On Friday, we all received the College’s framework for the Spring 2020 semester. The College has not yet confirmed how it will implement any of the details of the semester. We have secured its commitment to revising SWFs and sharing information with the Local as it becomes available.

The Local has not agreed to any matters regarding the Spring 2020 semester. We have put forward our membership’s concerns on a broad range of issues including workload, intellectual property matters, teaching hours for partial-load members and full-time faculty vacation.

We continue to voice faculty issues and to ensure adherence to our Collective Agreement. When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, we are pushing for Algonquin College to be remembered as an employer that did its part to create climate of security for workers, in a time when we so need it. Holding the College to account in all aspects of our work is what we will continue to do.

If you have any questions, please e-mail COMMS@locallines.org or leave us a message at (613) 727-4723 Ext. 7716. We will provide a timely response to your e-mail or call.

In solidarity,

Annette Bouzi
President, OPSEU Local 415

In recent discussions, we learned that the College will compensate sessional, part-time and partial-load faculty for certain professional development hours completed at Learning and Teaching Services (LTS) between March 14 and 27 to prepare for the change in delivery mode to courses. The details are as follows:

• Partial-load, sessional and part-time faculty who participate in LTS-delivered sessions related to alternate delivery of courses will be paid $25/hour for time spent in the sessions;
• Those who complete one or more of the following Employee Learning courses will also be compensated: EDU2001, EDU2002, EDU2003; and
• There is a cap of 15 hours for this paid training, which must take place between March 14 and March 27.

We encourage you to contact your manager for further details and to claim this compensation.

In solidarity,

Annette Bouzi
President, OPSEU Local 415

We hope you are all keeping well during this difficult time. Recognizing that we are inundated with COVID-19 e-mails, and that the situation is constantly changing, our communication to you will be streamlined.

The two most common questions we are receiving from faculty concern (1) intellectual property rights and (2) our pay. Here is what we know now:

• The Academic Division of OPSEU (CAAT-A) has prepared some guidance regarding copyright, which is attached here. While there is always general concern about our work and intellectual property rights, the author of the document is of the view that the material we are creating now is not likely to be used by colleges in a way that would cause harm to our jobs. Further, in discussions with President Brulé, he confirmed to me that the work we are preparing now is to save the semester – not a permanent solution – and the College would not mandate it so.
• The College has already stated that it will reimburse reasonable equipment expenses related to working from home, such as headsets and microphones. We advocated for clarity on additional expenses and the College confirmed that it will reimburse faculty for reasonable out of pocket expenses related to COVID-19, with approval from their manager, as posted here.
• Everyone will continue to be paid at our current rates – this was confirmed and can be reviewed here on the HR FAQ website (Q2 and Q3)

The situation is constantly changing. We continue to closely monitor it and advocate for faculty.

In solidarity,

Annette Bouzi
President, OPSEU Local 415

We have been monitoring all COVID-19 developments closely and regularly communicating with both the College and our OPSEU colleagues across the province. These are certainly difficult and extraordinary times.

We are encouraged by Algonquin College’s decision to make alternate work arrangements more broadly available – this is a decision we were advocating the College to make over the weekend. The health and well-being of all faculty and community members are of paramount concern.

While the situation is still in flux, we know that all faculty, including part-time, sessional, and partial-load members, will continue to be paid at our current rates during the temporary suspension of classes. We recommend that faculty track the hours of work put into completing all tasks related to modifying your courses for new delivery modes.

Finally, below is a list of resources should you need the support. In the turmoil of the current moment, let us remember to take good care of each other and ourselves.

In solidarity,

Annette Bouzi
President, OPSEU Local 415

• Ottawa Public Health: Public Health Topics – Novel Coronavirus
• Government of Ontario: ontario.ca/coronavirus (website updated daily at 10:30 a.m.)
• Telehealth Ontario: 1-866-797-0000

OPSEU Local 415 has been closely monitoring the developments around COVID-19. We are participating fully in discussions with Algonquin College regarding contingency planning. In addition to our concerns for a safe workplace, our role is to ensure that contingency plans are consistent with our Collective Agreement.

We are engaged in continued conversation with union locals at all community colleges. The following issues are what we are centering on:

1. Technological and infrastructural challenges to online classes
2. Sick days for contract faculty
3. Workload tracking and the equitable distribution of tasks
4. Intellectual property in the event of a mass upload of materials and content online
5. Complex accommodations for students and faculty
6. Accommodations and protections for at-risk employees and employees with at-risk family members
7. Laboratory, workshop, practical and field activities and the recovery of learning outcomes for lessons which must be done in person
8. Protocols to support international students who may face quarantines or the inability to return to their home countries

In light of the recent announcement to close public schools after March break, our local will continue to advocate for family accommodations.

If you have concerns around your work and COVID-19, please connect with us. If you send an email, please use the subject “COVID-19” to ensure we flag your email as urgent.

Sisters and brothers

I wanted to announce the following officers as elected to your executive. Today 433 members voted in the election.

• Annette Bouzi is your local president
• David Haley is your 1^st vice president
• Enrico DeFrancesco is your 2^nd vice president
• Pat Kennedy is your chief steward
• Shawn Pentecost is your treasurer
• Judy Puritt is your secretary

I want to thank everyone for voting today and for the scrutineers participating in the vote count. Diane Brule as always went above and beyond.

In solidarity,

Nelson Ross Laguna

Nelson Ross Laguna

Staff Representative

Ontario Public Service Employees Union

Ottawa,On

Nominations have closed for the officer positions for OPSEU Local 415.

The following positions have been acclaimed:

Chief Steward: Pat Kennedy

Secretary: Judy Puritt

There will be an election for four positions.

President: Annette Bouzi and JP Lamarche

First Vice President: David Haley and Michael Nauth

Second Vice President: Enrico Defrancesco and Ken Hill

Treasurer: Martin Lee and Shawn Pentecost

Note that should any of the nominees wish to withdraw their nomination prior to the election, they should contact me directly via email (NRossLaguna@opseu.org) to do so.

In order to prevent any issues of inaccurate lists I will be confirming members who are partial load or who are unsure of their status at the polling station. If you are partial load or believe you are partial load at the time of the vote in order to confirm you are in good standing with the local, you will be required to provide your pay statement to show Union dues deductions as well as hours worked. Your pay statement will need to show your name and employee number as well. If you wish to blackout other areas, you may. If you are partial load or believe you are partial load and you do not provide a pay statement, I will have to segregate your ballot and then confirm your status afterwards which may take days or weeks.

The process will be as usual for all other members who require to be a signed member of the Union in order to vote. If you have not signed a union membership card you can do so at the polling station.

All full-time faculty and partial-load faculty who are members of the union are eligible to vote.

The vote will take place Tuesday February 18, 2020 at the following locations:

Woodroffe: (8:30-4:00) in C215B

Pembroke: (10:00-4:00) in Room 435

Perth: (10:00-4:00) in Room 118

In solidarity

Nelson Ross Laguna

Staff Representative

Ontario Public Service Employees Union 

Ottawa On

Office 18002687376 ext 5445

Cell 6133244174

As a follow up to Pat and David’s discussions with the president and vice-president academic, Enrico and I have raised a number of examples of the types of proposed spring workload inconsistencies that we are hearing about from faculty. We indicated that there is an overwhelming sense of frustration by faculty about how workload and annual leave is being assigned by managers. We’ve expressed to both Claude and Chris, our concerns about how these inconsistencies, and apparent inequities in workload are affecting faculty morale, and creating tension with departments.

The other item that we raised is the use of seniority in the assignment of annual leave on a rotational basis. There is confusion as to how seniority is, or is not being used when determining summer rotation. Some areas have no rotation, some are using a two year model, and other areas are following a five year model. In addition to being an equity issue, faculty who have children are feeling particularly anxious about needing to rethink their entire family lives because of the change in teaching schedules.

Enrico and I will keep you posted about any new developments.

Brothers and Sisters

In order to provide more clarity on the nomination ballot, I would ask that you use the following updated version instead of the one originally attached to the Announcement for OPSEU Local 415 Election of Officers:

I, nominate  _______________________________ (Name of Nominee)

for the position of  __________________________ (Name of Position) 

_________________________________________ (Name of Nominator)

_________________________________________ (Signature of Nominator)

I accept ___________________________________(Signature of Nominee)

—Please return to the Union Office, C215b, by February 11, 2020 at 4 p.m.

In solidarity,

Nelson Ross Laguna
Staff Representative
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
Ottawa Regional Office
18447651416

As the electoral officer, I am pleased to announce the Election of Officers for OPSEU Local 415. The Steward list below are the people who are eligible to be nominated for any of the six officer positions:

President

First Vice President

Second Vice President

Chief Steward

Treasurer

Secretary

Nominations are open until Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 4 p.m. A nomination form appears below:

Ala’ Qadi, Angela Rintoul, Annette Bouzi, Bill Roberts, Carmen Hust, Carolyn Côté, Carolyn MacIsaac, Chinedu Mba, Colette Garvin, Dan Anderson, David Haley, Don Moen, Elizabeth Von Moos, Enrico Defrancesco, Howard Kravitz, Jérôme Mizon, John Cloutier, John Cochrane, Jordan Berard, JP Lamarche, Judy Puritt, Ken Hill, Landyn Blais, Leslie Wyman, Lisa Roots, Louise Boudreault, Maria Taylor, Mark Stevens, Martin Lee, Michael Nauth, Pat Kennedy, Patrick Murphy, Patsy Pyke, Rebecca Wakelin, Richard Hagemeyer, Richard McParland, Saif Terai, Shawn Pentecost, Scott Fewer, Sean Edwards, Sharleen Conrad-Beatty, Sharon Lightfoot, Stephen Murphy, Steve Neumann, Tracy Henderson

Nelson Ross Laguna

OPSEU Region 4 Staff Rep

I, nominate  _______________________________ (Name of Nominator)

for the position of  __________________________ (Name of Position) 

_________________________________________ (Signature of Nominator)

I accept ___________________________________(Signature of Nominee)

Please return to the Union Office, C215b, by February 11, 2020 at 4 p.m.