorities or action plan with the Executive for the coming year. Over the balance of our fiscal year (July to June) our focus will be...

• start the long term budgeting projections
• finalize the spending policy (in process),
• streamline financial reporting processes
• start a long term budgeting process and corresponding projections
• continue with PIPA compliance audit and implementation
• clarify reserve fund policies
• finalize the Financial Operations manual
• and follow-up on the MRSA Strat plan activities

As always - if you have any questions, concerns for, or interest in joining the Audit and Finance committee please feel free to contact me at treasurer@mrustaff.ca.

Looking forward to seeing you at the AGM in November!

“I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.” – Shaquille O’Neal.

Submitted by Craig Baskett on behalf of the Audit and Finance committee - Mariberth Blanco, Cyndi Cave, Johanna Franconeri, Michelle LoGullo, Chad Miller and Christine Pepper.

Paycycle Change

This is an early reminder that there is a paycycle change coming starting January 1, 2023.  Your final pay for 2022 is December 23, 2022.  Your first pay in 2023 will be January 24.  This means there are 32 days between each pay received.  This is a significant change!  Please prepare early if at all possible.

 Mount Royal will be making an advance payment available for those employees who wish to take advantage of this.  The advance payment is “in addition to” your pay and will be required to be paid back during the 2023 year. 

You can view the updated paycycle change in the employee section of MyMRU.

Collective Agreement Highlight - Article 18: Health, Safety and Wellness

This article has many rights and connects several legislative requirements for your employment within the collective agreement.  

18.1 focuses on general health and safety provisions.  18.1 (a) states that “the University and Association agree to make reasonable and proper provisions for the maintenance of high standards of psychological health and physical safety of employees in the workplace”.   This language did not change from our previous collective agreement, as this is actually quite good and provides great opportunities for us to make sure that your workplace is healthy and safe.  MRSA continues to work in various ways to encourage Mount Royal to make improvements to workplace psychological and physical health and safety.

 18.2 focuses on the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) which is a legislative requirement under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act & Code.  You recently received notification from Mount Royal regarding mandatory Workplace Violence and Harassment training.  Please participate in this training and make sure it’s on work time.  As this training is a requirement of the Code you must be paid for your time.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your direct manager for how to balance workload and training completion requirements.  Should that not resolve your concerns, please contact me @ lro@mrustaff.ca.

If you are called in to complete training and/or are casual Mount Royal is required to pay a minimum of $45.00, for up to three hours ($15.00 x 3 hours minimum).  This is the minimum employment standards requirement.

MRSA Learning Opportunities & Resources

Lunch n' Learns: Registration form.

Please note - you can register up to one day before the course.  The link for the course will be sent to each registrant one day in advance, and as a reminder.  Everyone is welcome to attend, and I will endeavour to record these sessions for later use.

Lunch n’ Learns are scheduled for the lunch hour, and offered virtually.  Here is a detailed description of the lunch and learn content for the fall 2022 semester.

Thursday, November 17 - Dues - What is all that $$ for and why?

Thursday, December 15 -  Job Action - Strike, Lockout and Essential Services

 Recordings of past sessions can be found in the MRSA Members folder.  This folder is available through your shared drive.  You can also access it by going to the Member Resources page of the MRSA website.

 ___________________________________

Stay safe,

Laine Fowler
Labour Relations Officer

EDT Committee
 
As of January 1, 2023 EDT will no longer cover travel and accommodations. Conference registration fees are still eligible for funding. Please note that the EDT committee is in the process of updating the website to reflect this change.

Joint Occupation Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC)

All employees at MRU should have a Position Hazard Assessment (PHA) and ideally it should be reviewed annually between you and your supervisor. You can add any details that may be missing to the assessment and it can be changed and updated as needed. This is one way that you can be an active participant in your own health and safety,  as well as that of our community.

You can locate the Hazard Assessment document on the Environmental Health & Safety web page.

https://www.mtroyal.ca/SafetyRiskDepartment/EnvironmentalHealthSafety/hazardassess.htm

If you have any questions or concerns about this or other health and safety inquiries feel free to contact your JOHSC representatives:

Crystal Koch mailto:ckoch@mtroyal.ca

Amy McCarthy mailto:amccarthy@mtroyal.ca

You can now reach out directly to the committee by emailing JOHSC@mtroyal.ca. 

Here are the minutes from the last meeting  JOHSC Minutes. You can view how many incidents have occurred on campus, including Covid statistics.

Remember that you have rights as an employee:

• The right to know,

• The right to participate, and

• The right to refuse dangerous work.

MRSA Events

MRSA Coffee Chat

Please join us for a virtual coffee chat on Tuesday, November 29 from 10-10:30 a.m. Our topic of conversation will be Accumulated Time and Vacation.

To join, click on this link or copy and paste this URL in your browser:
https://meet.google.com/nri-rpov-kru?hs=122&authuser=2

We hope you can join us!

Coffee chat recordings are located in the MRSA Members folder. 


Social Committee

Upcoming Events

Visit the MRSA website, Events tab to see what upcoming events are happening around campus.

Lunchtime Documentary Movie

Join us in the Jenkins Theatre to watch Born Wild: The Next Generation.
Description: A celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, this documentary is a feel good, heartwarming tale of big and small creatures. Chris Hemsworth makes an appearance with a baby koala.

Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Time: 12:00 - 12:50 p.m.
Location: Jenkins Theater (I 115)

Add this even to your calendar

MRSA Olympics - Balloon Games, everyone is invited!
The teams will be competing in Balloon Games! Come out and watch this fun event.

Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Location: Lincoln Park Room (J 301)

Add this event to your calendar

Olympic Events Points

The teams have had their second event of the year and the All-Mighty Demolition Crew has held on to first place. The Queen Bees beat out Quantum Squad for second place this month which bumps the Quantum Squad to third. However, don’t count out any of the other teams yet, there are a lot of events still to play. If you want to watch the points throughout the year, you can view our MRSA Olympics Points Tracker (2022-2023) here.

Gingerbread House Competition, everyone is invited!

Are you interested in competing this year? In the past we’ve had up to 20 teams compete! This year we look forward to seeing you in-person again. Get your creative juices flowing and come up with an exciting theme for your creation.  Spectators, come and cheer on your favourite teams, there will be cookies for spectators to decorate and hot chocolate!

To enter the competition, you must sign-up by 4:30 p.m. Friday, November 25, 2022.
Gingerbread sign-up sheet.

You may sign-up as a group, or if you sign-up as an individual - individuals will be put into teams. This is a great opportunity to meet more colleagues!  If you need some inspiration, just check out these photos from last year!

Date: Thursday, December 8, 2022
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Location: Rec Concourse - 2nd floor by Jugo Juice

Add this event to your calendar
 

November Newsletter Crossword Puzzle
Try your skills on this month’s crossword puzzle.  When you click the link, make a copy of the puzzle and be sure to share it with Charissa Hovdebo chovdebo@mtroyal.ca. Everyone who submits a puzzle with all correct answers will be entered into a draw for a $20.00 e-gift card.  Open to all MRSA Members. 

Link to Crossword Puzzle

Welcome to our Committee!

The Social Committee would like to welcome two volunteer photographers:
Welcome Jordyn Slominsky & Ciara Spaan!
Thank you for volunteering to be the Social Committee’s photographers. 

Feedback

If you have any suggestions or feedback for the Social Committee, please feel free to provide your feedback via this form.

General Announcements

Planning for your retirement? 

It’s never too early to plan for your retirement. Mount Royal runs a two-day course titled Planning for Personal Freedom facilitated by a Financial Counselor who has been practicing in the industry for over 15 years. This hands-on workshop is designed for participants (and their partner/spouse) who would like to evaluate their ability to maintain their lifestyle at a chosen retirement date.

There are three basic objectives to the workshop: 

1. To identify and address any immediate issues with respect to your retirement plans, 
2. To provide a planning framework to help you plan long term goals, and 
3. To provide specific information in the key areas of lifestyle, finance and estate planning. 

A minimum of 30 employees are needed to run the workshop. If this is of interest to you please add your name to the waitlist and indicate your preferred time of year for the workshop (three choices). 

Student Massage Therapy Clinic is Open - support students and get a massage!

Appointments are now available for you to book at a reduced rate while supporting students. The experience they gain in the clinic is a critical piece of their education and we are proud to provide this vital service to our community. Whether you need a relaxation massage or have a condition that requires therapeutic treatment, our students are trained to the highest standards nationally and can meet your needs. Book Now. The $30 fee for one-hour massage treatments supports our student scholarships. Present your MRU OneCard for a special MRU Advantage rate of $20. Please bring exact change or a cheque. For more information, visit our website: mru.ca/bookamassage.

Canadian Blood Services -- Life Bus for November

Our members may remember that Canadian Blood Services once came to Mount Royal twice a year with a mobile donation clinic. It was a convenient way for students, staff and faculty to give blood during their school or work day. Due to various issues, it became difficult to find an appropriate space on campus – and then we had a pandemic, and mobile clinics were no longer an option.

In lieu of this, the MRSA is taking advantage of a program from Canadian Blood Services – the Life Bus. When scheduled, the Bus will pick up as many as seven volunteers, shuttle them to the Eau Claire clinic for donation, then take them back to campus. Our next bus is booked for November 23, 11:50.

To book an appointment go to myaccount.blood.ca and login to your account (or create one). From there, go to Partners (on the left-hand menu bar) and join the MRSA team by entering our ID: MOUN0104716. Click on View Team, and you’ll see available appointments at the bottom of the page. If you have any questions, contact James at jjparsons@mtroyal.ca. 

Fall EDT Application Period now open!

If you have any professional or personal development courses that begin between September 1 - December 31, 2022, you can apply for funding through the MRSA EDT Committee. 

 Applications are submitted via the EDT database; MRU login credentials are required to access. The fall application period closes on December 31, 2022.

 If you have any questions, please contact the EDT Committee at edtmrsa@mtroyal.ca