Dear colleagues,
We know you are moving mountains to serve your students in these difficult times and we want to ensure you that your union is also working hard behind the scenes to protect your interests. There are a great many issues that have surfaced since Ontario colleges were forced to close and we would like to share the following information and updates on behalf of your Local 354 committee, OPSEU’s College Faculty Divisional Executive (CAAT-A DivEx) and OPSEU’s central leadership as they work with the College Employer Council (CEC).
Family accommodations
Colleges have been instructed by the CEC to accommodate family accommodation requests, especially if members have very young children. If any faculty are getting pushback from their managers, they should alert Human Resources.
Retirement incentives
At this time, we are told Durham College is not considering a new retirement incentive program, although three other colleges across the province are doing so.
EERC SUMMARY
The DivEx met with representatives of the CEC and Employee/Employer Relations Committee (EERC) today dealing only with COVID-19 issues. The following items were discussed:
Health & Safety
DivEx and OPSEU central is addressing the need for union representation on the Emergency Operations Committee, representing all 24 colleges in the province. The CEC does not believe union representation is required on the committee and stated that it was sufficient to have Health and Safety Committees (which include local union representation) providing input to the pandemic committees.
Spring / Summer term
Spring SWFs and memos have been issued. If you do not agree to the spring SWF reach out to your supervisor to discuss and reach mutual agreement of the workload. If you can not reach mutual agreement with your supervisor, you can elect to send your SWF to Workplace Monitoring Group WMG). The Collective Agreement only provides five days for you to review and sign back your SWF.
It is important to note that these are atypical working conditions and not business as usual, so we hope faculty and supervisors can determine reasonable workloads during this spring semester.
Fall term
Fall contingency plans are beginning explored for alternative format learning for fall face-to-face classes due to the uncertainty of when social (physical) distancing measures will be lifted. The CEC indicated to DivEx that decisions regarding the fall term will be based on an ongoing analysis of enrolment and health updates. The goals is that all full-time faculty will have SWFs that accurately reflect the work they will actually be doing, including the work of teaching in a new distance modality.
International Students update from Divex
Colleges Ontario, who are responsible for lobbying on behalf of the colleges, are currently engaging the federal government with regards to international students, as their tuition fees greatly impact the budgets of many colleges. They are currently seeking shorter-term exemptions as it relates to the applicability of online learning to post-graduation work permits – an extremely important factor that affects international student enrolment. Colleges Ontario has received commitments from the province to allow remote delivery to international students without impacting their study and work permits, especially those who have already paid tuition. This applies to the current situation, but is still under consideration for new and ongoing applicants. We have also seen a rise in potentially unscrupulous marketing to international students by the private partnership colleges.
Durham College has deferred the spring enrolment but there has been no update for fall enrolment at this time.
Layoffs ( DivEx )
CEC says that colleges are not considering faculty layoffs at the moment, and in fact, say faculty are very much needed to engage in the important work that needs to be done. However, the CEC is not willing to make further commitments, alluding again to the need for ongoing analysis of student enrolment.
At Durham College, Vice President of Academic Elaine Popp has also stated that layoffs of FT faculty are not being considered at this time.
Apprenticeships
The colleges’ discussions with the ministry are continuing and we are watching this very closely. Most colleges are looking to postpone new intakes for their programs and are trying to find creative ways to deliver remotely to students who are close to finishing their programs. Those who are far from program completion have been suspended. There was discussion that colleges anticipate completing some face-to-face instruction once restrictions have been lifted.
A Voice in What Matters – Divex
DivEx continues to stress the urgent need for more formal terms of shared governance between the colleges and faculty so that we can become full and equal members included in the academic decision-making process.
In solidarity,
Local 354
[MOU1]What does this mean? Referred. Deferred?