Mental Health Training this Spring
By this point professors have received an email from their respective schools indicating that training is available through the college in mental health this spring. Importantly, this training is not mandatory and should not be placed on your spring swf or spring memo without mutual agreement between the professor and his/her dean. If you are not available on the dates set for the mental health training in your school or if you do not agree to attend the training, you do not have to agree to have it placed on your swf or spring memo.
Anyone who did not first have a discussion with his/her dean and mutual agreement about the training before the issuance of his/her swf or spring memo can sign the swf or spring memo to WMG indicating that there is disagreement over the training. The union members on WMG are fully committed to ensuring that article 11 is properly applied to workload assignments.
If you are teaching this spring and will therefore have a swf and you agree to the training, you must be issued a new swf for the week that the training falls within. The training must be placed on the swf under “complementary” time on an hour for hour basis. Therefore, if the training will be 6.5 hours per day your swf for that week will show a total of 13 hours for mental health training. If this puts a professor into overtime (over 44 hours and up to 47) for that week, the professor must be paid overtime.
Here are the relevant articles of our Collective Agreement:
For swfs:
Article 11.02 A 1 (a) – Prior to the establishment of a total workload for any teacher the supervisor shall discuss the propose workload with the teacher and complete the swf. (emphasis added)
Article 11.01 A 2 – The swf shall include all details for the total workload including teaching contact hours, accumulated contact days, accumulated teaching contact hours, number of sections, type and number of preparations, type of evaluation/feedback required by the curriculum, class size, attributed hours, contact days, language of instruction and complementary functions. (emphasis added)
Article 11.01 I – Teaching contact hours for a teacher in post-secondary programs shall not exceed 18 in any week. Teaching contact hours for a teacher not in post-secondary programs shall not exceed 20 in any week.
Article 11.01 J 1 – Notwithstanding the above, overtime worked by a teacher shall not exceed one teaching contact hour in any one week or three total workload hours in any one week and shall be voluntary.
Article 11.01 J 2 – Such teaching contact hour agreed to in excess of the respective weekly teaching contact hour maximum shall be compensated at the rate of 0.1% of annual regular salary. Such workload hours agreed to in excess of the 44 hour weekly workload maximum shall be compensated at the rate of 0.1% of annual regular salary.
For Spring Memos:
Article 11.08 – In keeping with the professional responsibility of the teacher, non-teaching periods are used for activities initiated by the teacher and by the college as part of the parties’ mutual commitment to professionalism, the quality of education and professional development. Such activities will be undertaken by mutual consent and agreement will not be unreasonably withheld. (emphasis added)
Please contact your union representatives if you have any questions or concerns about the foregoing.