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NEGOTIATIONS NEWS - 2009 |
| Collective Agreement: 2005-2009 |
| Post-Strike Pension Buyback Instructions |
| Partial-Load Faculty |
| Strike 2006 - The Strike for Quality Education |
Negotiations News #3 - now available
WARNING -- Sunlife Benefits - Prescription Reimbursement -- WARNING
Unless your doctor specifies in your prescription that there shall be no substitution for a "brand name drug", you will receive reimbursement only for 85% of the cost of the "generic" form of that drug. Should you elect to take home the brand name, without this specification, you will have to pay the difference in cost between the brand and generic prescription, in addition to paying the 15% cost not covered by the plan.
It is not that our drug plan per se requires the issuance of generics as a substitute for brand drugs; rather it is provincial law governing pharmaceuticals that requires that substitution. Our plan has a built-in compliance with the law.
How can I get union contact updates when I am on vacation? What is management offering?
How long will negotiations last?
Will management call a contract vote in the summer? Could there be a lockout? Will we go on strike?URGENT
Sign up for Local 560's
PRIVATE E-MAIL NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE SERVICE~ to receive the latest information on contract offers, contract votes, strike votes, etc.
Workload Task Force Report
The long-awaited Workload Task Force Report has been published.
Seneca President Rick Miner
2008 Salary: $405,793.78
Benefits: $5,190.81Miner's salary has risen from $362,288.69 in 2007.
College Salaries: the 2008 "$100,000+ Club"
Ontario College Presidents' Salaries for 2008
Ontario College and University Presidents' Salaries for 2008
Meet Your New Bargaining Team
CAAT-Academic bargaining team
Team members (from left to right) are: Sheila Bell, OPSEU Local 354, Durham College; Jeff Arbus (vice-chair), Local 613, Sault College; Daniel Bouchard, Local 673, Collège Boréal; Rodney Bain, Local 415, Algonquin College; Benoit Dupuis, Local 470, La cité collégiale; Damian Wiechula, Local 556, George Brown College; Ted Montgomery (chair), Local 560, Seneca College.February 13, 2009: OPSEU members from every college in the province have elected a new bargaining team for the CAAT-Academic bargaining unit, representing full-time college faculty. Voting took place at the CAAT-Academic Division's Final Demand-Setting Meeting held last weekend.
The current collective agreement expires Aug. 31, 2009.
"Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008"
On October 8, 2008, the Government of Ontario repealed the current Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, replacing it with the "Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008" and making related amendments to other Acts.
This Act introduces significant, often deleterious, changes to our bargaining process.
Click here to read the full text,of the Act
Some Highlights of the New Act:
Part-time college workers (part-time support staff, part-time faculty, and sessional faculty) in Ontario now have the right to collective bargaining.
The Council (the exclusive negotiator for the employer), no earlier than 15 days before the expiry of the collective agreement, may force a faculty vote on its latest tabled contract offer. Only one such request may be made.
Notice of the desire to negotiate may be given only within a period of 90 days before the agreement expires, and the parties must meet within 30 days of that notice Consequently, in 2009, the faculty negotiating team will be able to give notice only on June 1, and negotiations will take place over the summer months when most faculty are absent from the workplace.
Previously, when our contract expired, its terms and conditions continued until such time as a new agreement was ratified. Now, if negotiations and conciliation have not produced a settlement by the expiry of the current collective agreement, the Council may lock out faculty within 16 days of receipt of the conciliator's report at the Ministry of Labour. Five days' written notice of a lockout must be provided. The Council can then invite faculty to return to work under its unilaterally determined conditions.
The anti-scab provisions of the former CCBA have been removed. Bargaining unit members can now opt to continue working instead of joining their colleagues on the picket lines. Such scab labour would not only worsen labour relations and faculty collegiality but also result in inequitable treatment of students.
Previously, the term of our collective agreements had to begin on September 1 and end on August 31, reflecting the school year. Now the Council can determine the start date for future collective agreements, which must have a term of at least one year. The start/finish dates may not reflect the actual school year.
May Affect Your Salary PlacementRick Miner Enjoys
$362,288.69 Salary in 2007Rick Miner, the same man who said, "$95,000 isn't bad for 14 hours a week, 35 weeks a year," a misleading and offensive comment on the salary and working conditions of CAAT-A faculty -- a memorable management PR moment during the Strike of 2006.Source: http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/publications/salarydisclosure/2007/colleg07.html
Re System Funding in Post-Secondary Education:
"I want to be very clear here about what the new funding is for. It is not to disappear into the administrative function of institutions. It is not a one-time infusion to make up for previous cutbacks. Its purpose is focused on accomplishing results: great education for students, more opportunities for people to attend and a secure postsecondary education system for the long term."
Bob Rae, in Ontario: A Leader in Learning, 2005
Please call us at the union office, (416) 495-1599, whenever you have questions about workload, salary, benefits, health & safety, or other contract and labour-relations matters.
"I consider it important, indeed necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status ... and to secure their influence in the political field."
~ Albert Einstein, explaining his decision to join the faculty union at Princeton
