Dear colleagues,
We hope you remain in good health and in good spirits. This continues to be our priority.
In such circumstances as we are facing at the moment, it is easy to fall prey to pressures and self-doubt. We would like to remind everyone that we all should focus on finding solutions for our students that correspond to our individual skills and dispositions. No one should feel it necessary to adopt a certain tool or method or approach. Professional autonomy continues to apply.
The college has generally been collaborative and understanding of the extraordinary load teachers have to bear at the moment. We will continue to work with them in proposing adaptations and recommendations that maintain our autonomy.
Also, in a letter (see attached) sent by the Minister of Education, on April 1st, to college and university administrators, the Minister asked administrators to suspend, until further notice, the practice of allowing employees access to colleges or universities for the purposes of collecting materials.
The main priorities must be our own health and safety as well as the well being of our students.
The VCTA remains here, as always, to defend your rights.
“Nobody signed up for this”
We can all use a few words of inspiration in these troubling times. Attached is a document written by Brandon L. Bayne of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He sent this to his students as they cope with the covid-19 pandemic and they have to switch to on-line courses.
“We will foster intellectual nourishment, social connection and personal accommodations.”
Negotiation News
As the unions are not united, each labour organization centrale tries to negotiate clauses suited to its needs. The CSN proposes to suspend the 18-month negotiations (see the attached info document from the CSN), but calls for a series of bonuses, including annual salary adjustments of 2.2% for 2020 and 2021 for all employees of the public sector in health and education, as well as in government organizations.
For the sectoral table, the FNEEQ is advocating a suspension of the negotiations for the same period, or less if the parties agree to return to the table earlier.
Teacher Excellence Award
There is a movement to nominate the entire teaching body at Vanier for rising to the occasion under these extenuating circumstances – many of you without even missing a beat.
In the context of covid-19, forms and supporting documents must be submitted electronically to:
academicdean@vaniercollege.qc.ca
Nomination forms are due by Thursday, April 9, 2020.
IPESA Consultation
Many teachers have expressed concerns about the consultation for the revision of the IPESA. The VCTA Executive has discussed this with the administration, and we have been heard.
On Friday, April 3rd, Academic Council adopted a recommendation to adjust the revision process and deadlines. In broad strokes, according to this revised timeline, consultation will be extended until September, the revised IPESA would be presented to the Board of Directors in November, and the new IPESA would be implemented in January 2021.
The new timeline needs to be presented by the college to the CEEC. But we know the administration is supportive of this measure.
Adjustments to Professional Development
Exceptionally, we have decided to extend an automatic roll-over of the 2019-2020 funds to any full time teacher who has not applied for any funds this year. There will be no need for a specific form requesting a roll-over.
Of course, this will continue to follow the policy, and only allow the funding of a single conference. You will need to specify on the application form submitted for a conference next year that you wish to combine the funds from 2019-2020.
If you have applied for an activity that has been approved, and has since been cancelled, you simply need to not file an expense report, and your available funds for this year will not be affected.
La Capitale services
La Capitale encourage you to use the Client Centre to access your file (ID info on your client card) and carry out certain transactions or to call their staff in one of their business areas, at the numbers provided here: Contact us.
In addition, to spare you a longer than normal call wait time, they invite you to consult their FAQ for any question concerning the COVID-19 virus. There, you will find answers to the most commonly asked questions. Their FAQ is updated on a daily basis.
Reminders
All non-tenured teachers should complete their GOS before the end of April.
Any request for leaves should be filed before April 15th.
Stay safe.