Protecting Salary and Working Conditions
Here are just a few job-related items which would be in jeopardy without collective bargaining:
Teachers are exempt from the law which provides minimum wage protection to most other workers in this province. The fact that your salary rises each year, and that there is an experience grid which causes it to rise even further in your first ten or so years of teaching, is due to collective bargaining.
- Your Sick Leave Entitlement
Your employer is not obligated to provide paid time off when you are sick - unless the collective agreement stipulates otherwise. By the same token, any retirement gratuity that you may receive as a result of banked sick leave is only there because your negotiators fought for it at the bargaining table.
- The Way You Spend Your Work Day
The general framework in the Education Act with respect to the school day and student instructional time leaves wide scope for collective bargaining. Therefore, your collective agreement can cover the instructional day, preparation time, supervision time, and an overall limit to the working day.
- The Way Jobs Are Allocated
For teachers, transfer, seniority, and lay-off provisions are all subject to collective bargaining. So, too are the rights of part-time teachers. For occasional teachers, the size of the call-out list, the right to remain on the list, the system of call-out, and the posting and allocation of long-term positions are all negotiated items.
- Protection From Arbitrary Discipline
One of the most important parts of your collective agreement is your "just cause" clause. Without it, your job tenure would be much less secure; your employer would be able to discharge or discipline you far more easily.
- Collective bargaining fills in gaps in existing laws
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Spring General Meeting & Banquet
Join us on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 in the Crystal Ballroom at the Lamplighter Inn for our Spring General Meeting and Banquet from 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM.
This is a wonderful time to catch up with colleagues, enjoy a wonderful meal and learn about what is taking place and what is being planned.
You will have a say as to who represents you on the ETFO-Thames Valley Occasional Teacher's Executive.
Register on our website at:
www.etfotvot.com
