SPRING 2008

May 1, 2008

Good morning contacts,

Where has the school year gone…….things have been so busy at the office and with your local I wanted to send out some information to keep you updated.

Provincial Discussion Table has been quite the learning curve; the Boards of Education within OPSEU cover all classifications that are being addressed, Educational Assistants, Office Clerical Staff, Custodians, IT staff, English Second Language Instructors, Basic Skills Literacy Instructors. The request to sit at this table came from the Ministry of Education where we are discussing broader issues in education such as funding and staffing. At the main table are representatives from the employer side with the Ministry of Education Staff acting as facilitators. We have submitted (with assistance from our sectors chief negotiator) our proposals in conjunction with the other unions/federations and associations at the table. Our next scheduled dates are May 11, 12 and 13. I will be working on your behalf and will keep you posted.

Local negotiations are coming up soon with no formal dates set at this time. I believe we need to see where we end up with the provincial discussions first, and then move forward with demand set meetings.

The Job Description Committee has met several times going through the slow process of compiling the information that has been submitted to enable us to develop your final job descriptions. Part of the hold up has been that many of the supervisor forms have not been submitted. The employer side of the committee feels that this is a significant piece of information, to make sure that what you say you do, your supervisor agrees with. You can imagine once we put the two pieces together it might develop into some heated debate. We will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Professional Development day was a busy one for many, OPSEU PD committee members Lesley Chishom, Anne Petri, Gloria Miller, and HRs Kim Lintack, pulled off another amazing day for Educational Assistants. We were also encouraged to hear the positive feed back from the (short notice) Colours Workshop put on for School Office staff. It is great to see that the employer is recognizing the importance of Professional Development for staff; we now need to fight for all staff to have those opportunities.

Our first attempt at a social event “Dirty Dancing” went off without a hitch, the bus arrived on time and we managed to bring every one home safely. Thanks to everyone who attended making it a great evening, the show was amazing, and we will do it again.

Ergonomics workshop Part 1 was held on Tuesday evening. We still have a few seats available if you are interested in taking Part 2 please call 739-7232.

Staffing Committee met again on April 15th to work through improving the staffing process. I believe that the new pieces we have put in place will make it less stressful for members that might be affected in the next month or so. Rumors are always rampant at this time of year around EA staffing. I will get the information out to you as soon as I hear anything from HR. Please try not to stress until we get the final numbers.

On April 14th we had a small, but mighty EA unit meeting in the South district with some great questions being addressed. I believe that since many members communicate with me via email, we may have to look at how many unit meeting we plan on having next year. They are costly to the local and with turnout smaller than we would like, we may consider just having one for each unit, per school year. If anyone has suggestions please send them along. Note: May 5th 2008 is the next unit meeting for Education Centre staff, please confirm attendance and whether or not you would like to have the meeting at 4:30 at the Ed centre or at our local office at 5:00.

Our local newsletter “SchoolWorks” arrived at your worksite; we delivered less to each worksite as we are trying to cut costs of printing. It is also available on our website, www.opseu330.com. On a go forward basis, we are planning to send 20 to each high school and 5 to each elementary. Please make sure one is placed in your OPSEU school binder.

We sent out the OPSEU School Binders to all worksites last year. Please make sure it is updated with the new seniority list (Feb 08), contact messages, newsletters, minutes of ERC meetings etc. I have had some members call the office saying they have never seen the binder. Please ensure that all OSPEU members at your worksite are familiar with its location.

Thank you to Sandy Barker, steward, for sending out short notice information via the school Office Clerical staff. As long as that information is not pertaining to bargaining the Office staff can feel comfortable copying the notices for all OPSEU members. We appreciate all Office staff helping to keep us connected and informed.

I think that is all for now, again, if you have any questions you would like addressed please email or phone the office 739-7232. Keep in mind; the web site is a wealth of information, from grievance updates, past minutes of ERC meetings, important forms, unit meeting schedules etc.

Please pass this on to all OPSEU members at your worksite

In Solidarity,
Silvanna Petersen
Local 330 President

March 31 , 2008

I hope you all had a great March Break and Easter Holiday, the stretch from now until June seems to fly by.

On February 26, and March 18 I represented you and met with Minister Wynne regarding my role in the provincial discussions. I am pleased to say that we have formed a separate table; I am in Toronto today and April 2 which will commence the meeting schedule. We are hopeful that the process will be beneficial to all.

Your Job Description Committee has met several times and many of you have received your electronic version of the JD, with information on how to proceed, they are being returned to the Education Centre sporadically and once they are all in, the work of your committee begins. We have scheduled 60 hours to work through the process. We are looking at having them completed by the fall.

I wish to thank those that participated in the process, it is time consuming and I hope you did have some time allotted throughout your day to confer with colleagues for their input. This is a joint process and your help is much appreciated.

We have had several OPSEU VIR forms sent to the office that are not the updated version, please ensure that those forms reflect the new APM A4071, Aggressive incident Reporting, if you are filling out the VIR form then you would also complete the APM. A copy of that form is to go to your administrator and they have 3 days to send it onto the Educations Centre. I have had some members notify me that their administration has advised them that the APM does not need to be completed for every incident.

IT DOES, please call the office if you are in that situation.

Some schools are calling regarding head lice issues, please be aware of the APM A7210. Our employer does have policy in place regarding that concern.

Our website has uploaded under the “Professional Development” side bar some resource pictures that may assist EAs working with their students. Please take some time and visit the web site. www.opseu330.com

We have our next EA unit meeting April 22nd in the South Region; please stay tuned for the location. All EAs are welcome. Light refreshments. Watch the web site for details.

Hopefully you have all seen the Ergonomics workshop flyer posted at your worksite. Your local is providing this workshop to assist members at the workplace. It is a Workers Health and Safety Centre workshop with a certified facilitator. Seating is limited, don’t be disappointed, get your confirmation in ASAP.

Watch for the next newsletter it should be at your worksite sometime next week. Please make sure all OPSEU members at your worksite see this contact message and please place a copy in the OSPEU Binder.

Have a great week,

I will keep you updated

In Solidarity
Silvanna Petersen
President Local 330

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