Weekly Update – December 11
December 11, 2020
Weekly Update – December 11
Last Call: CUASA Anti-Racism and BIPOC Community Members’ Experience Survey
CUASA’s Anti-Racism Working Group has launched a survey to seek input from CUASA members about how we can promote specific changes to protect the rights of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) community members and other marginalized communities at Carleton. This is only one step in CUASA’s ongoing commitment to support and learn from grassroots movements to redress colonial oppression, anti-Black racism, and white supremacy in CUASA, Carleton and the wider community.
The survey will be open until Monday, December 14.
Members can find the link to the survey in their email. Please note that this survey is meant only for CUASA bargaining unit members. We kindly ask that you please not share the link to the survey.
Note: if you can’t find the link to the survey in your email, please contact [email protected].
Update on Working from Home Expenses
In case you missed it, here is the message that went out this week on working from home expenses from Cindy Taylor, Assistant Vice-President, Human Resources:
“Many Carleton staff and faculty who have been asked to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic have raised questions about claiming work-from-home/home office expenses on their tax returns. The federal government recently announced a simplified process for the 2020 tax year, which will allow employees working from home in 2020 due to COVID-19 to claim up to $400 without the need to track detailed expenses. Details on this simplified process should be released by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in the coming weeks.
Carleton is awaiting guidance from CRA on work-from-home/home office expenses and we anticipate having more information for staff and faculty soon.”
We will pass on any updates to CUASA members as they become available.
Personal Pension Statements
If you’re currently an active member of the retirement plan and have consented to receive your annual pension statement electronically, it is now available. Access your pension statement by: 1. Launching a new browser and enter: i.carleton.ca OR click on the link https://i.carleton.ca/my-hr/. 2. Enter your MyCarletonOne Username and Password. 3. Go to My HR. 4. Click on 2020 Pension Statement. For those of you who selected printed copies, they will be sent by mail and will go out by December 15th. If you have any questions, you can email [email protected].
Nominations for Steering Positions
We are still accepting nominations for the following Steering positions (click on the title to read the position description):
Information on the nominations process can be found on our How to Volunteer page. The work of the Association continues, despite the current environment we find ourselves in. Remember that our Association is only as strong as its membership, so we count on the time and commitment of our members to achieve our goals. Some of these positions come with a course release subject to the availability of funds.
Call for Volunteers
We are seeking one CUASA member to serve on the Joint Committee on Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JCEE). Details on the mandate of this important committee can be found here. If you are interested in serving on the JCEE, please email [email protected].
We are also seeking CUASA members to serve on the Association’s internal Equity Committee. Please send an email to [email protected] if you are interested.
Academic Community Updates
OCUFA condemns the Ford government for granting McVety’s Canada Christian College university-status
OCUFA is alarmed at the Ford government’s passing of Bill 213 which includes schedule 2 that gives the Canada Christian College, a private institution, university status and degree-granting privileges for Bachelor of Arts and Science degrees. Read the full statement here.
25 Years of the Employment Equity Act
December 15, 2020 is the 25th anniversary of the federal Employment Equity Act. Join CAUT for a virtual event to discuss its impact and where we need to go from here. The event will take place in French and English and have closed captioning. Speakers include: Carol Agócs (Western University), Larry Rousseau (Canadian Labour Congress), and Dr. Malinda S. Smith (University of Calgary).
You can find biographies of the speakers and registration information here.
