Continuing Education Instructors' Bargaining Unit Newsletter:

Volume 1, Issue 3: February 6, 2003

President’s Message

Happy New Year! I trust everyone had a relaxing, restful holiday , although it never seems quite long enough. With this cold winter that’s descended upon us, we’ll be more than ready for March to arrive!

District 11 is busy with preparations for the Annual Meeting of the Provincial Assembly (AMPA) at the beginning of March Break. Our delegates to AMPA this year will be Linda Huber and Arnette Gardiner. Regretfully, I had already committed to babysitting my granddaughter over the March Break! It is an election year at AMPA, and Ken Coran (Past President of District 11) is running for the position of Vice-President on the Provincial Executive. Our London delegates will be involved in Ken’s campaign, which will make the conference that much more interesting. Good Luck Ken!!!

Nothing has transpired thus far with Pay Equity. The last date that had been set had to be cancelled due to weather. Lenore Alexander could not get here. Another date has been set for February 05. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Because the job classifications have all changed since our pay equity began, the committee is in the slow process of finding male comparitors again. It has been a tedious task, and I commend our team of Arnette Gardiner, Linda Huber and Debbie Donato for sticking with the job. Thank-you!

The OMERS contribution holiday will be phased out over the next three years. Members will begin contributing to their pension plan beginning on Jan. 24^th. By 2005, the contribution rate will return to what it was before the holiday.

In December, you will recall that OSSTF polled its teacher members, asking them to choose between the government’s Professional Learning Plan and the OSSTF model of ongoing learning chosen by teachers themselves. Province-wide the membership voted 99.3% in favour of the OSSTF model. This vote and the OSSTF model has been shared with the government, opposition critics, the College of Teachers, school boards and the faculties of education. OSSTF thanks you for taking this professional unified stand.

Bev Tindall has contacted me regarding the re-write of our constitution. She is meeting with me on Jan 30^th to review some of the changes she feels need to be made. Shortly after that, I will be contacting those who volunteered to sit on the committee for the re-writing of the constitution. We should have the new constitution ready for introduction at the Annual General meeting in June.

For those of you who are giving retirement some thought, you can retire and remain a member of OSSTF through ARM (Active Retired Members). There is a yearly fee of $50 to be a member of ARM. However this is waived for the first year of membership and for those who sign up for an ARM Benefits Plan. There are three types of plans available: Economy, Prestige, and Original. You can find the information on the ARM Pages of the District website.

Date Reminders in the Collective Agreement

January : Article 14.02: an up-to-date seniority list shall be posted in all Board-owned work locations. Any questions as to the accuracy of your own seniority date must be submitted in writing to the Manager, Human Resources within 30 days of the posting of the list.

March. 01: Article 11.03: an employee granted a leave of absence shall confirm his/her intention to return or not to return by notifying the Board in writing not later than March 1^st for the following school year.

March. 31: Article 11.02: For long term leaves of absence, such written request shall be submitted by March 31^st for a leave commencing between September 01-December 31.

Employee Portal

Please check your sick time on your Employee Portal. It should read your sick time in hours, with deductions for time you have already used. Apparently some of the instructors’ sick time is coming up as 120 days, which is the OSSTF teacher agreement. If yours is incorrect please call me and leave me a message(686-1922 Ext.225).

It is my understanding that the seniority list will also be posted under the Employee Portal.

Leaves

Human Resources Services has advised us that there will be fewer leaves granted in the future. This is a change from what we are accustomed to.

Long term leaves must requested by March 31^st and Nov. 01. Short term leaves WILL NOT be granted for holiday purposes, but only on compassionate grounds. Please receive permission for a leave BEFORE planning anything you can’t cancel. Otherwise, you may be asked to resign those hours, and as a result lose your NIT.

Email List

One of the initiatives that we are undertaking in the District Office is to have more effective communication with our members, especially with those members who have a worksite other than a secondary school because it is sometimes difficult to get information to those members in a timely manner.

To that end, Wendy Hirschegger, the liaison to the CEI Bargaining Unit, is compiling an email list of those members who have a home email address (i.e. other than the board First Class email address). If you would like your name added to that list, please email Wendy Hirschegger; in the email, identify your full name, your worksite, and your current assignment.

Awards

The District level judging of the Marion Drysdale Contest was done on November 28. The District winner in the category of Adult Learners was won by Christine Hunt, a student of Dianne Ward at the Woodstock and District Developmental Services. Congratulations Christine and Dianne! Regional level judging was done on January 17 and 18 and winners at that level are sent for Provincial judging which takes place February 14 and 15. Results of both the Regional and Provincial levels will be announced after February 15. Good luck Christine.

The dinner to honour the recipients of the Bishop Townshend Awards of Educator Excellence will be held on February 20, 2003. The recipient of the Award from the Continuing Education Instructors Bargaining Unit is Barb Forsdike, an ESL Instructor.

The Bob Brooks Award is coming up. This award is presented to an individual OSSTF member for excellence in school/community relations. Nominations should be forwarded to the District Executive for approval by March 1,2003.Nomination forms are available through the district office (659-6588).

OSSTF has established a bursary fund to assist the children of OSSTF members to enter post-secondary college or university programs. Fifteen one-thousand dollar bursaries are offered this year. Application forms are available through the guidance departments of the secondary schools or one can be downloaded from the provincial website. Deadline for the receipt of application forms at the Provincial Office is April 30, 2003.

Collective Bargaining

It is time once again to begin preparations for next year’s bargaining. Between now and June we hope to have a survey to our to the membership to help us find out what is important to them for our next negotiations…..is it benefits? Is it wages? Is it job security? Is it leaves? Is it workload?

Thus far, there are only two of us on the negotiating team…myself and Linda Huber. This is a monumental job, and as we all know, more hands make less work. We desperately need some help. Preparing a brief can be fun, and it is certainly a way for you to contribute and learn. If you are interested, please call me at 686-1922, Ext 225.

NIT

The Letter of Understanding in our Collective Agreement states that NIT shall be used for "duties directly related to the program such as intake assessments, curriculum development, professional development, and staff meetings".

It has been brought to my attention by administration that some staff members who have NIT are not attending staff meetings. I have been advised by administration that these members will be deducted pay for not performing duties. Please don’t put yourself in this position.

The Edvantage Discounts Program

Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

Disclaimer