From the President’s Desk

David Wildman

Usually in the September Newsletter, I wel-

come all members back to the new school year. In the au-

tumn OCEOTA members fall into 2 distinct groups. Those

who have changed their status to part-time contract and/or

have LTO assignments are excited about getting to know

their students and plan for the year. Daily OTs, on the other

hand, know that assignments will be scarce for the first few

weeks. Many continue in their summer jobs or take weekend

employment. Others continue with EI benefits to supplement

their meager OT earnings.

This year daily OT work is even more scarce due to the WTR boycott on PD. Many members report that they have

worked only one or two days in all of September. We know

that won’t pay the bills and members will be looking for oth-

er sources of income. If that makes a high number of OTs

unavailable full-time, it could mean unfilled assignments when

the WTR ends and flu season arrives. Traditionally, the

Board has addressed unfilled assignments by adding more

OTs and that sets the lack of sufficient income for OTs in

motion again. Collective bargaining is essential if OTs are go-

ing to have reasonable working conditions and fair access to

work.

The current WTR, that does not affect student learning, is

the best strategy to force the government and OPSBA back

to the table. That, along with our charge of bad faith bargain-

ing, has brought OPSBA and the Ministry back to the table. I

am hopeful that when you are reading this that we will al-

ready have heard that progress is being made.

EasyConnect has had a number of changes. We want to sur-

vey members to review the positive and negative results of

that and address issues with HR. Unfortunately the WTR is

making a review difficult at this time. We will meet with HR

on October 21 to raise a number of member issues and

hopefully find solutions. We are now seeking further dates to

resume local bargaining.

The Fall General Meeting is Thursday, October 22 at the

Confederation Education Centre at Woodroffe and Hunt

Club. We will have a by-election to fill a vacancy on the

OCEOTA Executive. I hope you will all be there to partici-

pate in the business of the local and to participate in that

election.

Ottawa Carleton Elementary

Occasional Teachers' Association 117-9 Antares Drive, Nepean, ON K2E 7V5

Phone: 613-221-9135 Fax: 613-221-9137

ETFO Protective Services 1-888-838-3836

www.oceota.com

October

2015

Volume 12

No. 1 OT NEWSLETTER

Future Events October 22 Fall General Meeting - Confed EC Library October 27 PL: Classroom Assessment Confed EC Rm 122 Nov 3 & 5 LTO List Interviews November 20 PA Day Dec 21 - Jan 1 Winter Break January 22 PA Day January 22 PL: OCEOTA Conference Day Confed EC February 3 OCEOTA General Meeting Confed EC Rm 136 February 12 PA Day February 15 Family Day Mar 14 - 18 March Break March 25 Good Friday March 28 Easter Monday

2015 - 2016 OCEOTA Executive

David Wildman, President

Pat Dixon, Vice-President

Krissy Mayer-Craigie, Secretary

Anik Mackey, Treasurer

Members-at-Large: Jen Neill, Cathy Reid

Executive Assistant: Katharine Fitzpatrick

OT Newsletters are mailed to you in Sept/Oct and April.

All other issues are posted on the OCEOTA GEM Conference, staffroom bulletin boards and our

website, www.oceota.com

Collective Bargaining Update

ETFO President Sam Hammond has been quoted in the

media saying that we have been without a collective

agreement since Aug 31, 2014. It is important to note

that we are not working under a freely negotiated collec-

tive agreement. In 2012, this government imposed Bill

115 denying us the right to bargaining and imposed a

new contract. Therefore, we have not been able to bar-

gain improvements to OCEOTA working conditions

since 2012 when our 2008 collective agreement expired.

That is why it is important to exercise our collective

power in bargaining to make gains now.

Every OCEOTA member should have fair access to the

amount of work they want or need. You should not have

to hold another job or be on an OT Roster in another

Board in order to survive financially. That means we

need EasyConnect language in the collective agreement

and a capped list. The Board continues to be one of the

few boards in the province which offers daily OTs small

percentage jobs. I understand why financially strapped

members might accept a 0.2 job but I think offering any-

thing less than 0.5 is insulting and certainly does not take

into account your well being or respect your profession-

al qualifications. More and more members are deciding

that they will not accept very small assignments. Perhaps

if these go unfilled, principals will begin to post better

assignments. This of course, would be something we

should address in bargaining along with the other issues

members approved when they ratified our preliminary

submission.

We are currently looking for more local bargaining dates

with the OCDSB.

EasyConnect Members should review the EasyCon-

nect OT Handbook posted in the

Board’s HR Occasional Teaching Con-

ference.

Each member should have emailed otlist@ocdsb.ca to

indicate 7 or 8 schools where they would like to teach.

When your current LTO assignment is coming to an end,

you should update your list of preferred schools. The

Board will assign you to 6 schools where you will be on

the first call list for assignments you are qualified to teach.

You should update ATE to show the assignments that

you are willing to teach. You will be on the second call

list, if you are not qualified but have indicated your will-

ingness to teach those assignments.

The next step is for us to review with the Board the

qualifications they have set up for each assignment and to

have the number of OTs assigned to each school dis-

played on ATE.

Teachers and LTOs are now entering their own absences

in ATE. This should be done as early as possible so calls

will start at 5:00 pm.

Jobs go on the Job Board at 7:00 pm the night before the

next day assignment. I am hoping that by 7:00 pm the job

will have been accepted by someone on the call list and

that very few jobs will appear on the Job Board. If a job is

not posted until after 7:00 pm the night before the job,

the call, offering you the job may be interrupted when

another member accepts the job from the job board. We would like the Job Board postings to appear after calling

stops at 9:30 pm.

Communications Don’t forget to register with oceota.com

if you have not done so already (check it

regularly as this is a great way for you to

stay informed).

Remember to check your GEM mail as well as the

OCEOTA Conference Folder and the HR Elemen-

tary OT Folder found in GEM Groups.

Have you been receiving the ETFO Central Table Bulletins at your home address? If not, please cor-

rect your address on ATE. OCEOTA uses ATE’s in-

formation for mailing bulletins and newsletters.

Hiring/Staffing

When assigned by EasyConnect and that

absence stretches to the 10th day, the

Principal will notify HR that you are now

on a LTO. You will receive a retro-active top up to grid

rate for the first 10 days. Always confirm this on day 10.

If the assignment is only going to last two to three weeks

longer, it will not be posted. You will continue as the

LTO. If the assignment is posted, you should apply. If you

are one of the 5 most senior qualified applicants and are

on the LTO List, you will remain in the assignment. If you

are qualified but not on the LTO List, and you apply, you

should be asked to continue, if there are no LTO List ap-

plicants. Call OCEOTA if this does not happen.

Health & Safety

The health and safety of members is one

of your Union’s priorities. To that end, it

is extremely important that you complete the fol-

lowing H&S forms when there is an incident. You

do not need P/VP approval to do so. We recom-

mend that you not only submit it to the depart-

ments indicated on the forms but also to your Un-

ion by fax at 613-221-9135 or email

vpres@oceota.com. To access the forms, go to

www.oceota.com —> Occupational H&S.

It is a good idea to copy the forms and keep them in

your OT bag. In the event that you need one, it is

ready and waiting for you. Pat Dixon, VP

Professional Learning Opportunities:

We have had a busy Fall. We have run the Defensive

Teaching Workshop on September 21, 2015, and a

Growing Success Workshop on Assessment is slated for

October 27, 2015 at Confederation EC. Now we are in

the midst of planning the Professional Learning Confer-

ence for January 22, 2016.

As your new PL Chair, I have had the exciting oppor-

tunity to attend Leadership training in September where

I participated in the PL Chair workshop. It was great to

share ideas and experiences with other Chairs, new and

practised. In these unsettled times, it is so great to work

with such an energetic, supportive group of people.

As you are aware we are in a Work to Rule situation.

This has affected our ability to conduct some PL work-

shops. We continue to persevere and plan for the fu-

ture in order to provide relevant, assistive and interest-

ing workshops for our members. Involvement with our

members is important and appreciated. We encourage

suggestions for workshops and welcome volunteers to

help with set up, registration etc.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible this

year. Cathy Reid PL Chair

WWOS

Since April, I have been volunteer-

ing on the organizing committee

with Walking With Our Sis-

ters Ottawa, a grassroots initia-

tive that brings communities together to honour

the lives of missing and murdered women, girls and

two-spirited people. Ottawa is the 13th community

to host the memorial in its 3rd year of 7 years it will

travel across Canada.

All stages of the installation are ceremony. Proto-

cols from the national organization and local com-

munity are followed. Ottawa is traditional unceded

Algonquin territory as well as the city of a diverse

population of First Nations, Metis, Inuit and global

people. The purpose of the ceremonies and proto-

cols is to provide a safe place for the families of

missing or murdered women, girls or two-spirited people to have a voice and for the community to

come together, heal, and support the families. The

Carleton University Art Gallery has been trans-

formed into a grandmother’s lodge: it is a quiet

space, one must remove your shoes, not touch the

vamps, and photos are not allowed – it is all about

showing respect. The neat rows of vamps (the top

part of a moccasin) represent the unfinished lives of

missing or murdered indigenous sisters. There is a

group of tiny vamps created by the families of the

children that did not return from residential school.

These baby vamps are not in neat lines but stand

where they please - an act of resistance on their

part for having to line up at residential school.

Please visit thttp://walkingwithoursisters.ca/ for

more information. Joan Hill-Keast

OCEOTA Executive Orientation

Today, I reflect upon how lucky I am to

be a member of OCEOTA. Membership

has offered me many opportunities: to

try new things, learn so much, and feel a part of the

greater good. It has helped me realize the importance

of community and giving back, so I got involved. In Au-

gust, I went to Toronto as part of the OCEOTA delega-tion to the ETFO Annual Meeting. As a result, I was in-

vited to attend the OCEOTA Executive training session

in September. It was two days of learning; two days of

growth. We had facilitators from ETFO, who lead us

through team-building activities. We chatted; we

shared. We learned a lot! Day 2 was planning. We

worked together to plan events...a year of activities to

teach, to entertain, to reach out to our community. I

came away with a greater understanding of all that OCE-

OTA does for us, of how hard our Executive works for

us, and most importantly I came away with colleagues

who were becoming my friends. Kim Bernier

OTIP, Ontario

Teachers’ Insur-

ance Plan, has

partnered with

OCEOTA to offer

members an opportunity to ex-

plore the home and auto insurance

options available from OTIP. OTIP

is a “broker” meaning that they

work with several insurance com-

panies to offer members choice and

professional, unbiased advice. Your

personal information has not be

shared with OTIP.

Wynne Wednesdays

A huge “Thank you!” to all OTs

who have been participating in

Wynne Wednesdays. We certainly

recognize that this is another time

when daily OTs are missing work,

yet they continue to support our

ETFO WTR. Many of you have tak-

en part in “Information Pickets”

outside of schools, worn your black

t-shirts and ETFO buttons, and

complied with the WTR sanctions.

On Wednesday, October 7, OTs

and contract teachers gathered at

The Big Rig in the west end to chat,

commiserate, and support one an-

other. Delicious nibblies were pro-

vided by OCEOTA. Our youngest

attendee was Michelle Hogan’s little

4 month old darlin’.

Congratulations to the winners of

the $25.00 gas gift certificates.

Daily OT Category

Brenda Dickie

Anna Hijazi

Rachael Hodgson

Sara Laplante

LTO & Contract Teachers

Susane Keyworth

Work To Rule

Please check www.oceota.com for information about

the reporting guidelines for the 2015-2016 school

year.

Q: How is OT pay calculated?

A: OTs are paid for the 300 instructional minutes but

are not paid for nutrition breaks and recess. If you are at

a school for a partial day assignment, calculate the num-

ber of minutes from your start time to your end time

and subtract any nutrition or recess breaks. Divide that

number by 300 and multiply by 100 = an assignment of X%. Example:

120/300 X 100 = 40%

Check to ensure the start and end times were correct. The teacher

must not be absent during the part of the day not included in your as-

signment. If that is the case, call your Union to have the pay corrected.

Check your pay stub on the Wednesday of a pay week.

Fall General Meeting

Thursday, October 22, 2015

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Confederation EC Library

* Elect an Executive Member at Large

* Approve our 2015/16 Budget

* Receive the 2014/15 Financial Report

* Receive ETFO Materials

* Ask questions and be informed

RSVP to katharine.fitzpatrick@ocdsb.ca before October 19, 2015

As union members, it is our responsibility to attend General Meetings, vote on necessary items, and become aware of on-going issues. In order to effect change from current practice, members need to approve or amend OCEOTA business motions. This is your opportunity to be heard and to

listen to the opinions of other members. The Q & A will help you to understand the mood of the members, learn what issues are important to most members and understand why current practice

came into effect. You can speak up to ask questions or to influence the direction of your Federa-

tion.

We encourage all members to please take time from your very busy

schedules to attend the Fall General Meeting

A light dinner will be available commencing at 4:30 pm.

This is an excellent opportunity to network with old friends and meet new ones!