As you are aware, the best 60 month period in the CAAT Pension Plan will be used to calculate your lifetime pension.

In order to maximize your lifetime pension, retiring at the end of June would allow you to receive a lump sum payment in lieu of vacation during July/August and to permit you to elect to have it included in pensionable earnings and make pension contributions on such amount. This would maximize both your lifetime pension and payout from the college. Your pension cheque would be paid out on the first of the month, July 1.

Conversely, if you have already taken your vacation during May/June, you would not be in a position to maximize either your lifetime pension or your payout upon retirement that year.

Remember that your only obligation under the Collective Agreement when retiring is to give the college at least 90 calendar days’ written notice; however, there have been several instances where some retiring members gave less than 90 days notice and still received their first CAAT Pension payment on time.

We have also included the member handbook that highlights the CAAT Pension Plan.

David Haley, 1st VP Local 415
CAAT Pension Plan Trustee

Pat Kennedy, President Local 415
CAAT Pension Plan Sponsor

One of the major gains from the last round of bargaining is the Partial Load Registry that serves to prioritize the hiring of Partial Load employees who have registered their interest in being employed as a partial load employee in the following calendar year.

Registration for the 2020 Partial Load Registry opened in January 2019 and remains open until the October 30^th cut off.  As per the collective agreement article 26.10 D “By October 30^th in each calendar year, a currently or previously employed partial-load employee must register their interest in being employed as a partial-load employee in the following calendar year.  This individual will be considered a registered partial-load employee for the purpose of 26.10 E”.

It is the responsibility of the PL employee to register with the college by October 30^th.  After that date the registry will be closed.

Please use the link provided to access the registration process.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding partial-load status or the registry as outlined in the collective agreement, please feel free to contact Tracy Henderson or the Faculty Union Office at Ext. 7716.

https://www.algonquincollege.com/hr/pl-emp/

Tracy Henderson

Steward, OPSEU Local 415 1^st Alternate, Divisional Executive

We’re receiving many questions about how seniority works in relation to annual leave. You are choosing when you would like to use your annual leave not which semester you would prefer to work. If you would like to use your annual leave in July/August, you need to indicate this to your manager ASAP.

Our collective agreement, and Claude Brule’s May 2019 memo, are clear that “seniority shall be given consideration in resolving conflicting vacation requests.” There is only one seniority list for full-time faculty (professors and instructors), counsellors, and librarians. There are no exceptions based on classification, or additional duties like coordination, and no reference to schools, departments or “clusters”. Your seniority only increases over time, so your opportunity to use your annual leave during your preferred time should also increase.

Agreeing to a rotation that does not conform to your preferred annual leave period is like giving up your seniority rights under the collective agreement.

We have also become aware of nearly 30 programs which are exempt from the 14 week model which seems to suggest that faculty in these areas are also exempt from rotation.

Our advice is to let your manager know each academic year what your preference is for your annual leave period. If your request is denied, please contact the union office at ext. 7716.

Pat Kennedy,

President, Local 415

We have met with a number of faculty groups that have been involved in some preliminary discussions in their departments about the 14 week semester, and summer rotation. At this time it isn’t clear that all areas will have changes to the traditional annual leave period of July/August. There also seems to be a lack of consistency about rotation schedules. Some areas are proposing 2 years, while other areas are contemplating a 3, or even 4 year rotation. At first glance, it appears that the college is using seniority when assigning teaching rotations. It’s also been reported to us that coordinators in certain areas will be treated differently, and will not be assigned the extra weeks of teaching.

Here are some questions that you should be putting to your manager before your “cluster” meetings:

1)       Are coordinators being treated differently in terms of the extra 7 week assignment?

2)       Does seniority reset every academic year for preference of annual leave?

3)       Will all faculty in your area be assigned 35 weeks of teaching?

4)       What is the proposed rotation schedule? Two years? Three years? Four years?

Once you have met to review the default model prepared by your chair, you’ll need to report back about whether you, as a group, were able to come up with your own plan, and whether you have reached a consensus. If you have any questions about the process, or require any assistance before, at, or after your meeting, please contact the union office at ext. 7716.

Pat Kennedy,

President, Local 415

October 1 marks the date that pay increases come into effect for Full-Time and Partial-Load Faculty and the local advises you to check that you are at the correct level of Compensation in Workday as follows:

After logging into Workday,

– click on Personal Information in the Applications window

– click on About Me in the View window (Your name and employment status should now appear)

– click on Compensation, which will show your Total Base Pay and your Step Level and the date you were hired

Your total Base Pay should match the Salary/Hourly Rate schedule applicable to your Step Level in the Collective Agreement (CA), which can be found in our Collective Agreement as follows:

Salary Schedules for Full-Time Professors, Counsellors and Librarians

Art 14.03 A 1 (a), page (27)

Salary Schedules for Full-Time Instructors

14.03 A 2 (c), page (29)

Post-Secondary Partial-Load Professor Hourly Rate

Art 26.04, page (51)

Non-Post-Secondary Partial-Load Professor Hourly Rate

Art 26.04, page (52)

Post-Secondary Partial-Load Instructors

Art 26.04, page (53)

Non-Post-Secondary Partial-Load Instructors

Art 26.04, page (53)

Finally, if you are not receiving the correct pay, please contact the local for assistance.

—

OPSEU Local 415 Communications Officer

We have received feedback from a number of faculty that have been involved in some preliminary discussions in their departments. It isn’t clear at this time that all areas will have changes to the traditional annual leave period of July/August. The assignment of courses varies from area to area as well. I have previously indicated that the SWF data from spring/summer semesters is not tracked at the provincial level, through CBIS. Some questions you should be putting to your manager are:

1)      Are faculty in all departments being assigned an additional 7 weeks as outlined in Claude Brule’s communication in the spring 2019?

2)      For individuals who have off cycle assignments (ex. summer/fall) will your traditional annual leave period change, and is this consistent within your department/school?

I have met with Claude Brulé with respect to problems associated with partial-load assignments or lack of assignments, but have no response at this point. We are tracking assignments to see if there are examples of not offering any partial-load work to long standing partial-load members, and checking to see if partial-load assignments exist in their previous area of work.

In addition, issues with Technical Safety Standard Authority (T.S.S.A.) have been brought to my attention. I asked Claude Brulé to indicate how the requirements would be met under the 14 week semester system, but have no response yet.

Finally, the Government just made an announcement September 23^rd about “modernizing” apprenticeship and OPSEU has requested to be on the list to be involved in the consultation. This is in line with my comments at our spring GMM about my concerns regarding potential changes by the government. Follow the link below for additional information:

https://news.ontario.ca/maesd/en/2019/09/making-it-easier-and-faster-to-work-in-the-skilled-trades.htmll

Pat Kennedy,

President, Local 415

Welcome and Congratulations on becoming Full-Time Faculty

Everyone who becomes full-time is automatically a member of the academic bargaining unit and automatically pays Union dues. What isn’t automatic is membership in the Union. That requires a formal application by each new employee. There is no additional fee for joining. More importantly, membership gives you a voice and a vote at all membership meetings and to hold office as a Union Steward.

As such, attached is a Union membership card which I ask you to complete if you are not already a member of the Union, and return to the Union office (C215b) or you can scan and email it to dbrule@locallines.org.

For faculty who are not currently members of the CAAT Pension Plan, or wish to transfer previous service from a pension plan into the CAAT Pension Plan before the next pay increase in October, please contact David Haley 1st VP, who is a CAAT Pension Plan Trustee (dhhaley.opseu415@gmail.com).

I would also like to remind you about scheduling an appointment to have your SWF and initial Salary Calculation completed if you have not already had the opportunity to do so.

Finally, if you require any further information, please drop by the Union Office C215b (Woodroffe) or contact Pat Murphy (Perth) or Shawn Pentecost (Pembroke) or call 7716. The local’s website (www.locallines.org) also contains valuable information that you may find very useful.

Best wishes for a very successful 2019 Fall semester.

Pat Kennedy, President

OPSEU Local 415

Attachment

We hope this finds you well and ready for the coming year. The Divisional Executive has been working steadily on several issues this summer, but the most pressing is the ongoing fight to protect the gains from our last round of bargaining.

As we all know, we’ve been facing a worsening crisis in post-secondary education with the election of the Ford government. His continued attacks on students and precarious faculty, while deeply unpopular, are continuing. The gains we made ensuring equal pay for equal work and paid sick days for our contract faculty have been rolled back via Bill 47, and some colleges are rescinding the modest gains that took contract faculty wages up to the rate of their partial load colleagues’ wages.

Most disturbing is that the College Employer Council (CEC) is using all means available to block the contract faculty vote to unionize from being counted, including spending impossible sums of money querying every single ballot in order to delay and stall the process. If we cannot move this organizing drive forward, our next round of bargaining becomes that much harder for FT and PL faculty.

We need your help right now to push back. If we have learned nothing else this past year, it’s that the Ford government caves to public pressure.

OPSEU, together with our allies in 15 & Fairness, has launched the following electronic petition which will be delivered to the College Employer Council, and the Presidents and Board of Governors at all the Colleges. A message will go to all members from OPSEU centrally later today.

PETITION LINK

ENGLISH:https://www.15andfairness.org/fairness_for_contract_faculty

FRENCH:  www.15andfairness.org/equite_colleges

In solidarity,

The CAAT-A DivEx 

RM, Martin, Heather, JP, Pearline