YUFA
Executive
The Executive Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof. Susan Dimock (Philosophy, Arts) to the position of Vice Chairperson Organisation for the term 1 January 2002 to 31 May 2002. This appointment is made pursuant to 9.3.c of the Constitution and is thus subject to ratification at a General Meeting. Please find the candidate’s statement of qualifications and interest in serving below.
To: The YUFA Membership
From: Susan Dimock, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Arts
Date: December 1, 2001
Re: The Position of YUFA Vice-Chair, Organisation
Like all of my colleagues, I am increasingly oppressed with service
responsibilities and administrative duties as the Administration at York
continues to download services to faculties, then academic units, and
ultimately to individual faculty members. I have, nonetheless, offered my
services as Vice-Chair Organisation of YUFA from January 1-May 31, 2002.
My reasons for doing so are diverse. I believe that YUFA, and the
labour movement more generally in Ontario, is at a crucial juncture: it
must renew itself or perish. The current YUFA team, and especially
the YUFA Executive under the able and committed leadership of Penni
Stewart, has put forward a plan for renewal and reorganization which will
better enable YUFA to represent the needs of its members given the harsh
realities that face our union at this time. In order to give effect
to the Constitutional changes that will be ratified on Dec. 5, and to make
the YUFA organization as a whole more effective and representative,
however, we must ensure that the existing and newly created positions are
filled. This is the principal task facing the YUFA Vice-Chair
Organisation, and it is in the forwarding of that task that I offer my
services. This is especially pressing given the fact that YUFA will
no longer have a Chair or Vice-Chair External as of January 1, 2001.
This is, needless to say, an untenable position, and my primary duty will
be to fill the vacancies upon the YUFA Executive and other central
committee structures before we face another round of collective
bargaining.
I believe I am qualified to fill the position of Vice-Chair. I came
to York in 1991, and almost immediately began serving as the YUFA Steward
for my department. I continued in the position of YUFA Steward for
Philosophy (Arts) from 1991-96. I was a Chief Steward for the
Faculty of Arts from 1993-95, during which time I served on the Contract
and Grievance Committee. I was a member of the YUFA Executive, and
served as Information Officer, in 1994-95. In the years intervening
between my last service to YUFA and now, I completed a Certificate in
Mediation from the University of Waterloo.
Sincerely,
Susan Dimock