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OSSTF/FEESO District 23
ESS / ECE
Quarterly newsletter brought to you by OSSTF District 23 ESS– ECE VOL. 4, ISSUE 4 06.30.2021
From the President’s Desk
The year end is upon us. For those who are 10-month employees, I
hope you have all made it to the end with a sense of relief and
anticipation for your well deserved break. For those of you who are
12-month employees, may your vacation start sooner than later so
you enjoy a break and find some time for yourselves to rest and
rejuvenate before heading back to work.
From the Health and Safety perspective, the Board is planning for
September to have the same protocols in place, unless directed
differently by the Public Health Units and the Ministry of Education.
The Executive has appointed an Interim Health and Safety Officer:
Danielle Malboeuf.
In this edition of the newsletter, I am providing some education
around the role of your President and understanding Article 3 of our
Collective Agreement. Also provided is information for members
who want to address ergonomic issues with their home offices. It is
a free service provided by Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario
Workers. Michele Burnie has also put together some information on
Grievances to help members understand the process and the kind
of things that can be grieved. Tamara Quigley has put together
some information about Employment Insurance.
I’m pleased to announce that Kim Jesik has taken on the role of
Library Resource Tech Rep and Glenna Bennett has taken on the
role of Clerical Rep for next year. We now have representation from
every job class on our council and will be able to prepare for next
year’s Collective Bargaining Committee.
As a reminder, the office is closed all summer because your President is laid off. For all 12 month employees and any
Leslie
member who has questions, please email me at leslie.brown@d23.osstf.ca. during the summer months.
Executive Team
Leslie Brown - President
Chris Girardi - 1st Vice President
Brenda Gareau - 2nd Vice President
Michele Burnie - Chief Negotiator /Grievance Officer
Tamara Quigley - Treasurer / Communications Officer
District 23
Job Class Representatives ESS/ECE Office
Mike Petrella, IT Rep d23ess.itrep@gmail.com For the months of July
Jamie Birley, CYW Rep d23ess.secrep@gmail.com and August the office
Carlee Bond, EA Rep d23ess.ea@gmail.com is closed.
Patti Bulleyment, ECE Rep d23ess.ece@gmail.com During the summer
Kim Jesik, Library Res. Tech. Rep months all 12 month
Glenna Bennett, Clerical Rep employees, and any
member who has
questions, please
send an email to
leslie.brown@d23.osstf.ca.
2
Our Collective Agreement— Article 3: Management Rights
Article 3.01— This article speaks to the Union recognizing the right of the Board to
manage the school system and those rights remain exclusively with the Board.
What does that mean? It means that the Board runs the daily operations of the school
board. It makes the decision on how the day will look from the start of the day until the
end of the day.
The Board must run the operations in a way that is consistent with prevailing statutes and
regulations governing employment in the province of Ontario. Employment Standards
Act, Education Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act to name a few.
The Board also gets to enforce and change the Policy and Procedures from time to time,
which are to be followed by employees. This is done in consultation with the Union.
Those policies are found on the Board’s website, http://www.bhncdsb.ca/policies-bylaws.
The Board must also run the school system in a way that does not break our Collective
Agreement.
This year I have had several questions regarding some changes the Board has done. If the
Board has followed the statutes, its own policy and procedures, along with not breaking
any of our Collective Agreement Articles, then the Board is allowed to proceed with its
changes.
What have some of those changes been?
• Going from a semester system to a
quadmester system.
• Having in-person learning but due to
Provincial Stay at Home orders pivoting
to online learning.
• If there has been an outbreak or
confirmed case of Covid-19 the school
or class has had to pivot to online
learning.
3
Understanding Your Rights Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act
With everyone concerned about their health and safety this year due to Covid-19,
I wanted to help you understand what your rights are under the Occupational
Health and Safety Act.
1. Your employer is responsible for your health and safety at work. It falls under
section 25 1 and 2 the Duties of Employers. The most common section cited is
when employers fail to do their due diligence is 25 2 (h), take every precaution
reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.
2. You as an employee also have duties and responsibilities found in the Act,
Under Section 28 1 Duties of workers. Below are some of the duties of a
worker:
a) use or wear the equipment, protective devices or clothing that the worker’s
employer requires to be used and worn.
b) report to their employer or supervisor the absence of or defect in any
equipment or protective device of which the worker is aware and which
may endanger himself or another worker; and
c) report to his or her employer or supervisor any contravention of this Act or
the regulations or the existence of any hazard of which he or she knows.
4
OHCOW is now offering FREE Virtual Ergonomic Assessments – office & home.
Assessments are available to anyone in Ontario who is currently working from
home, and is concerned about their workstation set-up, or suffering from a
Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) (or chronic pain) at NO charge.
The service provides individual assessments performed 1:1 by an OHCOW
Ergonomist via email, photos (or video), and telephone (or video conferencing).
Assessment will focus on the use of available resources (e.g. office equipment,
furniture, household items, etc.) to improve workstation set-up (and use).
Recommendations will be in keeping with the current CSA Z412 Standard: “Office
Ergonomics - An application standard for workplace ergonomics.”
To get started, contact one of OHCOW’s Ergonomists for a virtual home office
ergonomic assessment at ergo@ohcow.on.ca .
5
President’s Duties
as defined by the Constitution and Bylaws of OSSTF District 23 ESS
The President must take on the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), which handles the daily
operations of the Bargaining Unit (BU) office including banking, managing the BU’s resources
effectively and efficiently, and responding to meeting requests by both Provincial Office and the
school board. The President acts as the main point of communication to its members and is the
BU’s Pay Equity Officer.
The President is an ex-officio member of all the BU Committees like the Grievance Committee,
Social Media Committee, Collective Bargaining Committee, District Co-ordinating Committee and
Liaison Committee with the school board, to name a few.
The President is the BU’s Provincial Councillor at Provincial Council Meetings. At these meetings
concerns or questions that arise from the BU’s Executive/Council meetings can be addressed.
Those concerns are brought to the President’s attention via Job Class Reps and other BU
representatives, such as the Human Rights, CPAC and Health & Safety Reps, as examples.
As the President is the only full-time released officer they must perform all secretarial duties and
generate a quarterly newsletter as well.
The President reports to all members at the Annual General Meeting, The President answers
members’ direct questions that relate to the Collective Agreement and directs members to the
departments or organizations, such as OMERS for pensions, and OTIP for benefits, when they
cannot answer the questions directly. The BU President is not responsible for the daily
operations of the School Board, but works to ensure that the boards policy and procedures that
related to the collective agreement are followed.
Summer Job Postings for both ESS & ECE
Under Article 18.01 in the ESS and ECE Collective
Agreements if you are looking to change your job over
the summer. The postings will be available during the
2nd week of JULY and the 2nd & 3rd week of AUGUST.
6
Grievances Procedures
When an employee has an issue that is a violation of the Collective Agreement it is brought to
the attention of the immediate Supervisor. After the supervisor has had an opportunity to
review the complaint and verbally reply, a grievance can be filed.
Step 1 of a grievance is filing it to the attention of the Superintendent of Education responsible
for Human Resources. A meeting takes place, and the board is to respond in writing.
Failing a settlement being reached in Step 1, the grievance moves to Step 2 and is sent to
Director of Education. Again, a meeting takes place, and the board is to respond in writing.
Failing satisfaction with the Board’s reply, the grievance is then referred to Arbitration and
notification is given to the Board in writing.
Once the grievance is referred to Arbitration, the Member’s Work Group at Provincial Office
decides whether to move the grievance forward.
Each step, including the initial complaint, have timelines that must be followed and are laid out
in the Collective Agreement.
Some examples of grievances that have been filed include – Right to Union Representation, Sick
leave, Use/approval of Personal Days, Job
Postings, Layoff and Recall, Inclement
Weather (Policy grievance), Suspensions,
Unpaid Leaves, Health and Safety etc. There
have been many over the years and
hopefully they help make the Collective
Agreement stronger and less open to
interpretation.
If you have an issue and think it is a violation of the Collective Agreement or Board policy,
please reach out to either your president or grievance officer.
7
Applying for Regular Employment Insurance (EI) Benefits
As non-teaching support staff, this article will provide you with information about Employment
Insurance (EI) benefits.
My Service Canada Account (MSCA)
Before you apply for EI, it’s important that you have a My Service Canada Account. MSCA is a
secure online portal that allows you to view your electronic ROEs or confirm that they have been
issued; check the status of your application; or find out when your payments start and end. Visit
Canada.ca/msca to sign up today.
When to Apply for EI
As soon as possible after you stop working. Most people apply on the last day of work before a
school break. You do not have to wait until you get your Record of Employment (ROE) to apply
because that will be submitted directly by BHNCDSB,. Usually it a copy is available in the MSCA
portal on the last day of school before a break so you can view and download a copy.
If you received EI benefits (not CERB) in the past 52 weeks, or if you have an existing claim,
Service Canada should be able to re-activate your claim once you submit an application. If you
do not want to re-activate your existing claim, contact Service Canada at 1-800-206-7218.
Mandatory “Waiting Period”
10-month education support staff are laid off due to “shortage of work” during each break
throughout the school year, which means each year you will be making a new EI claim that is
open/active for up to 51 weeks. Before you start receiving EI benefit payments, there will be one
week for which you will not be paid. This is the official "waiting period”, which is required only
once each year at the start of a new claim.
If you start a new EI claim during the Christmas break, due to the one-week EI waiting period,
you will not be paid for the first week of the break. Then, due to the terms of our Collective
Agreement, on your last pay from BHNCDSB before the Christmas Break, you will receive pay for
4 statutory holidays (Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year Day), which
cancels out your EI payment of the second week of the Christmas Break. This means you will not
receive any monies from either BHNCDSB or EI from approximately mid-December to mid-
January, which is when the next payroll date falls after Christmas break each year.
8
When you apply for your annual EI claim at Christmas you activate an EI claim for the year and
put your one week waiting period in. At the Spring Break when you re-activate your EI claim, you
will have already put your waiting period in at Christmas so you will receive your benefit
payment for that spring break week. Again, when summer break rolls around, you will reactivate
the same claim, and not have to put in a waiting period. Your benefit payment will be paid from
the start date of your re-activated claim.
If you are a new 10-month employee with the board and your start date was in September (in
your first year of employment only), you might want to consider waiting to apply for EI benefits
at Spring Break instead, so that every year you start your new EI claim for the year in the spring
and put your waiting period in then. At Summer Break, and again at Christmas Break, you simply
re-activate your claim, having already done your one week waiting period back in the Spring.
Doing it this way means you will only go one week without any monies coming in each year.
However, please understand that in your very first year of doing this you will not have any
monies coming in over both the Christmas Break and March Break, but you will be set up nicely
for all future claims in the following years. Otherwise, if you choose to start your annual EI claim
each year at the Christmas Break you will always be in that pattern of not receiving any monies
for almost a month over the Christmas holidays. Important to note: this is solely your decision
and one you are responsible for. We are sharing this information only as a courtesy.
How to apply for EI
1. Visit Canada.ca/EI for information on EI benefits and eligibility and to apply online.
2. Make sure you have the information below when you begin your application, all of which
can be found on your ROE via MSCA. BHNCDSB automatically submits it to Service Canada:
• your social insurance number (SIN);
• your dates of employment;
• reason for issuance of ROE: (shortage of work)
• gross weekly earnings;
• any statutory and vacation pay;
4. Please note: Service Canada regulations require you to declare earnings for the payment of
any statutory paid days for the Christmas season. Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day, Boxing
Day, New Year’s Day. You must also include the vacation pay amount. All of this can be
found on your ROE or your pay stub for the last pay period before the Christmas Break;
5. Complete your online application.
9
An EI Benefit Statement and Access Code will be sent to you
Once your application is complete Service Canada will mail you a benefit statement with a four-
digit access code via Canada Post. You need this code and your SIN to enquire about your
application and to submit bi-weekly reports. If you have applied in the past, you already
received an access code, which will remain the same for your lifetime. Receiving the EI benefit
statement does not mean that Service Canada has made a decision about your claim. That
information can always be found via your MSCA.
Bi-weekly Reports
When you apply for Regular EI benefits, you will need to keep a detailed record of your job
search and submit bi-weekly reports to Service Canada. In these reports, you must:
• show you are available and looking for work;
• declare any income; and
• indicate which days you are not available for work (for example, when you are on
vacation).
When Payments Start
Before you can receive any payments, you must submit a first bi-weekly report using the EI
Internet Reporting Service Portal.
You will need your EI access code and SIN number in order to login. Typically, you will receive
your first EI payment about 28 days after you apply, if you are eligible and have submitted all
required documents.
For more information about the service portal, please visit https://www.canada.ca/en/
services/benefits/ei/employment-insurance-reporting.html.
If you have any questions at all, please contact Service Canada directly at 1-800-206-7218 or
visit Canada.ca/ei.
10Births
Congratulations to Shivonne Davies who welcomed her
new baby boy in May 2021!
Children are such a joy! We wish you the very best as
you welcome your new son to your family, Shivonne.
Congratulations to all of you!!
Summer Retirees
Congratulations to Mary, Diane and Margie on their retirements!
Now the fun begins! Enjoy your retirement, ladies!
All the best to each of you, from all of us!!
Diane Ryder
Mary Kent Margie Dargie
11OSSTF DISTRICT 23 ESS/ ECE
1100 Clarence Street South
Suite 201, Box 1
Brantford, ON N3S 7N8
Phone: 226-213-6796
Alone we can do so little.
Together we can do so
much. ~ Helen Keller
Did you know ?
All members are entitled
to have Union
representation at any
If you have any items,
announcements, or thoughts you’d meeting.
like to see added to our next
newsletter, please send them to
leslie.brown@d23.osstf.ca.
The opinions expressed in this
document do not necessarily reflect
those of OSSTF or District 23.
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