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Winter 2010

March 2, 2010

Good afternoon OPSEU Members,

After several calls to Employment Insurance and some appreciated help from Joanne Gemus, payroll manager, we have some solid information we can pass to all employees that are entitled to apply for Employment Insurance. 

Our employer will send all ROE for those employees that are entitled to apply to Employment Canada as of March Break so we can work through the process.

This is a little confusing and I have tried my best to spell it out clearly, take some time to digest it and call the office is you need additional assistance.

Scenario One:  NEW CLAIM

You are a new employee (or an employee that has never filed) and did not file a claim in July 2009, you can claim for March Break, this is considered a new claim, and it would go toward your 2 week waiting period.

Why? This is considered a new claim because you haven’t claimed in the last 52 weeks.

Scenario Two: EXISTING CLAIM

You are an existing employee, and you filed for EI in July 2009, you are now entitled to claim for March Break it is considered a renewal of your July 2009 claim. You should receive EI benefit for the week but it does not go towards the 2 week waiting period for the July 2010 claim.

Why?  This is considered a renewal of an existing claim because you claimed within the last 52 weeks.

Here’s some additional good news!

Extension of EI Regular Benefits for Long-Tenured Workers

EI eligible long-tenured workers may be eligible for additional benefits if they have contributed to the Employment Insurance (EI) program for a significant period of time and have previously made limited use of EI regular benefits.                                           

Eligibility information You may be eligible if:

  • you have contributed at least 30% of the annual maximum EI premiums for at least seven out of ten calendar years prior to the start of your claim; and
  • you have received no more than 35 weeks of regular EI benefits in the five years prior to the start of your claim.

Application Information

If you are currently receiving EI benefits, you do not have to take any action. The additional entitlement will be added to your claim automatically.

  • If your claim started January 4th, 2009 or later, and has already ended, we will be contacting you by mail with information on how to claim your additional benefits.
  • If your claim started January 4th, 2009 or later, and it is running out soon, we will be contacting you by telephone and/or by mail with information on how to claim your additional benefits in an effort to ensure that you do not experience an interruption in your payments.
  • If you are going to file or have recently filed a new claim for benefits and are awaiting a decision on your claim, the additional entitlement will be added to your claim automatically, providing your benefits are approved.

Dates and Deadlines

These changes begin as of October 25, 2009, the day An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act and to increase benefits came into force (became law) and will remain in place until September 11, 2010. Payments of these extended benefits could continue until fall 2011.

You should have received a letter from Service Canada if you are able to apply for this benefit; this would allow you the ability to claim for March Break plus continue your existing claim right through till school start in September. If you have questions as to whether you qualify for this Extension of EI benefits please call 1-800-206-7218, have your SIN and access code ready

This is great news for OPSEU members that work the school year.

Always working on your behalf,

In solidarity,
Silvanna Petersen Email me
Local 330 President

March 1, 2010

Good morning OPSEU Members,

Just sending along some reminders and/or updates that you need to be aware of.

  • All Elementary Office Staff without clerk steno support, reminder you again have 35 hours to use for the upcoming school year.  Please do not let this slip away, if you do not use it, we might lose it.  It is bargained and therefore law. Remember, the new rule around those hours is that it does not come out of school budget.  As a courtesy you might want to give him/her a friendly reminder of the Letter of Understanding page 63 of the Collective Agreement.  I would be hopeful that your administrator would work in concert with you to plan when these hours should be utilized and also who should perform those hours. 
  • Thank you for policing the increase of Secondary/College COOP students doing bargaining unit work; this appears to be more prevalent since the lay offs of Educational Assistants.  We have determined that trying to monitor this on a school by school basis is problematic so we have pulled the grievance we filed in abeyance and it will be heard this week.  A COOP student is to shadow an Educational Assistant not do the full scope of the work; they are never to replace an Educational Assistant.
  • Our meeting in the North district around Workplace Violence and Bill 168 was a great success and due to interest we have another one planned for March 30 2010 in the East District.  One concern that came up was that we have incidences of Educational Assistants chasing or following a volatile student off of school property without someone in a supervisory capacity following behind.  I don’t believe we can rely on the walkie talkies, which might not cover the distance we might have to travel, or even whether someone would be on the other end if we called.. I also have concerns with Educational Assistants being in a containment situation in the community due to the Health and Safety concerns it might cause for staff and student, especially if we do not have supervisory support. Our expectation would be that if a child is in a volatile state and runs away from the school, either 911 is called, or at the very least an administrator would be in pursuit with the Educational Assistants.
  • Overtime trips are starting, Collective Agreement language, When a Principal determines that the attendance of an Educational Assistant is essential to allow a student to participate in an overnight field trip, he/she shall be paid six (6) hours at straight time in addition to his/her regular hours of work, for each day that involves an overnight stay.   If the Educational Assistant is unable to take an uninterrupted lunch or break period for safety reasons, such time will be paid at the overtime rate of pay. We encourage you not to offer to take this time in lieu.  It is the unions position that all overtime is taken at time and one half and only monetarily.
  • As Office Clerical Staff are aware a principal can choose to pay out of school funds for up to .2 office staff.  This cannot be consistent and last longer than 6 months as it should then be deemed a permanent position and posted as such.  We need all schools to monitor this activity and bring it to our attention.  This practice is unfair to permanent employees that lose part of their compliment and either need to move schools to maintain their hours or reduce their position.  We need to force the hand of our employer to hire more office staff to support consistent work. 
  • MEMORANDUM 198 R: Your union was shocked again by our employer when we saw the revision to Memo 198, which was already a revision from the 2009/2010 Memo 123 re: Last Day of Work for Ten month Ten Day Secondary Employees.   We brought this up at the Employee Management meeting as to why they cannot get their act together.  It appears it was a hugh push by administration to get the extra days work prior to school starting.  We have asked that the employer make provisions for some employees that have lives outside of the SCDSB and may have made plans on those days.  They assured us that a memo would follow regarding those concerns. Watch for it.

Please ensure that all OPSEU staff at your worksite have seen this message and place a copy in the OPSEU Binder.  Remember to always check out the web page for news about your local.

In solidarity,
Silvanna Petersen Email me
Local 330 President

January 13, 2010

Good morning OPSEU Members,

Hope you all had a wonderful break; however, there is something to be said for getting back into a regular routine.

I apologize for this lengthy contact message but it is important that we are keeping you up to date on some of the happenings that are going on with OPSEU, and its members.

  • Reminder that you have received a 3% pay increase January 1 2010. We have replaced the pay structure info on our web site (home page, right hand side) so you can input your wage information, the excel sheet will automatically calculate for you.
  • Inquiries were made by office clerical staff regarding illness replacement; remember it is the county that bears the expense, not the school.  If an office staff is off sick then it should be marked “sick leave “ on the supply employee’s time sheet otherwise the cost will be charged to the school.
  • Attached is an over time sheet for any time that you may accrue over and above your hours of work, e.g.: if you stay for mandatory training, were required to take minutes at a staff meeting, or if you were requested to attend a meeting by the principal the union position is -that is your prior approval.  You are entitled to overtime in the form of money, or if YOU choose, lieu time, that time is taken at a time agreed to by the employee and the supervisor -with no time limit(e.g.21 days) attached to the use of this by management
  • We are still having concerns that members are not taking breaks and lunches.  Please abide by your Collective Agreement, we work hard to bargain all language and if you don’t use it, you might lose it. 
  • Keeping our Kids Safe at School Act becomes law February 1 2010, it was a pleasure to sit and represent OPSEU Support Staff at the Ministry level and work through both PPM 144 Bullying Prevention and Intervention and PPM145 Progressive Discipline and Promoting Positive Student Behaviour.  These Ministry expectations for all board staff are a significant step in the right direction and might be challenging to put into practice, but they are law and we need to be committed to implementing the expectations of Bill 157.  It is your responsibility to complete the Safe Schools training as it is mandatory, if you are required to complete this training after your work hours the attached overtime sheet should be completed and submitted to the board.
  • Congratulation to our bursary winners, you should have all received a call and the cheques went out in the courierJ  The names will be posted and in our next newsletter.
  • Feb 3 is the meeting date for the O/C 12 month to 10 month Gratuity Settlement, please make every effort to attend the meeting if you filed an individual grievance.
  • Just a precaution for Office Clerical staff, please remember to lock your computers when you are away from your desk and never share your password.  I believe that temporary “log in and passwords”, for both Windows and eSIS should be made available for supply coverage who might be visiting your school. This is a Board policy that we need to follow.
  • Reminder re: Board APM 1001 (Return to work of ill or injured employees)  If you are off work for 10 days or longer on medical leave, you must have a medical note from  your practitioner stating that you are fit to return to work
  • Message from Jeanette May, HR. There are changes to safe arrival procedure for inclement weather days.
    • I have been advised by Superintendent Medysky that Administrative Council has revised the safe arrival procedure for inclement weather days.  On days where the buses are cancelled due to inclement weather, calls will not be made to families whose children ride the school buses.  Families of children who walk to school are still expected to report their child’s absence if they will not be coming to school on that day.  School staff will make an effort to call families of walking students who are not present, but on some days, depending on the number of students absent, it may not be possible to make all of these calls.  They have asked that office staff and/or Safe Arrival volunteers begin calling families of walkers in Junior Kindergarten and work their way up through the grades, when possible.
  • OPSEU Local 330 is working to provide professional development opportunities for our members.  Please watch the web site for upcoming training, workshops etc.  The First Aid PD day training for Secondary Schools filled up within a few days, we plan to offer it again on a weekend in the near future.
  • Pay Equity, we are meeting again next week. As everyone is aware, this is a slow process but we are making sure it is kept on the employer’s radar.
  • Job Fact Sheet committee, Lesley Chisholm, Dave McCarl and Sandy Barker are working hard with the employer, it is also a slow process but the end is in site.  Once completed they will be sent to supervisors to review one last time, as some of these jobs may have been changed considerably since first compiled, considering the amount of time needed to complete this task.
  • Please watch your work site for temporary employees, inquire as to whom they are replacing, watch for transitional EAs and the length of time they are at your school.  This is important to monitor as we do have language in the CA, and it will help to ensure we have permanent increases in staff where needs are.
  • Thanks to those that took the time to fill out the survey re: Supervision.  I, and other Unions and Federations met with the Ministry last Tuesday, and it is very clear that the instructional time is being eroded by the amount of time EAs are spending supervising all students in the school.  This is a concern and will be discussed further with the Board Trustees.  I will keep you updated once we have more concrete information.
  • Teaching Principals are getting used to their new role.  We want to emphasize again that EAs are not to cover the role of a teaching principal. Office clerical staff need to know who to call if an issue arises in the office and no administrator is available.
  • Recognition-Please email the office if you are aware of an OSPEU member either retiring; coming up to 25 years service or has had bereavement in their immediate family (partner or child).
  • Aggressive Incident Reporting APM 4071, please do not sign the last page of the form until you have sat down with your principal and gone over the Action, the What and the When.
  • Watch the web site for upcoming unit meetings.  Please Note: when sending questions via the web page, please make sure you add your home email to the form, otherwise it will just bounce back to me and you will not receive the response.
  • Please make sure that all OPSEU members at your work site have seen this contact message and add it to the OPSEU Binder. 

Finally, a thank you to all who inquired about my health, I am on the road to a full recovery following my surgery prior to Christmas.  We certainly do put things into perspective when our health becomes an issue. 

Take care of YOU.

In solidarity,
Silvanna Petersen Email me
Local 330 President

If you'd like to know who your school's contact person is, please refer to this list.