OPSEU Local 560
To:	All Members of OPSEU Local 560
From:	OPSEU Local 560 President Ted Montgomery
Date:	October 30, 2000
Subject:	Updates

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

We support the efforts of the College towards accessibility.  Opening up Seneca and the courses we deliver to students who bring different physical and different learning abilities is an important and commendable endeavor.  If you do have students in your classes with special needs, the delivery of program to those students may require extra effort and time on your part.  The Collective Agreement does contemplate such possibilities.  There is a section in the workload article that refers to "atypical  circumstances."

 "Where there are atypical circumstances affecting the workload of a teacher or group of teachers which are not adequately reflected in this Article 11, Workload, additional hours shall be attributed, following discussion between each teacher individually and the supervisor, on an hour for hour basis."

If you find that a student or students with special needs are increasing your workload, then this is exactly the sort of situation which the above article was meant to address.   Meet with your supervisor and advise just how much additional work (if any) is required for such students.  Your supervisor is then required to add time to your SWF to attribute such additional hours.  Not to do this either creates an unfair burden for you or may place the special needs student at some risk.  When classes are assigned, the supervisor likely cannot know about the extra work based on special-needs students in your classes.  Atypical circumstances need to be properly accounted for in your workload, and the first move is up to you.

EDUCATION BARGAINING

It is hard to believe that our contract is in its last year.  For those at maximum, we received our new step increase in September, but there was no percentage increase across-the-board.  You may have seen that teacher bargaining is underway in the elementary and secondary systems.  As I write, there are work-to-rule campaigns underway in Toronto and a strike in Hamilton.  OSSTF believes that the Ontario legislation which makes after-school work mandatory is not legal.  You may recall that the Minister held back on enacting that part of the legislation, threatening to do so "if necessary."  That in itself might indicate that the OSSTF lawyers might well be on to something.  And now the Toronto and District School Board teachers have stopped performing after-school duties, except for teachers who choose voluntarily to carry on with certain sports or direct student-contact activities.  The Minister has indicated that she will not be enacting that part of the legislation which addresses these matters.  Interesting isn't it?

But with the province holding the purse-strings, the School Boards are in tough.  More and more school councils — the parent elected advisory groups — are speaking out against government policy.

Personally, I remain of the view that the government’s agenda is really about moving to more and more privatization of education — divert funding from public to private institutions, either directly or by a voucher system.  Most recently, we have seen the announcement that the province will be allowing private universities to enter competition for that sector.  This can only draw funding away from the existing institutions.  In the College sector, of course, we have seen competition all along from various private trainers.  And at the bargaining table, we hear a constant refrain from management about how the Colleges need to keep their salary and benefit costs down in order to compete with these private deliverers.  All of which is a neat segue into the next update topic……

DEMAND SETTING

Our local demand setting meeting will be held on Thursday, November 9, at 5:30 p.m. at the OFL Building.  The meeting is open to all members of the local, and it is your opportunity to have direct input into bargaining.
The only real way that we can bring about change in the college system is through our collective bargaining.  Through the years, the union has successfully negotiated a number of changes to the Collective Agreements.  The Extended Health Plan was bargained in 1976. The Dental Plan was gained in 1979, prior to which there was no dental coverage. Nineteen eighty-five saw the introduction of the workload formula.   In 1989,  counsellors and librarians went to two months’ vacation, winning parity with teaching faculty.  The current contract moved our salary at last to a position above Ontario high school teachers.  These are not all of the changes by any means: the first contract in 1973 was only 12 pages long.  Each new change affects our rights.  We need to look seriously at where to focus our attention in negotiations this time.

Certainly the issues of just who makes decisions about academic matters is of paramount concern.   Issues like copyright and who determines curriculum, methods of evaluation, and academic and professional standards need to be addressed.
Already some members have expressed an interest in bringing forward demands that management pay some of the benefits premium  for retirees.  My father, who worked for Hydro, just got a new digital hearing aid which cost over $2000.  The portion above the $500 federal government allowance was fully paid for by his retirees’ benefit which is fully employer funded.
The only way for you to have your say on these matters is to be there and to vote at the Local 560 demand-setting meeting.  (Thursday Nov. 9th 5:30 p.m.) You are either there, or you are letting others decide for you.  I hope to see you at the meeting.