Reminder: March Tomorrow
There will be Quebec-wide demonstrations on Saturday, November 14th to support public-sector negotiations. The demonstration in Montreal will start at 1 p.m. at the Place des Festivals. Please consider joining, with friends and family and share the event on your social media accounts. You can indicate your participation and share the event at the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/688307562090945.
It’s a rendez-vous for all FNEEQ militants at the corner of Jeanne-Mance Street and Président-Kennedy Avenue (in front of UQAM). We are looking forward to seeing you on the streets, and to march together under the Profs en Négo banner!
Meeting with Administrators
The VCTA Executive met with the senior administration, the Director General, the Academic Dean, and the Director of Human Resources Services, on Tuesday, November 10th. During this meeting, the VCTA Executive supported a proposal we made earlier (see News Bulletin #3-2020-2021, Oct 9) to inject Covid resources being given to the College directly into in-class teaching so as to lighten teachers’ workloads. The Vanier administration discussed other options for the use of these resources, including hiring students and categories of employment other than teachers. It is interesting to note that, after the announcement yesterday of additional resources being given to colleges to deal with the pandemic, the student federation, FECQ (Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec, argues that the workload of teachers should be decreased through the injection of these resources. The VCTA Executive reiterated that these resources were earmarked for teaching and should be used to help teachers cope with conditions imposed upon them by the pandemic. The Vanier administration made no commitment but asked the VCTA Executive for a more detailed proposal. The VCTA Executive also sent, shortly before the meeting, a declaration from FNEEQ (see attached), insisting that necessary funds be made available for our negotiation demands, particularly those relating to Continuing Education.
Occupation of the Treasury Board
On the morning of November 9th, 2020, VCTA President, Eric Durling, was among demonstrators from various CSN unions who supported their colleagues occupying the office of the Treasury Board in Montreal. This action was intended to draw attention to the fact that the Treasury Board has yet to inject the sums necessary to allow negotiations to progress.https://www.csn.qc.ca/#vimeo-grid-1-1
ZOOMbies came out in support of additional resources for COVID-19 times
On October 30th, we took part, with hundreds of FNEEQ teachers, in a Quebec-wide ZOOMbies coming-out. We demonstrated our support to our representatives requesting additional resources for Covid times in front of the offices of the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur (MES) in Montréal.
Vanier ZOOMbies! From the left: Karen White, Daniel Gosselin, Jacques Mainville, and Sandi Mak.
Meeting with Christine St-Pierre
On Friday, October 30th, members of the executives of Cégep St-Laurent and Vanier met with our MNA for the Acadie riding Christine St-Pierre. Her title of Official Opposition Critic for Higher Education puts her in a particularly appropriate situation to defend our positions regarding decisions of the government. We had the opportunity to make her aware of our disappointment with the government’s response to the working conditions of our teachers in the context of Covid-19 and to present to her our main priorities for the current public sector negotiations.
We also spoke to her about the working conditions of all teachers in light of the pandemic. Both of our delegations expressed to Mme St. Pierre that the Covid resources that the government has given to colleges near the beginning of this semester were too little and too late to provide relief to teachers, who have had to adapt their teaching methods and deal with various challenges that have made their jobs much more difficult. We emphasized the fact that, once again, our non-tenured teachers, including those who teach in Continuing Education, were the most vulnerable and could have very little time to adapt and prepare courses before having to teach them. Although she seemed aware of many of the problems that teachers are facing at the moment, we were also able to share with her specific examples, and propose some concrete solutions.
After evoking the working conditions of our precarious members in the context of the pandemic, we informed her that improving their working conditions was one of our priorities for this round of negotiations. Among other things, she seemed surprised to discover that, as well as being paid hourly, teachers in continuing education are not paid for the support they give their students outside of class.
Mme St-Pierre wanted to talk to us about academic freedom in light of recent events. This is a topic we also wanted to discuss with her, as it is one of the priorities we at Vanier and St-Laurent have identified for the negotiations as a concern that predates current events. She assured us that she understands the importance of professional autonomy, and that she will continue to support academic freedom, as she told us she has been doing, at the National Assembly.
This was one of the collaborative activities we are organizing with our colleagues from Cégep St-Laurent. We will continue to join our forces with theirs throughout the negotiations. We believe that the meeting gave us a chance to open the door for future meetings with Mme St-Pierre, who invited us to keep the lines of communication open.
A screenshot of our meeting. Clockwise, starting from top-left: Mme St-Pierre’s attaché politique Martin Fecteau, Mme Christine St-Pierre, Mme St-Pierre’s researcher Karl Filion, Eric Durling of Vanier, Nicolas Talbot of St-Laurent, Jean-François Plando of St-Laurent, Hugo L. Casanova of Vanier, and Dimitri Zuchowski of St-Laurent.
Thursday T-Shirts
Teachers are asked to wear their CSN t-shirts every Thursday. If you do not have one, please contact the VCTA to arrange a time to pick one up.
Teaching in the time of Covid
FNEEQ is asking teachers, who are willing, to send their local union executives e-mails in which they describe the stress and distress they are experiencing as they try to do their jobs during the pandemic. These e-mails could then be forwarded to the minister and the VCTA Executive could also begin to constitute a file of testimonials, in French and English, that we could send to the Vanier administration as we continue to ask that class sizes be reduced for the winter, 2021 semester. You will find attached templates of the emails.
Reminder: Insurance
You can make changes to your insurance coverage during the month of November. Contact HR directly. Attached are the English and French versions of the Info letter regarding changes to our insurance plans with La Capitale. This document also provides a link to travel and cancelation insurance in Covid-19 times.
PD Forms at the Print Shop
To facilitate access to PD application and expense report forms, we have left a stack of forms in the print shop which is accessible any time with your access card. The forms are in the rack next to the colour printer. Please only take the forms you need to leave some forms for others. Let us know if the pile is getting thin, we will add more.
Becoming a VCTA Member
Remember that only members of the VCTA can vote in elections. It is now possible to become a VCTA member electronically. To do so, please send an email to vcta@vaniercollege.qc.ca including the necessary information: your full name, mailing address, telephone number, email address, and department. And you can arrange the electronic transfer of the $2 membership fee by email to vcta@vaniercollege.qc.ca. You can then pick up your card from the VCTA office any time afterward.
Upcoming meetings
CRT – 19 November – 14h00 – Teams
Academic Council – 20 November – 13h00 – Zoom
Association Council – 26 November – 13h30 – Zoom
