Demonstration Against Bill 96 – Saturday, 14 May, 10h00
A demonstration against Bill 96 will take place tomorrow. The march will start from Dawson College (3040 rue Sherbrooke O.) and finish in front of the Premier’s office on McGill College.
If you are interested in joining us tomorrow, teachers from Vanier College will be meeting at the corner of Atwater and Sherbrooke at 10:00 am.
We hope to see you there!
Union Stewards|
Following a recommendation from the negotiation post-mortem sub-committee of Association Council, in order to facilitate the transmission of information in the context of negotiations, we suggest that each department name a point person (a union steward), who will become the VCTA’s contact between General Assemblies.
This person will share information from the executive with their department and will report back to the executive. Coordinators are a natural option for this task, but it could be another member of the department considering that coordinators already have many responsibilities. We believe that the naming of union stewards will greatly improve the flow of communication between the executive and the members on union matters, especially during negos. Let us know who your steward will be, and we will contact them.
51st VCTA Anniversary
We missed the ball on the 50th anniversary of the formation of our union this year. However, hold on to your hats! We intend to celebrate the VCTA’s 51st anniversary next year with, hopefully, considerable pomp! It’s going to be fabulous. (Okay, let’s not get carried away…) In any case, until then, we would like to ask you to send us photos, drawings, testimonials, stories, anecdotes, old documents, and any other piece of VCTA paraphernalia you may be holding on to, or memories you’d like to share. Please also ask retired colleagues with whom you maintain contact to pitch in. Of course, the Exec members are going to dig through our archives as well. We are not yet sure what exactly we will do with all this material – perhaps a souvenir booklet or a video? – but we will put something together. We also plan to organize social activities in line with the anniversary of course. Yeah, 50 years is great, but 51 is going to be even better! Solidarity!
Échec à la guerre
With wars in Ukraine & Yemen and the increase in armament worldwide and the increased risk of nuclear war looming it has become especially important to know what is happening on the world stage and get involved.
You are invited to become a member to Echec à la guerre collective: https://echecalaguerre.org/devenir-membre/ .
This link is a presentation of the Collectif ZÉchec à la guerre (2.5min). https://youtu.be/w6MAalgAM00
Strength in numbers
As you know, the VCTA is part of public sector organized labour in Quebec, and its near and more distant partners are shown in the diagram below. Our most immediate contributions and interactions are with the Regroupement Cegep which meets as a group about once a month. Hugo and Hakim are our representatives to that body for 2022-23. We carry motions from our GA to the Regroupement, and motions adopted at Regroupement call on us to contribute to the collective actions.
The federation of regroupements (privé, université, and cégep) is the next level up: the FNEEQ (Fédération des enseignants et enseignantes du Québec). The Fédération (not to be confused with the Fédération des cégeps which is the employer’s fédé) has a bureau that meets once a month to ensure communication and synergy between the three regroupements, and to prepare common motions that will be presented at regroupement meetings. Our representative to the Bureau for 2022-23 is Nicolas Talbot, a colleague and neighbour from the Syndicat des enseignant-e-s du cégep Saint-Laurent. The FNEEQ holds two ordinary conseils fédéraux per year, and all members of the VCTA executive have a vote at the conseil. The last conseil took place a week ago in Sherbrooke and two non-voting delegates (called fraternels) attended from Vanier: Katie Rose and Alyson Jones.
The FNEEQ is part of a bigger organization, a centrale syndicale: the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) which includes other fédérations and unions. For example, Sheree is unionized under the Fédération professionnelle (FP), another CSN fédération. Additionally, to this hierarchical structure, there is a local militant structure within CSN which welcomes all unions of Montréal and Northern Quebec: le Conseil Central du Montréal Métropolitain. The CCMM has general assemblies about once a month as well. For 2022-23, Hakim, as VP External, will represent the VCTA at these assemblies. The CCMM is supportive of all unions in difficulty. (The VCTA is one with its longstanding conflict on union release.) The CCMM provided us with strike pay, and covered the cost of animation, food and other logistics during our last strike in spring 2021. The CCMM is also notable in its involvement in the so-called second front, pursuing social justice issues.
The first graphic below represents the relative location of the VCTA within the structure of the CSN. And the other shows the relative size, to scale, of membership in the different organizational levels.
The place of the VCTA within the structure of the CSN
The size of the VCTA relative to its affiliated organizations
Professional Development
Request for Rollover
The deadline to request a rollover of this year’s PD Funds to next year is June 1, 2022.
A rollover combines two years’ worth of PD funds (up to $1600) so that it can be used to defray the costs of attending or participating in a conference. Please note that you can only apply for a rollover if and only if you have not used any of your PD funds from this year.
If you would like to request a rollover, you can do so by filling out the Application Form at: https://www.thevcta.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/VCTA-PD-Application.pdf
Expense Forms – Electronic Forms Only
Starting on July 1, 2022 the College will no longer accept Professional Development Expense Reports on paper. The decision was made to go green and to reduce the College’s carbon footprint. You can find the e-version of the PD Expense Form here: https://www.thevcta.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/VCTA-PD-Expense-Report.pdf
Since the Expense Form requires an electronic signature from the person requesting the reimbursement, please be advised that software which enables e-signing will be needed to complete the form. If you need any assistance with filling out or submitting an electronic version of your Expense Report, send us an email at vcta@vaniercollege.qc.ca and we will be happy to help.
Petition for the SPCA
Pets and animals have been a great source of comfort and joy for many people – especially during the pandemic. Yet, each year, people are forced to surrender their pets to animal shelters or abandon them in order to secure affordable housing which often ban pets from the building.
Back in April, the SPCA launched a petition to make it illegal for landlords to ban your pets and calls on the provincial government to abolish no-pet clauses in residential leases.
To date, the petition has 27 092 signatures and the deadline to sign the petition is June 6, 2022. If you would like more information and sign the petition, you can do so here:
https://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/exprimez-votre-opinion/petition/Petition-9575/index.html
Possible Social Strike for the Climate Around September 23rd
We are hearing of the possible organization of a climate social strike in the fall. This event should be similar to the Global Climate Strike of September, 2019, when Greta Thunberg visited Montréal. Detailed information about the event remains lacking, but we wanted to give you a heads up.
Thank you and Enjoy the Summer!
This will be the last bulletin for this year. We wish you all a great summer whether you are teaching, working on a project, visiting family, or just relaxing. We would like to thank everyone for their contribution to committees and to other union work.
It is not always visible, but together we accomplish a lot in a year, thanks to all of you! We will be back in the fall to continue the fight for your rights, your jobs, and your health!
Lastly, we would express our gratitude and appreciation to Jacques Mainville, for all his years of service on the union exec and on various committees. Thank you, Jacques and all the best!