How to Avoid Disciplinary Action
As we begin another academic year, it is important to know what we need to do as teachers in order to satisfy our contractual obligations! In our Collective Agreement (Article 8-4:01 -Type 1 activities), a certain number of tasks listed as “contractual obligations” detail what all regular day teachers are expected to do, from tenured teachers with lots of seniority to brand new non-tenured teachers. The most important duties we must perform as day teachers are:
- teaching our full courses, holding office hours and attending department meetings.*
As hourly paid continuing education teachers we also have contractual obligations (Article 1-2:11 and 1-2:12); notably:
- teaching our full courses, supervising, and correcting work and exams in a certain discipline.*
Although this may seem obvious, it bears repeating that, as teachers, we are expected to give all of our classes, labs and stages. This means that should students complain that you do not show up, come late or cut classes short, there could be a serious problem for the teacher since this is a violation of your contractual obligations (As a courtesy, teachers may end their class 10-15 minutes before the end of the block to facilitate timely arrival to following classes). If you are unable to give your full class, you must notify the College.
Should you find yourself called in to talk to the administration about any disciplinary matter, please know that you may have a union rep accompany you. However, if you are not upholding your contractual obligations, the administration has the right to apply disciplinary action and the union can do little but ensure that the teacher has due process and is treated fairly, according to the articles of the FNEEQ Collective Agreement. In the past, we have had incidences where teachers were found to have violated their contractual obligations and in consequence faced pay cuts, summative evaluations and even withdrawal of the hiring priority for a non-tenured teacher.
These situations hurt our profession and are painful to go through for all of us and so we urge you to avoid them. Be informed and have a good year!
* For the full list of your contractual obligations, look at Art. 8-4.01; or 1-2:11 and 1-2:12: http://www.thevcta.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/2015-2020-Convention-Collective-FNEEQ-2015-2020-EN.pdf
CRT Report
- GOS and hiring priority: The Administration clarified their position that if a teacher refuses to teach in the fall semester, then they have rescinded their GOS for the year. This means that to maintain your hiring priority in this case, you must apply to every posting for the winter semester that you want to teach.
- Continuing Education Teaching workloads: Our current Collective Agreement stipulates that the College may use resources to create teaching loads (or charges) in Cont Ed. Faculty members of CRT (Labour Relations Committee) have been trying to get information from the Vanier administration with regard to the intended use of these resources since 2016. When they announced pilot projects in the fall of 2017, these were generally not well received by teachers and with one exception, were abandoned by the College. After much discussion during the winter 2018, the VCTA General Assembly elaborated a list of demands in May in response to the College’s April proposal, and these were sent to the College. In August, the College presented the workloads that they intend to offer for the 2018-19 academic year. In General Education, one (1) workload will be offered in English and 0.9 will be offered in Humanities. Also 0.9 workload will be offered in Chemistry, 0.9 in Math, and 0.8 in Social Science. In the Early Childhood Education AEC program, three workloads will be offered and a partial load of 0.2. We were told that they chose these departments based on the courses the College knew are offered every semester. In all of the workloads that the College intends to offer, teachers will be asked to assume responsibilities beyond their teaching tasks.
- Teachers who are offered these workloads are advised to inquire as to what will be expected of them and to obtain such information in writing.
- As the VCTA Executive has not been officially informed who will be offered the workloads, it is up to these teachers to contact the VCTA Executive if you have questions or concerns.
VCTA Website Rollout
The new site is up! We welcome your comments on the new site and will be improving it throughout the year. Thanks again to Vanier grads, Michaela Eftene and Brandon Aspromonte (Office Systems Technology), and professor Hugo Casanova for their great work.
- Check out the new VCTA website: www.thevcta.qc.ca
| The VCTA – Vanier College Teachers Association | Vanier …
Welcome Back Happy Hour We hope you all had a wonderful summer and we wish you an excellent semester. Kick off the semester by celebrating with your colleagues over a summer dinner while raising a glass of your choice. |
New Investments
We are investing better! Last June, The VCTA Executive, with the approval of Association Council, re-invested our strike fund in a socially-responsible investment group called “la Caisse d’economie solidaire.” They support social causes, union and cooperative business, consult citizens on direction for responsible investment, contribute to the development of a movement of solidarity and socially responsible finance and do not invest in petroleum nor arms industries. What’s more, the rate, at 2.5 %, is higher than our previous rate.
- For more information on their company, please consult: www.caissesolidare.coop
La Capitale Insurance: naturopath exclusions
Nutritionist care and footcare given by a naturopath will not be reimbursed by La Capitale.
- Please see the attached document for more details.