The Vanier Community Sponsored Refugee Family
Meet Ruba and Elias, 6-year-old Carla and 6-month-old Crystel who finally arrived in Montreal June 19, 2018! The wait was long, since December 2015 when several Vanier community members banded together to sponsor a Syrian refugee family.
We are very glad to welcome them here and want to acknowledge and thank the generosity of the Vanier community which has allowed their welcome, and secured them a comfortable apartment, stocked with basic necessities. Thanks to everyone who donated and we will keep you informed of their progress and needs.
The Vanier Community for Refugee Sponsorship — Maggie Kathwaroon, Maggie McDonnell, Janice Paquette, Mark Prentice, and Nancy Wargny
Teachers and Departments
We have recently acquired FNEEQ’s A Look at Departments in the electronic format of the English version! We highly recommend that all teachers but especially new teachers and coordinators familiarize themselves with the roles and responsibilities of teachers in the department and the key role departments play in the college structure.
- Please find A Look at Departments on our website, under “VCTA Documents”: http://www.thevcta.qc.ca/joints/fneeq-a-look-at-departments/
Dental Exams: positive change to insurance reimbursements
Our insurance plan allows for reimbursement of dental exams every 9 months. If you submit a request before 9 months have lapsed, it will be refused. We successfully argued at the last meeting of the working group in September that the past provision of resetting the clock to zero as of the date of the last dental exam instead of the last reimbursed dental exam was not acceptable. The good news is that as of September 25 2018, the clock will be reset to zero as of the last reimbursed dental exam.
- Should anyone have been refused on this basis in the past, please contact us and we will see what can be done to correct it retroactively.
Professional Development Leave of Absence
After your union representatives made a proposal last winter to the Administration for a fairer Leave of Absence policy that would allow for 4 days of leave of absence for professional activities per year instead of 2 days per semester, we were pleased to see the new Leave of Absence Form circulated last week by coordinators accommodates our request, providing 4 days per year for professional activities. This change will no longer penalize teachers unfairly for going to 3 or 4 day conferences during availability. Your Professional Development representatives will be working together with the Administration on revising the Leave of Absence Policy from 1992 to better suit teachers’ needs.
Declining Work Voids your GOS
As of this semester, if you want to decline workload and still want to work later in the fall or winter, the College has advised us that your GOS will be rescinded. You must then respond to the job postings in order to have your hiring priority considered. The VCTA is grieving this change in practice as per articles 5-1.10/ 5-4.16/ 5-4.17 of the Collective Agreement.
- If you or any teacher you know is in this situation, please contact us.
Limiting Workload of Non-tenured Teachers to 40-44 CI
As of next semester, College will not allow non-tenured faculty to accumulate more CI than 40-44. The VCTA is grieving as per article 5-4.16 of the Collective Agreement which stipulates that teachers are permitted up to 55 CI (0.6875 FTE).
- If you or any teacher you know is in this situation, please contact us.