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Volume 2, Issue 5: June 14, 2004

District President: Don Rowdon

Report to the District Annual General Meeting

Thanks on your behalf and mine, to the Federation Services Officers, Bob Fisher, Mary Lou Cunningham, Don Edgar, Wendy Hirschegger, and Nancy McDougall, who continue to work tirelessly on your behalf. As expected, Bob Fisher, who moved on to a secretariat position at the Provincial Office in January, and his expertise have been missed during semester two. During February and March, Wendy, Don, and Mary Lou carried the load including assignments usually handled by Bob while the District went through the process of appointing a new Officer. On April 1, Nancy McDougall began her duties as a Federation Services Officer, and I know that she will serve the members well. In July, John Bernans joins the staff as well and I wish him good luck in his new assignments.

Laurie Lafraniere, our Executive Assistant, has provided the glue to keep the office running smoothly during these transitions. She continues to assist not only the office staff, but the membership in general in a professional and helpful manner. Thanks to her for going above and beyond for District 11.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the year was the Provincial Election. Congratulations to you the members for working so hard to defeat the tories. A great deal of time, energy and money were spent to obtain a change in government. It is now up to all of us to not allow the current MPPs to forget the support OSSTF provided to help get them elected and to remind them that restoring appropriate funding to public education was the cornerstone of their election platform. Congratulations to our Political Action Committee under the leadership of Marilyn Norman, for their leadership during the campaign.

Our other major committees also had very successful years. The Educational Services Committee chaired by Kathy Wildfong, offered a very successful workshop on schools and the law. Bryan Smith has done a wonderful job providing our members with materials and resources from the Common Threads initiative. His innovative "parties" to distribute and discuss the materials were enjoyed by those in attendance.

Our OSSTF awards continue to be a highlight. Thanks to Val Cavalini for again providing our Bishop Townshend winners with a night to remember. Evelyn Daley did an excellent job of organizing the Citizenship Awards and Jeff St. Marie is again coordinating and facilitating the E.C. McTavish awards. All of our award celebrations are, as usual, supported and assisted from the District Office by Laurie Lafraniere. Many thanks to her for her on-going efforts with these events.

As District President I consider myself fortunate to have four Bargaining Units that work so well together. This is a testament to our commitment to solidarity and to the Bargaining Unit Executives and their Presidents. Thanks to Barb O’Brien, Sandra Miller, and Joe Wilson for their continual support.

The District 11 Website is fast becoming the envy of the other Districts in the Province. Thanks to Wendy Hirschegger, it is updated daily and is not only loaded with updated District and Provincial information it has numerous links to other educational sites . The District Magazine, Ed Matters, is now circulated exclusively on-line through the website. I continue to encourage all members to take advantage of this OSSTF resource.

In conclusion, I know that the staff of District 11 will remain committed to providing on-going quality service to the membership. Although I am passing the torch to Wendy, I look forward to serving you as Past President for 2004-05 but not quite as much as I am looking forward to retirement! It’s been fun.

Teachers' Bargaining Unit President: Don Rowdon

Thanks on your behalf and mine, to the Federation Services Officers, Bob Fisher, Mary Lou Cunningham, Don Edgar, Wendy Hirschegger, and Nancy McDougall, who continue to work tirelessly on your behalf. As expected, Bob Fisher, who moved on to a secretariat position at the Provincial Office in January, and his expertise have been missed during semester two. Wendy has done an admirable job as Chief Negotiator in Bob’s absence. As well, during February and March, Wendy, Don, and Mary Lou carried the load including assignments usually handled by Bob while the District went through the process of appointing a new Officer. On April 1, Nancy McDougall began her duties as a Federation Services Officer, and I know that she will serve the members well. In July, John Bernans joins the staff, and takes over as our Chief Negotiator. I wish him good luck in his new assignments.

Laurie Lafraniere, our Executive Assistant, has provided the glue to keep the office running smoothly during these transitions. She continues to assist not only the office staff, but the membership in general in a professional and helpful manner. Thanks to her for going above and beyond for the teachers of Thames Valley.

The District 11 Website is fast becoming the envy of the other Districts in the Province. Thanks to Wendy Hirschegger, it is updated daily and is not only loaded with updated District and Provincial information it has numerous links to other educational sites . The District Magazine, Ed Matters, is now circulated exclusively on-line through the website. I continue to encourage all members to take advantage of this OSSTF resource.

The strength of our Bargaining Unit is in the Branches. My sincere thanks to our Branch Presidents, CBC reps, and in-school staffing reps, for their leadership and commitment to OSSTF. Your assistance with personnel issues, workload issues and communication with the members is greatly appreciated by all the staff at the District Office.

The class size issue is remains contentious. I appreciate the patience that teachers have demonstrated through this complicated and delicate issue. I understand the frustration that many of you feel as you face large classes. We are moving forward cautiously in order to reach solution that is in the best interest of all members. Unfortunately it may take an arbitrator’s decision to ultimately decide the remedy to our grievances.

In conclusion, I know that the staff of District 11 will remain committed to providing on-going quality service to the membership. Although I am passing the torch to Wendy, I look forward to serving you as Past President for 2004-05 but not quite as much as I am looking forward to retirement! It’s been fun.

Continuing Education Instructors' Bargaining Unit President: Barb O'Brien

Report to the Continuing Education Instructors' Annual General Meeting

MEMBERSHIP: Our membership is dropping each year. We now have approximately 130 instructors, including our supply instructors. Driver Education instructors have gone from 18 down to 10. This isn’t because of lack of enrolment, so the instructors remaining are receiving more hours. In ESL there have been no new hires when someone retires, so this, too, has caused a decrease in numbers. The International Languages has also had a decrease in instructors as there are not as many courses being offered.

CONTRACT MAINTENANCE: This has not been as much of a challenge this year. There seemed to be fewer complaints from the membership about the contract not being followed. When there were problems, the Mutual Concerns and Staffing Committees looked into them and have been able to work them out. The biggest concern this year was the closing of the Empress ESL site, and the transition for those instructors. However, I am happy to report, that so far, everything with the move is going relatively smoothly. The ESL instructors involved are largely responsible for that, and I thank you all!

MUTUAL CONCERNS: The Mutual Concerns committee continues to meet once a term. This year we did not have as many big issues to deal with, and more of the issues were of an individual nature.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: The collective bargaining committee consists of Betty Goutor. Monica Zacharias, Carol Leslie, Linda Huber, and myself. We have put in a lot of hours this year preparing a brief for our next negotiations. We tried to incorporate a lot of the ideas you gave us when we sent you the survey. Wendy Hirschegger from the District office helped us, and Karl Dean, our Provincial assistant, advised us in many areas. Karl will likely be doing the actual negotiating for us, as he is VERY experienced in this field.

DISTRICT: Wendy Hirschegger was, once again, a huge support to me. She always seems to be there for me to run things by her and get an opinion. Because of this, I feel much more knowledgeable about the management of our membership. It certainly continues to be a learning experience! Presently, our district office is in temporary headquarters at the Fairmont Plaza at Hamilton Rd. and Highbury Ave. This is because the offices on Industrial Rd. are undergoing a complete renovation. Hopefully, the renovations will be complete by the end of August and the staff can move back "home". The phone and fax numbers remain the same as the offices on Industrial Rd.

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL: I attended Provincial Council in Toronto this year. There are 6 meetings in a school year, all on weekends! Provincial Council is a formal style of meeting, following Roberts Rules of Order. It is where most of the important business of OSSTF is proposed, discussed, and voted on. Again, I feel I have learned a great deal at these meetings about how our organization works.

WORKSHOPS: I attended several workshops this year. I started with the Summer Leadership workshop in August 2003. This is two full days spent at workshops involving many topics that we deal with at the local level, from Grievances, mediation, contract maintenance, Employment insurance, and many more. I also attended several collective bargaining workshops, and was able to send more of my executive to workshops this year.

Thank-you for making this year a good one, and stay safe in the summer!

Professional Student Services Personnel Bargaining Unit: Sandra Miller

Report to the Professional Student Services Personnel Bargaining Unit Annual General Meeting

We remain without a Pay Equity Maintenance Plan with no clear indicators when there may be settlement on this issue. We continue to be supported by Lenore Alexander from Provincial Office with a scheduled meeting with the Board in June. We have needed to ask both our Steering Committee and Job Evaluation Committee to be on stand-by for the fall of 2004 in the hope that we will get to the table at that time.

We have had three grievances that were settled at the informal stage and one that has gone to arbitration. At this time we are waiting for the Board to offer names as an Arbitrator and we are hopeful that this will not drag on for our member.

We have had a year of celebration with four honourable mentions. On behalf of all PSSP members, I would like to extend congratulations to the following members:

My term as President has brought a few interesting issues forward for our members. Two of the most important issues I want to discuss include the following.

1. Transportation of students - As many of you are aware this has become a directive from the Health and Safety Committee of OSSTF Mobile Drive. Due to a number of incidents with members in which transporting students resulted in accidents which had detrimental effects on members, a directive has been advised to no longer transport students. It is hopeful that by the end of this school year a memo will be brought forward outlining the dire effects on members. I understand the difficulties this has brought on some of our members however it is important to understand that the Board agrees with this directive and are working toward a solution. We now have a budget to assist staff with transporting students as well as a concerted effort to change Board policy. I ask for patience and the understanding that we can service our students to the great extent that we already do without the use of our personal vehicles. Time will assist the change in mentality that is required and if any assistance is needed please feel free to discuss this with any member of our Executive or any District Federation Services Officer.
2. Member to Member Conflict - At this years' AMPA meeting, a motion was passed concerning Member to Member Conflict. In the past the only issues brought forward to Judicial Council of OSSTF were strike-breaking activities and abuse of Executive positions. Now Member to Member Conflict also falls under this mandate. I encourage members, and please forward this to members not present, that this includes any member that forwards negative information or complaints against any member to a supervisor or principal within the system. Currently, any member that feels the need to discuss another member outside the Bargaining Unit, must put in writing to that member the reasons for the complaint within 72 hours. This has been a long standing understanding within the Teachers' Bargaining Unit and it is important that as OSSTF members we respect and comply with these conditions. Should you have concerns with or conflict with another member and are unsure how to deal with the matter please contact your Federation Services Officer to educate yourself on the protocols.

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

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