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OSSTF District 11- Thames Valley
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District 11 Office |
Occasional Teachers' Bargaining Unit Newsletter:
Volume 2, Issue 1 (September 22, 2003)
Table of ContentsPlease click on any of the items in the Table of Contents to go to that item. |
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President's Message
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Proxy Voting
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President's Message (by Joe Wilson)
Welcome back! I hope that you all had a restful summer.
I was quite busy all summer (and still am) as the Campaign Manager for NDP candidate Irene Mathyssen in the riding of London Fanshawe.
Members of the Occasional Teachers Bargaining Unit are reminded that they can access the collective agreement on the Employee Portal of the board’s website. Negotiations are still in progress for our next contract. While some significant improvements have been agreed to, there are still a couple of items that need to be negotiated. This means that, until our new contract is settled, the Short Term Occasional daily rate remains the same as the rate listed in the expired agreement. The Long Term Occasional daily rate is 1/194th of the appropriate grid cell of the Secondary Teachers’ contract.
District President’s Message
Welcome back!
Congratulations to those of you who committed time and energy to take courses, upgrade, and/or participate in ongoing PD activities.
Although your first priority must be to your students, I urge all of you to find the time and the energy to participate actively in the election campaign by assisting in some way the candidates we believe can defeat the Tories and represent our interests in preserving and improving Public Education. Most members have received a letter from me identifying the candidate in your riding that OSSTF recommends supporting and outlining how to get involved.
THIS GOVERNMENT MUST BE DEFEATED. Should they return to power, their agenda of privatizing education, devaluing teachers, and stripping our basic rights to collective bargaining, will continue, and the restoration of adequate funding for both public education and adult Continuing Education will be highly unlikely. THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE !!
I encourage you to visit our website daily to find up to date election information and links to many resources and to the Liberal and NDP websites.
Opportunity Knocks
The provincial election is October 2. If you are fatigued from overwork, if you feel class sizes are out of hand, if you are frustrated by a lack of respect from students, parents, the general public, the media--then opportunity knocks with the coming October 2nd provincial election. Your current challenging working conditions and the widespread less-than-positive public attitudes about education are directly related to the current tory government, its destructive and ill-designed policies and its expensive, manipulative ad campaigns (paid for with your tax dollars).
You must vote October 2, or even better, vote at one of the advance polls and then volunteer for a candidate on election day after school. The advance polls are September 20, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26. Locations of the advance polls will be announced in the local newspaper and on our website.
Our goal is to defeat the tories, and so we support the Liberal
or NDP candidate who can best do this. Our
feedback indicates that the following candidates have the best chance of
defeating the tory in their riding:
London West: Chris Bentley
London North Centre: Rebecca Coulter
London Fanshawe: Irene Mathyssen
Elgin-Middlesex-Oxford: Steve Peters
Oxford: Brian Brown
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex: Maria Van Bommel
Perth Middlesex: John Wilkinson
Huron Bruce: Carol Mitchell
WHY should I get INVOLVED and VOTE in the Provincial Election?
WHY, as a teacher or educational worker, I should be concerned about defeating the Conservative government:
 | decreased funding for publicly funded schools leads to:
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| mandatory extra-curricular duties | ||||||||||||||||||
| removal of right to strike, and work to rule as part of collective bargaining | ||||||||||||||||||
| erosion of publicly funded school system will jeopardize jobs | ||||||||||||||||||
| double cohort fiasco | ||||||||||||||||||
| teacher performance appraisal | ||||||||||||||||||
| crumbling and closing schools | ||||||||||||||||||
| soaring post-secondary tuition fees |
WHY, as an Ontario citizen, I should be concerned about defeating the Conservative government:
| private hospitals, health care user fees |
| private schools |
| private hydro, increased hydro bills |
| decreased financial support for publicly funded schools |
| tax credits for private schools |
| user fees for highways |
| tax cuts for the wealthy at a drastic cost to social services |
| cuts to the environment and ministries which test water and food |
| cuts in funding for research experts trained in the areas of disease control (i.e. West Nile Virus, SARS) |
| the poor and homeless dying |
| hospital bed closures |
| lack of family doctors |
| any tax cut in provincial income is added to the property tax bill |
Proxy Voting
Proxy Voting allows you to appoint another person, whom you trust, in your electoral district to cast your ballot on your behalf. ANY qualified voter ( a Canadian citizen, 18 years of age by/on election day, and a resident of your electoral district) may appoint a PROXY. A person may not act as proxy for more than two other voters, including family members but is limited to only one unrelated person. Anyone who is NOT an eligible voter may act for only one other person.
A PROXY CANNOT BE APPOINTED ON ELECTION DAY!
If you wish to vote by proxy, you must complete and SIGN an Application to Vote by Proxy and have your signature witnessed by someone other than the person you are appointing as proxy. Applications can be obtained from candidates or from the ONLINE forms section at www.electionsontario.on.ca
We strongly urge you to consider a PROXY vote for infirm relatives, a neighbour, and absent qualified children and to VOTE at the ADVANCE POLL in your riding.
Professional Learning Program Update!
The OSSTF plan is working! Massive non-compliance is still the surest route to success. Members must continue to boycott the PLP.
OSSTF is working with other education partners on an alternative to present to the government (preferably a new government) after the election. The alternative model as currently drafted eliminates recertification, College accreditation of providers and compulsory courses/credits/ points. Instead it recognizes the accountability that already exists through the employer in the Teacher Performance Appraisal process. The Annual Learning Plan and supporting portfolio will demonstrate ongoing learning. The proposal also calls for three additional PD days per year.
The draft alternative proposal will be considered during the next few weeks for endorsement by the Executives of OSSTF, ETFO, OECTA, AEFO, OTF, OADE, and the College.
If you are registering for any TVDSB workshops, please ensure that the PLP button is on "NO".
Certification Rating Statements
•If you teach in a public secondary school, you must have a Certification Rating Statement issued by the Provincial OSSTF Certification Department.
•If you have upgraded your qualifications, you must apply for Re-evaluation in order to receive a Certification Rating Statement for a higher Group.
•For the application form and more information go the District website .