PSSP Bargaining Unit Newsletter:

Volume 1, Issue 7: May 27, 2003

President�s Message

Another year is quickly drawing to a close but PSSP has been very, very busy.

Thank-you to all members who took the time to come to the General meeting when the tentative agreement was presented and to those members who came out to vote on the agreement. A huge thank-you goes out to the members of the PSSP table team: Nancianne Spear (provincial Office), Bob Fisher (District Office), Carol Ross (PSSP Chief Negotiator), Craig Read (PSSP Grievance Officer), Rob Guthrie (Measurement and Evaluation), Audrey Cooley (Psychological Services) and Michelle MacDonald (School Support Counsellor) for their many, many hours of hard work.

Pay Equity Maintenance Plan negotiations continue with the Board. Lenore Alexander, the Pay Equity staff member assigned to us from Provincial Office, has traveled to London three times within the last month and we have at least three more dates booked in June and September to meet with the Board.. Hopefully most of you by now have had the opportunity to review your job description and when we next meet with the Board, we will be proposing changes to them as suggested by the membership. The actual review of job classes under the new maintenance plan will not take place until the Fall.

Sandra Miller, president-elect and myself will be attending the PSSP Sector Council Annual General Meeting held in Toronto the weekend of June l3-l4th. This year will bean election year and I have decided to run again for the position of Sector Councillor as I feel that it is important for a Board the size of the Thames Valley District School Board to have representation at the Provincial level.

June 6-7, I will be attending my last Provincial Council as the combined PSSP/Continuing Education Instructors Councillor. The next two-year tern will be filled by a member from the Continuing Education Instructors' Bargaining Unit as stated by both the PSSP and Con. Ed. constitutions.

This year, I have had / the opportunity to represent PSSP members provincially as a member of the OMERS workgroup. Last week, I participated in an OMERS focus group at the OMERS head office in Toronto. Rhonda Kimberley-Young, OSSTF Provincial President, Gerald Armstrong, Pension Officer Provincial OSSTF and I met with two OMERS employees and a consultant to discuss OMERS service standards, the governance model and any issues and concerns that members might have about the OMERS plan.

We were able to express a number of concerns about, for example, the length of time it takes members to receive statements (some members still have not received their 2001 statements), OMERS' practice of sending statements and newsletter to employers for distribution rather than sending them directly to the members' home addresses, the fact that you have to request pension estimates in writing and cannot do so over the phone or through email, that it has been OMERS policy to only provide pension estimates to those employees who are within five years of their retirement date (although this apparently is no longer true), etc.

Let's Celebrate: Bishop Townshend Award

Our congratulations go out to Dan Murphy, the 2003 PSSP Bishop Townshend Award Winner. Dan was honoured along with many other OSSTF winners at a dinner February 20, 2003. The following was read at the dinner to honour Dan.

In 1967, Dan graduated from the University of Ottawa with degrees in Philosophy and Theology. For the next 7 lf2 years, he worked as a Roman Catholic priest on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola where he worked in Community Development, building roads, irrigation canals, houses and schools. Upon his return to Canada, Dan worked as a Corrections Officer and then a Probation Officer from 1977 to 1987 under the supervision of Judge Genest. In 1989, the London Board of Education heard that Dan was a long distance marathon runner (having participated in the Boston Marathon) and hired him to "chase down" truant kids. For the past I 3 years Dan has worked an Attendance Counsellor and Provincial Prosecutor for the TVDSB. Dan currently works in the year-round environment at Ross Secondary School where he is respected by staff and students alike. Dan works tirelessly to encourage students to achieve their potential by driving them to school, calling homes in the evenings, developing creative alternative programs for students and volunteering in almost every facet of the school's activities. "No " is not a word in Dan's vocabulary.

Dan's wife Mara and their children help Dan maintain his spiritual perspective by involving him in the Youth Ministry of St. Patrick's Church, where he assists with educating youth about third world issues and exposing these youth to volunteer at the London Food Bank, Merrymount, Marion Villa, St. Vincent de Paul and Block Parents. Under Dan's leadership, the group has raised over $60,000 for summer education camps in Jamaica and the Dominion Republic.

Over his 36 year career, Dan has received several awards. He was the first recipient of the Frank Brennan Award; given annually by the London Family Court Clinic to an individual for his/her contribution to children and families in crisis in the London community. He has also been given recognition for his work with special needs students from the Council for Exceptional Children, and has also been the recipient of the Lamp of Learning Award from OSSTF for his work in public education.

Dan has managed to accomplish all this, he says jokingly, "without ever having owned a watch or learned how to use a computer." Congratulations, Dan Murphy, Bishop Townsend nominee, for you incredible efforts on behalf of special needs students."

Let's Celebrate: Award of Distinction

Although I am sure that most of you have heard by now that the PSSP bargaining unit had two very deserving members nominated for Board's Awards of Distinction, I think it bears repeating. Kim Gain, a speech-language pathologist, and Dave Swinden, a school support counsellor, were both nominated for this prestigious award and were both honoured at the Board meeting on May 6, 2003. Dave, as one of the 23 recipients of the Award, had the following read about him at the meeting.

"As school support counsellor, Dave's work is vital to the learning environment at Lorne Avenue. His compassion and character, his professionalism and skill, have helped many students develop the self- confidence, patience and tolerance they need to become better learners and better people. He has created an innovative Wellness Centre and Leadership Camp at the school, and was instrumental in bringing the "Roots to Empathy" program to grade one classes. Dave is an excellent mentor for all staff members, parent volunteers and or students."

OMERS Eligible Service

Eligible service can reduce penalties for early retirement. This means you could receive a better pension for the rest of your life - without having to pay anything.

Eligible service is one way to increase your retirement income if you will be receiving a reduced pension from OMERS. Claiming eligible service costs you nothing.

Don't delay - Contact OMERS immediately if you have an eligible service claim. It could provide you hundreds of dollars annually - for the rest of your life.

OMERS Pension Update

In September 2001, OMERS announced that starting no earlier than July 2002 employees and employers would begin to pay pension contributions once again. Beginning in January 2003, OMERS plan members began paying approximately one third of the total pre-holiday contribution cost. The plan was originally to have phased out the contribution holiday over a three year period with members once again paying the full cost in 2005. It has been recently announced by the OMERS Board, however, that employees and employers will begin to make full payments beginning in January 2004 and that the contribution rate will be increased by .3% over what it was before the holiday. For more information contact OMERS either by phone or through their website.

Back to Work Legislation and Amendment to Education Act

As you are probably aware, on May 21st the government tabled legislation entitled "An Act to resolve a labour dispute between the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association and the Toronto Catholic District School Board and to amend the Education Act and Provincial Schools Negotiations Act."

This legislation is in two parts. The first part is written to end the lock out of the elementary Catholic teachers in Toronto. Back to work legislation after such a short time period is unprecedented. In fact, the lock out after such a short work to rule by the Catholic teachers has led critics and various education stakeholders to believe that timing of the Toronto Catholic Board's decision to lock out the teachers on the same day as the Tory platform on banning strikes was announced was more than coincidental.

The second part of the legislation redefines strikes in both the Education Act and the Provincial Schools Negotiations Act in such as way as to include extra-curricular activities.

Obviously, the amended definition of strike is the first attempt by the government to implement their political platform. This legislation does not infringe on the right to strike but redefines a strike.

The opposition parties have both been very critical of this legislation. OSSTF has been in contact with the other teacher affiliates, the Ontario Federation of Labour and other education stakeholder groups.

From OSSTF:

Summer is coming! Hang in there!!!!

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

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