(Dec 3/09) - General Membership Bargaining Meeting

Jeff Arbus (bargaining team co-chair) presented last night. Jeff went through all the changes within the new imposed CA and also presented the Union's latest positions. Select the presentation link below to view some of the key points that were discussed. If you want further clarification, please contact your local steward or the officers of the Local.

The bargaining teams are scheduled back at the table on Monday and Tuesday Dec. 14 and 15. They have also kept the rest of the week open. We all remain hopeful of a deal.

Jeff stated that there has been continued pressure by all labour organizations denouncing management's imposing of a contract. He indicated that CAUT is taken a position that supports our plight. To learn more about CAUT and to read their position, pick the link below.

The next steps are presented on page 27 of the presentation. A strike vote will take place on January 13, 2010. The bargaining team is looking for a strong strike vote so that both parties are willing to sit at the table and hammer out a deal.

CAUT Link

Bargaining Presentation

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ACADEMIC COUNCIL

Another issue that was discussed last night, was the re-invention of Academic Council. Numerous motions were made in hopes of bringing forward a positive resolution in regards to the committee that would include selection process and the terms of reference. For those contemplating the voluntary position, the members would like you to consider the following motion that was unanimously supported:

The faculty union denounces the attempt to re-establish an Academic Council on a voluntary/appointed basis and in the absence of mutually agreed upon, meaningful, terms of reference.  An ad hoc committee shall be struck to draft Academic Council Terms of Reference to be proposed to the Senior Operating Group.

(Dec 2/09) - Return to the table update .....

(Press Release)

College faculty table revised offer in effort to achieve settlement
(TORONTO, December 1, 2009) – Community college faculty tabled a revised position Monday hoping to reach a settlement in contract talks. But union negotiators were left frustrated by management’s refusal to make any changes to its position......(more)

Full Press Release article

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(CAAT Negotiating Team Update)

The Colleges agreed to resume negotiations for one day – November 30. In an effort to kick-start a settlement, the faculty team withdrew several proposals and amended others – all designed to reduce costs. Media releases from the Colleges cited costs as the reason for failure to get an agreement. Our revised salary position is an annual 2.5% raise for three years. Management is offering a salary increase of 8% over four years.......(more)

Bargaing Update

 

(Nov 26/09) - OFL - COUNCIL

Please forward to your members. (Ted Montgomery)

You may have seen yesterday's press release from OPSEU concerning the Ontario Federation of Labour's unanimous condemnation of the college's imposition of terms and conditions of employment.

We anticipate the Council will respond. And we anticipate that the Council's response will contain the same postions they have maintained all along, that the union's offer is unaffordable and that they are not union busting.

Of course it is union busting to deny the union's right to represent members through grievances, to decentralize arbitrations, to stack the list of arbitrators, to allow colleges to decide whether or not they ever meet with the union local. Now the whole labour movement has seen it and condemned it for what it truly is.

The Colleges have correctly tied the issue of affordability to wage bargaining. But they seriously jumped the gun. The bargaining talks have focused on workload - rightly so. The union at no time indicated that our salary position was final. There is a lot more to be talked about including funding levels, all college compensation packages, fiscal accountability, recent referent group settlements, government statements, and economic climate projections. The union remains fully willing to have meaningful discussions on salary. In fact, the union was tabling revised salary positions and inviting discussion even as the colleges abruptly ended talks and imposed terms.

The real issue is and has been the colleges' unwillingness to implement all the recommendations of the Workload Task Force. 

Reaching a settlement which is fair, properly measured, and affordable should be possible if Council will resolve to negotiate in good faith.

Ted Montgomery
for the team.

(Nov 23/09) - Political Statements

Please pick the following links to read a statement made in the Ontario Legislature and a resolution made by the NDP Provincial Council.

Links:

• Statement by R Marchese to the House
• Resolution by the NDP Provincial Council

(Nov 20/09) - JIC Update

Memorandum *

To: All full-time and partial-load faculty

From: Joint Insurance Committee

Date: November 19, 2009

Subject: An analysis of the impact of management's withdrawal from joint provincial committees.

Management unilaterally imposed terms and conditions of employment on November 18. As a part of that imposition they have withdrawn from all provincial joint committees, including the Joint Insurance Committee (JIC). This memo is intended to show you the effect of their withdrawing from JIC.

Historically, the JIC has decades of successfully resolving all kinds of benefit claims disputes, such as dental, prescription drugs, assistive devices, paraprofessional services, and the range of other items covered in the benefit plan. To read more, pick the link below........

Link: JIC Bulletin

 

(Nov 18/09) - Here are the Facts......

Due to changes in the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA), management, having met the CCBA conditions, has the unilateral right to impose their contract on us.

The CCBA was opened in 2008 to include provisions to unionize part time college workers and to include other recommendations from the Whitaker report.

In regards to current bargaining, management could have taken their offer to a faculty vote. They refused, and determined to impose the terms and conditions. 

The imposed changes will take effect November 18, 2009

Management walked away from talks because the faculty bargaining team would not agree to the ultimatum of "take it or we will impose it." The faculty team said it was prepared to continue bargaining on a range of issues. Management knew all along they had the right to impose their will.

The management's team conduct is a breakdown of the democratic process.  It will have ramifications now and for future bargaining.  

Their imposed terms and conditions are full of concessions. They have no improvements to quality.

Workload improvements has been and remains the priority issue for faculty. What they have imposed represents an increase in workload for many faculty. This will lessen quality.

The bargaining team is looking for a strong strike vote. A strike vote is for the purpose of compelling management to return to the bargaining table. The stronger the strike vote, the stronger the message.

To not vote for strike will be interpreted by management as faculty agreement that management has unfettered freedom to impose any terms and conditions of employment that they wish, unilaterally.

A GMM bargaining meeting will take place December 3/09 whereby a bargaining representative will discuss all these facts.

(Nov 12/09) - Bargaining Update

On Nov 12/09 a conference call was held with all College Local Presidents to discuss the status of bargaining. The bargaining team brought to our attention that talks have completely broken down and that management (under the changes to the CCBA) would be imposing "improved terms and conditions of employment" - effective November 18, 2009. The bargaining team feels that the mangement team has been planning this strategy all along given that there was little interest on their behalf to meet and bargain. The bargaining team claims that management is totally ignoring the recommendations of the Workload task Force. An informational meeting with representatives from the bargaining team will be scheduled soon.

Links:

• College Compensation and Appointments Council
• College Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA)
• Workload Task Force Report
• OPSEU - CAAT Bargaining News

(Nov 8/09) - SWF Training Information (Gayle Dale - Chair of the CWMG)

As the period for receiving Winter 10 SWFs rapidly approaches, there are a few items that the Union Workload team would like to share:

• Remember that any new course warrants a New prep factor.  (i.e. including those created as a result of paragon with new course codes.)
• A workload discussion should take place between the Chair and the faculty, prior to receiving the SWF. (as per Article 11.02A1(a)).
• Chairs will distribute the Winter 10 SWF by November 19th (for most programs) (to ensure faculty receive the 6 week prep time .)
• If you receive your SWF late or are given an additional course after the 6 week deadline, you may be entitled to “Late Prep” compensation.  

You must request this compensation. Please contact your Chair and the Union members of the CWMG to request this compensation.

Review Articles 11.02A3, 11.02A4 and 11.02A6 of the collective agreement for correct procedures following the receipt of the SWF.  

Two SWF Training Sessions have been scheduled:

• Windsor  -  Tuesday, November 17 th ,  in Room 135 from 5-6:30pm. 
• Chatham – Thursday, November 19 th , in Room 130 from 4-5:30pm. 
• While this training is open to all faculty members, it is recommended for new faculty members. 
• If you are unable to attend the training session, please refer to the Union Local 138 Website for the power-point presentation (link is located on the left side of the Local home page (SWF Training PPT)
• Local 138 website:   http://www.kelcom.net/~local138/

Any questions/concerns with your SWF, please contact one of the Union members of the CWMG.

Gayle Dale (x4799)           Ken Acton (x4322)

Kent Mclain (Chatham x3323)  Lynne Compton (Chathamx3282 )

(Nov 3/09) - Message from Ted Montgomery - 2006 Post Strike - RTW Grievances

Hello Everyone: On Friday, I received an update from our legal counsel on the return-to-work claims from the 2006 strike. "While Shime had a few 2009 dates to offer, we couldn ' t find any that were open to bo th nominees. The earliest date we could get was March 16.  I am reminded to send this to you, as, even though the date has been set for about a month, I just got the official notice this week.

The hearing is for the purposes of a “ case conference ” to see where we go next.  It is scheduled for 10 am on March 16 at JPR."

As you can see, the next hearing date is well off still.  The management approach to this process, so far, has been to delay and roadblock as much as they can.  The Board has dealt with a series of preliminary matters all raised by the colleges and in each case, the Board has found in favour of the claimants.  That does not mean 100% of the claims will succeed.  There is still no way to tell that at this point.  Every claim remains alive and well.  The "where we go next" is about how to actually process the claims in a more efficient and workable manner now that the preliminaries - so far as we know - are out of the way.

While we all wish otherwise, there is really no way to hurry this along.  Our counsel has pressed upon the chair of the Board, Mr. Shime, our desire to have every available date as early as possible.  Mr. Shime did expand his own availability to assist, but it is a three-person panel with union and management representation.   Please let your interested members know that nothing has gone wrong, just that this is how long it can take sometimes, especially when one party is not wanting a fast resolution.

Ted Montgomery

(Oct 27/09) - Contract Update / Michener Settlement

• Management at some colleges sent their negotiations newsletter dated October 23, 2009 to the faculty. It has several disturbing and inaccurate claims – one is of particular concern.
  The newsletter references the contract settlement at the Michener Institute ratified just last week. Michener is a provincially-funded training institute for health care technicians and practitioners. The Colleges’ bargaining newsletter notes that they settled for increases of 1% Sept. 1 2009, 1% Mar. 1 2010, and 2% each of the next two years. This is true, but not truthful, because it’s not the whole truth. What the newsletter left out is most revealing.....

Pick this link for the complete story on the Michener Settlement

(Oct 13/09) - Contract Negotiations and other CAAT news....keep updated

• For up-to-date bargaining information, refer to the CAAT webpage link:

http://www.opseu.org/caat/caat_ac/collective-bargaining.htm

Note that a button "OPSEU CAAT LINK" has been set up on the left side for future access to this site.

(Sept 2/09) - Bargaining Update

• The Provincial College Faculty contract has expired as of August 31, 2009.  All Local Presidents participated in a conference call on September 1, 2009 to receive an update on bargaining. The good news is that talks are still on-going and the teams will meet during the months of October and November. The teams are far apart and more serious bargaining needs to take place to secure a contract. A bargaining team representative will be attending a General Membership meeting in late fall / early winter to update the Local membership. 

(Aug 13/09) - Ontario Government's "Pathways Initiative"

• A community college engineering student is transferring to university in order to earn an engineering degree. The student wants the university to credit her or him with at least some of the course work done at college.........select the link below for more

Article by: Brian Brown

(June 15/09) - Faculty Negotiating Team Update..Memo sent to all Local Presidents

• The Union gave notice to bargain on June 3rd, which was the first date allowable under
  the new Colleges Collective Bargaining Act – 90 days prior to expiry. The team met
  with the employers’ committee for three days this week. They had some general
  discussions regarding our overall approaches to bargaining this round, exchanged
  opening positions, and tabled some specific proposals. The parties also had some
  discussion about the report of the Workload Task Force.
• Our team advised the management committee that they were aiming for an on-time settlement,
  that they believed this would be possible with hard work, and that an on-time settlement
  had been reached in the past. Both sides agreed that workload would be a key focus in this round. Our team felt that there was a marked, positive, and refreshing contrast with the last round of bargaining.
• The employer talked about economic pressures. They have not as yet offered any salary increase or benefit improvements, but it is too early for that. Bargaining always addresses some of the non-monetary issues first. Management’s exchange document indicates they will be looking to negotiate a “responsible salary increase.”
• Overall, our team felt that it was a positive beginning to negotiations. Still, any optimism should be cautious at best. There are and will be great gaps between the parties that will have to be
  closed. Our team felt that they have made some progress already and there is a commitment, at least, to make the effort to reach a settlement.
• Meetings will continue this month and through the summer.

(June 3/09) - Orthopaedic Shoes

• Select the following link for information on "Understanding Orthepaedic Shoes" benefit entitlement.

Orthopaedic Shoes

(May 20/09) - Negotiations Newsletter #2

• Pick the link below for newsletter 2. Some points of interest include, RTW, Bargaining notice, Salaries and Academic Freedom.

CAAT Negotations - Newsletter 2

(May 6/09) - RTW Update

• Ted Montgomery - So, we have the decision that there may be compensable workload as a result of the post-strike return to work and the colleges' semester completion strategies. It remains now to consider each claim on its merits – i.e. was there actual work?" ...select the following links for more information

RTW Interim Award

RTW Award - Ted Montgomery

(April 29/09) - CAAT Academic Negotiations News

• Workload, salary, and academic freedom are the top list of priorities
• Still no resolution to Return to Work grievances from 2006 strike
• Select the link below for more details

CAAT Negotiaitons News

 

(March 26/09) - Workload Task Report

One of the outcomes of the last round of bargaining included the establishment of a workload task force. This committee was tasked with offering views and recommendations on how both sides should deal with workload for this upcoming round of bargaining. Please select the following links for the report and an analysis by Ted Montgomery, Chair of the CAAT negotiating team.

Workload Task Report

Analysis by Montgomery - Workload Task Report

(Jan 15/09) - Workload Task Force

• The bargaining of the current collective agreement concluded with an arbitration award issued by Arbitrator Kaplan. One of the issues raised in bargaining was the workload formula contained in the collective agreement. Arbitrator Kaplan did not resolve that issue but directed that the question of workload and the formula and related issues be referred to an independent task force for study and non-binding recommendations that might guide the parties in future negotiations.
  The workload task force has a mandate to complete the study and make recommendations by March 1, 2009.
  In order to have as much empirical data as possible the task force decided to conduct two surveys: one was designed for the faculty and the other, for academic managers at the colleges. The surveys were conducted by Leger Marketing and jointly funded by OPSEU and the College Compensation and Appointments Council.

Pick on the following links to view the surveys that were used.

Faculty Survey

Management Survey

A copy of the final recommendations will be forwarded when they become available.

 

(Nov 4/08) - Workload Task Force

The Workload Task Force members have been meeting over the last few months.  We have agreed to assist them wherever we can with administrative support.  They have asked us (the Union and the Council) to facilitate the distribution of the attached communiqué. 

The Council is sending the same attachments to the administration at each college.

In solidarity, Janet Wright - Negotiator  

Select this link - - > Workload Task Force Communique

(Oct 16/08) - RTW - Comments by Ted Montgomery

"Remarkably there is still nothing really to report. I have been in regular contact with our counsel, David Wright, and both he and I have been talking with the union nominee to the Board of Arbitration to get updates.  The Board is still considering the evidence put before them so far, and as I understand it may possibly be requesting some further evidence with respect to interpretation of some of the settlement language.  I will be keeping in touch with David and will let you know as soon as there is anything substantive to report.

While grievances do often take a long time, and there is really no way to speed them up, we would hope to make progress on these claims sooner than later.  I will press our counsel to see if it is in our interests to encourage the board to reach a conclusion, if not a final conclusion then at least part way. "

(August 29/08) - New Hires

• Local 138 would like to welcome the new hires
• Your steward representative will be getting in touch with you
• The Local recommends that new hires review your grid placement (pay scale) with Jody Merritt......jmerritt@stclaircollege.ca
• Also refer to the "New Hires" button on the left
• If you do not have a hardcopy of the collective agreement, contact Ken Acton @ 4322

(Feb 11/08) - RTW Claims as per Ted Montgomery

The Local has received inquiries as to the status of the RTW claims submitted after the strike. I have received the following update from Ted Montgomery:

Update on the Return-to-Work Grievances.

The colleges have been delaying the process by raising various preliminary objections. Their original objection was dismissed. The colleges amended their position reframing the next set of objections as “clarifications” they sought from the Board which would narrow the scope of claims to only those where the weekly or annual TCH's limits were exceeded. The Board wanted to hear some evidence first. The union proceeded with a limited number of grievors over four days of hearings in the fall, establishing the variety as well as the legitimacy of claims. The Board is now satisfied that it has enough evidence to proceed to the parties arguing on this colleges' objection.

In a nutshell, the colleges are claiming that work is movable so even if a teacher works 80 hours a week for the rest of the term, post-strike, that does not merit any payment for completing the courses. The union takes the position that the colleges reduced salary by the 3 weeks of strike, so they have to expect 3 weeks less work. To the extent that they require a full year's work – the semester completion strategies – the colleges have to pay for any such work. Also, any additional work generated by having to amend courses or take on added duties is compensable. This was the model used by arbitrators in previous post-strike circumstances. St. Clair and the other colleges are this time attempting to get the full year's work - or as close to it as they can - but not compensate faculty for making up work lost because of the strike. The union has said, faculty are quite prepared to make up the work, but must be paid for that work.

The next hearing date is March 7 th . I will be meeting with David Wright, our counsel, later this month to prepare for that hearing date. I can tell you that our evidence went in very well with excellent witnesses. We are in good position, and the delaying tactics of the colleges, the preference to litigate rather than deal with the substantive claims, is frustrating to all of us, as I am sure it must be to the members with outstanding claims.

Ted Montgomery, Negotiating Team Chair

 

(Feb 6/08) - Whitaker Report

• The Whitaker report sets out a number of recommendations which, if adopted by the government will, in Whitaker's view, facilitate the introduction of collective bargaining for part time college employees, ensure that the colleges can continue to meet their mandate, safeguard the interests of students, employees and the Province, while fostering and enhancing a healthy collective bargaining relationship in the college system.
• Pick on the following link for a comprehensive read

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/ccba/CollegesReportFeb08.pdf