The members of your OPSEU Sector 3 executive would like to thank you for your support at the 2017 BPS Conference!
Your newly elected team has met twice in the past seven months. The first meeting held October 10–11 was devoted to building a Sector 3 work plan that will focus our work and goals for the upcoming two-year term.
Your Sector 3 executive! Back row, from left: Jason Barker (Secretary), Kelly Martin (Vice-Chair), Anastasios Zafiriadis (OPSEU staff Negotiator) Front row, from left: Paula Tavares (Chair), Sandra Cadeau (Treasurer), Susan Richarz (Member-At-Large).
We developed the plan through listening to the ideas, concerns, and needs of the locals we represent. Through discussion and collaboration, we determined that our work plan would include: member engagement and mobilizing; increased communications; organizing a sector conference; and building a campaign relating to violence in the workplace and worker safety.
The second divisional meeting took place December 4-5, where we took the opportunity to work and develop creative ideas with our guests: OPSEU Campaigns Officer Kathy Whipple, and Research Officer Manzur Malik. We concluded that proposals would be submitted to the OPSEU Executive Board in the new year to help us build campaigns centered on member engagement, violence in the workplace, and worker safety. We look forward to seeing these campaigns roll out in early 2018!
Local updates
Going forward from our December meeting, we will be striving to provide you accurate information regarding sector meetings and local updates on a quarterly basis. We are asking locals to submit brief local updates by February 2 and April 30 to Paula Tavares at [email protected].
Upcoming Sector 3 divisional meetings have been scheduled for February 12-13, 2018 and May 7-8, 2018. We are looking forward to having your local updates included on our agenda and featured in our newsletter!
Some suggested topics could be: recent concerns in your locals, any events that you have participated in, or upcoming local activities.
Your local elected delegates at the June 2018 BPS Conference passed a dues increase to commence on January 2018. Dues for Sector 3, Boards of Education and Cultural Institutions, will increase to 60 cents per dues-paying member and non-paying member per calendar year. The dues help us cover the costs of promoting the sector and the important work we do in our teaching and learning environments. An invoice/reminder will be sent out in January from our Treasurer, Sandra Cadeau.
Charter challenge remedy update
As many Sector 3 members are aware, OPSEU has successfully won the Bill 115 charter challenge. It was ruled that Bill 115 violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by violating our right to bargain collectively.
OPSEU is working closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that the remedy payments are paid fully to our members.
The next steps will be rolled out by the ministry as it prepares and processes transfer payments to the school boards. It’s our hope that this is the last step to having the remedy seamlessly paid out in full.
Once we have the confirmation from the ministry that the funds have been transferred to school boards, we will let local presidents know.
For more information on Bill 115, visit: opseu.org/news/opseu-education-workers-get-275-million-damages-over-bill-115.
Benefits
The Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW) continues to work on the development of the provincially mandated benefits plan. Communications from OCEW will follow.
We are excited and looking forward to working with you and for you over the next two years. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact any member of the sector executive or the Paula Tavares, Chair at [email protected].
OPSEU Sector 3: Bringing learning to life and life to communities!
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