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Owl Hoots 565

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The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

In this issue:

Negotiations are ramping up
Scholarity Wins
New Semester, Same Issues
CTD Courses for Faculty
Employee Assistance Program
Manifestation Nationale

The DTU Executive invites you to drop by our office in 8A.11. We can answer questions regarding workloads, seniority and priority, schooling and work experience documentation, and anything else related to working at Dawson. In particular, before turning down work we encourage you to come and discuss the implications with us. We always recommend copying us into communications with the College so that we can help to make sure that your rights are protected. You can also call us at local 1799, or email us at dtu@dtu.qc.ca with any questions.

Negotiations are ramping up

As you may have heard, MNAs recently voted themselves a 30% pay increase.

What you may not know is that their salaries were already indexed to inflation. 

We have reached peak audacity. 

The government showcases education as a “top priority,” but instead of investing in our network, the ministers invest in themselves

We have now been without a contract for five months.

We have been forced to watch our earning power be steadily eroded–paying post-pandemic prices while earning pre-pandemic salaries.

Meanwhile, the government negotiators want us to accept:

*salaries that don’t keep pace with inflation
*new “flexible” hours of availability (weekends and late nights)
*less access to leaves
*fewer pathways to permanence

It’s outrageous. You should be outraged. It’s time to escalate.

  • On Friday, September 8th, we’ll have a General Assembly at 10AM in 5B.13 to vote on our revised negotiating priorities.
  • On Wednesday, September 20th (which is a “Friday schedule”), we’ll have a second General Assembly at 2PM to vote on “intensification of pressure tactics.” (possibly including a strike)

The Director General’s “Welcome Back Address” failed to address the fact that the majority of employees seated in front of her are in the midst of prolonged negotiations. We need to make that fact glaringly obvious. Don’t forget to wear your nego swag every Wednesday and remind the admin that we are ready to mobilize for better working conditions.

If you’ve been waiting for a time to get involved with the union, that time is now. We need your voice. We need your organizing energy. 

Reach out to dtumob@gmail.com to get involved.

See you at the GAs.

PS–As always, there will be food at both General Assemblies.

Scholarity Wins

With the help of FNEEQ, the DTU have recently secured two important decisions in favor of Dawson faculty members. These decisions relate to faculty whose international degrees were previously not recognized by the employer, and thus the members were not being paid in accordance with their scholarity. 

Many new faculty members at Dawson College hold international degrees in higher education and getting these recognized often poses a problem. Years of schooling or equivalencies for international PhD and Master’s degrees are oftentimes under evaluated by the employer which can result in significant loss of salary. In both cases, the College was ordered to recognize the international degree and reimburse the sums of money, with interest, owed to the teachers. In one case, the retro owed to the teacher went back 20 years and surpassed $100,000.

New Semester, Same Issues

As we start off the new semester, we are again hearing from members about deficiencies in the College’s preparation for classes. We have brought such issues to the College’s attention on previous occasions, and yet it still seems as if the start of a new semester always brings the same issues. 

You may have been surprised, as were we, by Director General Diane Gauvin’s repeated praise of FAMA’s work prior to our return to teaching at the Welcome Back Address. Despite FAMA’s diligent work over the summer, several teaching rooms were not ready for the first day of classes and many issues are outstanding as we approach the end of the second week.

We have received reports from teachers of issues with cleanliness (in some cases with construction materials left lying around), missing or non-functional computer equipment, unbearably hot classrooms, and last-minute room changes. 

You may assume that the College is already aware of longstanding issues in your classrooms, but it helps if they are reminded just how many teachers and students are affected by these conditions. Email your Sector Dean, FAMA, and/or Helpdesk about any issues with your classrooms or office spaces, and please copy the DTU as well! 

We have brought these issues to the College repeatedly and this week we did so at our Labour Relations Committee meeting. The College informed us that it was not the appropriate venue – we disagree, and we will keep pressing them about the collective working conditions of our members until they provide adequate ones!

CTD Courses for Faculty

As you may have seen in the D-news, the College offers a variety of courses through the Centre for Training and Development, which are open to employees of the College. The courses offered range from arts to technologies and languages. 

The article in the D-News indicates that employees who have been working at the College for 6 months or more are eligible to take these courses for free. This is the first time we have heard of such eligibility criteria. The College has also repeatedly claimed that employees have to attend 80% of the course in order to qualify for the fee waiver. Our Collective Agreement (Clause 7-1.04) states that faculty have the right to attend classes for free that are offered by the College. We will remind the College that there are no restrictions regarding eligibility or attendance in our Collective Agreement!

In the meantime, if you are a new employee and are being told you do not qualify for free CTD courses, or if you have been asked to pay for a course due to missing more than 20% of the classes, please reach out to us at dtu@dtu.qc.ca. 

Employee Assistance Program

The College offers an Employee Assistance Program, which connects employees with specialists for help in dealing with a variety of personal issues, including mental health issues. Employees are entitled to up to 5 free consultations per year, but they can also choose to continue with the services at their own expense if needed. A full list of the kinds of services offered as well as information about how to obtain services is available online.

Unfortunately, the College does not make these services available to all employees; their eligibility criteria is available on the Dawson website. 

 

OWL 564

Posted on by admin

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

In this issue:

Semester Round-Up by Mobilization Coordinator Adam Bright
Invite the DTU to your department meeting!
Final Grade Deadline
Teacher Availability
Important message for non-permanent teachers
Administrative overreach on pedagogical concerns
Know Your Rights : Grade Review Committees
EDIA training
Non-Permanent Teachers: When is the workload official?
DTU Summer Hours

Semester Round-Up by Mobilization Coordinator Adam Bright

We’ve had a full slate of mobilization activities this semester. Over the past few months, we’ve used the info booth to distribute hundreds of négo t-shirts, stickers, hats, badges, pins, lanyards, tote bags…and donuts, macaroons, cupcakes, and hamantaschen. We came together to mark the expiration of our Collective Agreement in a funerary commemoration. We’ve paraded down the hallways making righteous noise to show the administration that we’re prepared to fight for a fair contract. Just last week, we handed out 2000 Timbits to Dawson students taking the English Exit Exam, emphasizing the common interests of students and teachers as we fight to protect higher education in Quebec. We’ve also spoken with hundreds of DTU members about precarity, salaries, the paltry government offers -peanuts!- , and our collective hopes for the next contract. If the government doesn’t make a realistic offer over the summer, we may well have to intensify the pressure next semester. We’re looking forward to seeing each and every teacher joining in solidarity. 

Invite the DTU to your department meeting!

If you’ve been following the négo news, you will know that it seems highly unlikely that negotiations will be settled over the summer. Although it feels a while away, we are starting to think ahead for mobilization and pressure tactics for the Fall. As part of this, we are offering to come to department meetings at the beginning of the Fall semester to discuss negotiations and hear from members about possible next steps. We know that the first meeting of the semester is often a busy time, but we encourage you to consider including us on your Agenda. 

Final Grade Deadline

Teacher Availability

The deadline for all teachers to submit final grades is June 2. This deadline is the same whether you teach day courses or Continuing Education courses, and whether or not your course includes a final exam in the final examination period.

Important message for non-permanent teachers

We encourage you to consult the DTU before you refuse any workload you have been offered. Refusals can have a substantial impact on your future hiring priority. Teachers who would like to learn more about seniority, priority, and workload distribution are welcome to stop by the DTU office in room 8A.11, or to send us an email at dtu@dtu.qc.ca.

For teachers with a day contract or a cont’ed charge, the last day of availability is June 14. The vacation period is from June 15 to August 16, inclusive. Teachers are expected to be available to the College until the vacation period begins. Although the nature of our work alters after classes end, teachers are expected to fulfil any departmental obligations as well as to be available to attend meetings with the College if required. For full-time teachers, availability is 32.5 hours per week. For part-time teachers, availability is proportional to the workload. 

Teachers who wish to be unavailable to the College prior to the beginning of the vacation period, or after the end of the vacation period, can request a transfer of availability. You need to complete the form provided by the College in advance of the period you are transferring. Note that the form asks teachers to indicate what activities you propose to make up for the period of unavailability; you do not have to provide too much detail here. It is sufficient to indicate something along the lines of “course prep” or “departmental work”. If you perform tasks such as answering MIOs during your transfer of availability, you can ask your Dean to reduce the time that you owe back to the College in availability.

 

Administrative overreach on pedagogical concerns

This semester there have been several concerning instances of administrators interfering in pedagogical decisions that we consider to be the prerogative of departments and teachers.

In response to the adoption of the Blended Learning policy at senate in February, several departments engaged in discussions about how to proceed. The English department held a special meeting dedicated to this topic, the outcome of which was that a motion was passed stating: The Department of English will continue to discuss blended learning but will not allow any blended courses in the 2023-2024 academic year. In response to this motion, Dean Cole sent an email to all members of the English Department stating that the Blended Learning Policy is a College policy and that the department had a responsibility to review proposals. The College’s position seems to be that an individual teacher can apply to teach a Blended Learning course, even if their department is not in agreement, and that it is the Sector Dean who decides whether to approve the proposal. The DTU’s position is that such pedagogical decisions belong to departments and that faculty members are expected to abide by departmental policies. We feel that it sets a dangerous precedent to suggest that the Sector Dean can determine which members of a department have to follow which departmental policies. 

More recently, a Sector Dean instructed a teacher to alter their assignment parameters despite the fact that the assessment was already in process. In response to an increase in plagiarism on initial assessments, the teacher decided to alter the parameters of the final assessment from an at-home assignment to an in-class assignment spread over several classes. The teacher informed the students several weeks in advance of the assignment and received no feedback. Subsequent to the first class of the assignment, the teacher received a MIO from their Sector Dean stating that they had been made aware of the change by a student. The Dean stated that they considered the change to be a substantive change to the Course Outline and that according to ISEP any substantive change requires approval from the department coordinator and the Sector Dean’s office. However, there is no clear information provided to faculty regarding what the College considers to be a substantive change requiring “approval” from the Dean. Moreover, after discussing the issue with the teacher in question and several of their department colleagues, it does not appear that this is considered to be a “substantive change” by the disciplinary experts. We have brought this issue to the College. 

We advise you to prepare your Course Outlines in such a way as to allow for adjustments over the course of the semester in response to pedagogical need

Know Your Rights

Grade Review Committees

As the Final Grade deadline approaches, we feel it is important to remind teachers of the process for grade reviews. While students’ rights and responsibilities regarding grade reviews are set out in ISEP, the Grade Review Committee is part of our Collective Agreement. 

Before a student requests a grade review, they should be encouraged to discuss the situation with their teacher. A student can request a grade review only once the final grade for the course has been submitted to the College. The student’s request must be submitted to the relevant Sector Dean within 30 calendar days of the official grade deadline of the semester. The Dean determines whether to grant a grade review request from a student, and in the event that the request is granted, they contact the department to ask that a Grade Review Committee be convened. 

A few things to keep in mind about how the Grade Review Committee functions:

  • It is an independent committee; the administration has no authority over how the committee functions.
  • It is composed of three teachers from the discipline, one of which is the teacher responsible for the original evaluation.
  • The committee determines among itself how it wishes to function; for example, whether to meet in person, whether to make its decision via email, the distribution of tasks among committee members.
  • The committee determines whether or not it feels it is necessary to meet with the student; the student has an obligation to present their case along with supporting evidence as part of the request process. 
  • The committee communicates its decision to the Dean; the committee can determine to increase, decrease or maintain the original grade.
  • The decision of the Grade Review Committee is final.

EDIA training

The College’s Local Advisory Committee on Equal Access to Employment, which is meant to work to redress underrepresentation of minority groups in the employee population, held its first meeting of the semester only on May 19th. Meanwhile, departments continue to push for more equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility measures at Dawson. You don’t need to wait for the College to act! The Department of Sociology and Political Science recently secured funding from the College for an EDIA workshop designed for them by an external facilitator. Reach out to dtu@dtu.qc.ca if your department is interested in doing something similar.    

We sent the DTU Equity and Diversity Committee’s Departmental Toolkit to all members on April 27th, 2023 – we encourage you to check it out for other suggestions to improve equity in your department.

Non-Permanent Teachers: When is the workload official?

Although you may have been informed of your workload by your coordinator, it is important to know that this workload is only provisional. The official confirmation of workloads is done by Human Resources once they have received the information regarding possible incoming MEDs. The official confirmation usually happens in July and will be subsequently communicated to you.

What is a MED?
Our Collective Agreement includes protections for permanent teachers when there is not a full-time workload available  at their College. Teachers in these situations are referred to as MEDs (mis en disponibilité).  When a teacher becomes a MED it may result in them having priority to teach in another College. 

If there is a full-time workload available at Dawson, MEDs from another College will have  priority over non-permanent teachers at Dawson in certain circumstances. 

If you would like more information about MEDs the FNEEQ has an explanatory guide that can be downloaded here. 

Owl Hoots 563_2

Posted on by admin

March 28, 2023                                                 Issue 563

Owl Hoots

Inside this issue

Union Dues Holiday
College Services Survey
Faculty Availability and Vacation Period

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

 

Union Dues Holiday

You may have noticed in your current pay statement that there is an amount of 0.00 in the “current” column for Union Dues. This is not a mistake; the DTU Executive asked the College not to deduct Union dues for this pay period as the General Assembly had approved a Union dues holiday for Winter 2023 as part of the 2021-2022 budget. 

Deductions for Union dues will resume for the subsequent pay period.

College Services Survey

The DTU’s surveys on College services are open until March 31st. 

If you have not yet given your feedback about services such as HR, your Dean’s office, and the OAD, we invite you to do so before the deadline.

Click here to answer the first survey about services that support teaching such as the Bookstore, Printshop, IT services, Student AccessAbility Centre (SAAC), Sector Dean’s Office, Student Services Office, Office of Academic Development (OAD), and Student Services.

Click here to answer the second survey about more general services such as Human Resources, Payroll, Benefits, Offices of the Sector Deans, Facilities Management (FAMA), and Security.

 

Faculty Availability and Vacation Period

The College has finalized our vacation period for this summer. Unless you are teaching during the Summer semester, your last day of availability is June 14th. The College memo is a little confusing because it lists June 15th as a day in lieu of St. Jean Baptiste with vacation officially beginning on June 16th. The important thing is that you are off for the summer starting on June 15th.

The first day of availability after summer is August 17th; the first day of classes is August 21st.

Dawson Teachers Union
3040 Sherbrooke, Westmount, Suite 8A.11
514-931-8731 ext 1799
dtu@dtu.qc.ca

 

Owl 564

Posted on by admin

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

In this issue:

Invite the DTU to your department meeting!
Semester Round-Up by Mobilization Coordinator Adam Bright
Final Grade Deadline
Teacher Availability
Important message for non-permanent teachers
DTU Summer Hours
Grade Review Committees
Administrative overreach on pedagogical concerns
EDIA training
Know Your rights: What is a MED (mise en disponibilité)

Invite the DTU to your department meeting!

If you’ve been following the négo news, you will know that it seems highly unlikely that negotiations will be settled over the summer. Although it feels a while away, we are starting to think ahead for mobilization and pressure tactics for the Fall. As part of this, we are offering to come to department meetings at the beginning of the Fall semester to discuss negotiations and hear from members about possible next steps. We know that the first meeting of the semester is often a busy time, but we encourage you to consider including us on your Agenda. 

Semester Round-Up by Mobilization Coordinator Adam Bright

We’ve had a full slate of mobilization activities this semester. Over the past few months, we’ve used the info booth to distribute hundreds of négo t-shirts, stickers, hats, badges, pins, lanyards, tote bags…and donuts, macaroons, cupcakes, and hamantaschen. We came together to mark the expiration of our Collective Agreement in a funerary commemoration. We’ve paraded down the hallways making righteous noise to show the administration that we’re prepared to fight for a fair contract. Just last week, we handed out 2000 Timbits to Dawson students taking the English Exit Exam, emphasizing the common interests of students and teachers as we fight to protect higher education in Quebec. We’ve also spoken with hundreds of DTU members about precarity, salaries, the paltry government offers -peanuts!- , and our collective hopes for the next contract. If the government doesn’t make a realistic offer over the summer, we may well have to intensify the pressure next semester. We’re looking forward to seeing each and every teacher joining in solidarity. 

Final Grade Deadline

Teacher Availability

The deadline for all teachers to submit final grades is June 2. This deadline is the same whether you teach day courses or Continuing Education courses, and whether or not your course includes a final exam in the final examination period.

Important message for non-permanent teachers

We encourage you to consult the DTU before you refuse any workload you have been offered. Refusals can have a substantial impact on your future hiring priority. Teachers who would like to learn more about seniority, priority, and workload distribution are welcome to stop by the DTU office in room 8A.11, or to send us an email at dtu@dtu.qc.ca.

For teachers with a day contract or a cont’ed charge, the last day of availability is June 14. The vacation period is from June 15 to August 16, inclusive. Teachers are expected to be available to the College until the vacation period begins. Although the nature of our work alters after classes end, teachers are expected to fulfil any departmental obligations as well as to be available to attend meetings with the College if required. For full-time teachers, availability is 32.5 hours per week. For part-time teachers, availability is proportional to the workload. 

Teachers who wish to be unavailable to the College prior to the beginning of the vacation period, or after the end of the vacation period, can request a transfer of availability. You need to complete the form provided by the College in advance of the period you are transferring. Note that the form asks teachers to indicate what activities you propose to make up for the period of unavailability; you do not have to provide too much detail here. It is sufficient to indicate something along the lines of “course prep” or “departmental work”. If you perform tasks such as answering MIOs during your transfer of availability, you can ask your Dean to reduce the time that you owe back to the College in availability.

 

Know Your Rights

Grade Review Committees
As the Final Grade deadline approaches, we feel it is important to remind teachers of the process for grade reviews. While students’ rights and responsibilities regarding grade reviews are set out in ISEP, the Grade Review Committee is part of our Collective Agreement. 

Before a student requests a grade review, they should be encouraged to discuss the situation with their teacher. A student can request a grade review only once the final grade for the course has been submitted to the College. The student’s request must be submitted to the relevant Sector Dean within 30 calendar days of the official grade deadline of the semester. The Dean determines whether to grant a grade review request from a student, and in the event that the request is granted, they contact the department to ask that a Grade Review Committee be convened. 

A few things to keep in mind about how the Grade Review Committee functions:

  • It is an independent committee; the administration has no authority over how the committee functions.
  • It is composed of three teachers from the discipline, one of which is the teacher responsible for the original evaluation.
  • The committee determines among itself how it wishes to function; for example, whether to meet in person, whether to make its decision via email, the distribution of tasks among committee members.
  • The committee determines whether or not it feels it is necessary to meet with the student; the student has an obligation to present their case along with supporting evidence as part of the request process. 
  • The committee communicates its decision to the Dean; the committee can determine to increase, decrease or maintain the original grade.
  • The decision of the Grade Review Committee is final.

Administrative overreach on pedagogical concerns

This semester there have been several concerning instances of administrators interfering in pedagogical decisions that we consider to be the prerogative of departments and teachers.

In response to the adoption of the Blended Learning policy at senate in February, several departments engaged in discussions about how to proceed. The English department held a special meeting dedicated to this topic, the outcome of which was that a motion was passed stating: The Department of English will continue to discuss blended learning but will not allow any blended courses in the 2023-2024 academic year. In response to this motion, Dean Cole sent an email to all members of the English Department stating that the Blended Learning Policy is a College policy and that the department had a responsibility to review proposals. The College’s position seems to be that an individual teacher can apply to teach a Blended Learning course, even if their department is not in agreement, and that it is the Sector Dean who decides whether to approve the proposal. The DTU’s position is that such pedagogical decisions belong to departments and that faculty members are expected to abide by departmental policies. We feel that it sets a dangerous precedent to suggest that the Sector Dean can determine which members of a department have to follow which departmental policies. 

More recently, a Sector Dean instructed a teacher to alter their assignment parameters despite the fact that the assessment was already in process. In response to an increase in plagiarism on initial assessments, the teacher decided to alter the parameters of the final assessment from an at-home assignment to an in-class assignment spread over several classes. The teacher informed the students several weeks in advance of the assignment and received no feedback. Subsequent to the first class of the assignment, the teacher received a MIO from their Sector Dean stating that they had been made aware of the change by a student. The Dean stated that they considered the change to be a substantive change to the Course Outline and that according to ISEP any substantive change requires approval from the department coordinator and the Sector Dean’s office. However, there is no clear information provided to faculty regarding what the College considers to be a substantive change requiring “approval” from the Dean. Moreover, after discussing the issue with the teacher in question and several of their department colleagues, it does not appear that this is considered to be a “substantive change” by the disciplinary experts. We have brought this issue to the College. 

We advise you to prepare your Course Outlines in such a way as to allow for adjustments over the course of the semester in response to pedagogical needs.

EDIA training

The College’s Local Advisory Committee on Equal Access to Employment, which is meant to work to redress underrepresentation of minority groups in the employee population, held its first meeting of the semester only on May 19th. Meanwhile, departments continue to push for more equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility measures at Dawson. You don’t need to wait for the College to act! The Department of Sociology and Political Science recently secured funding from the College for an EDIA workshop designed for them by an external facilitator. Reach out to dtu@dtu.qc.ca if your department is interested in doing something similar.    

We sent the DTU Equity and Diversity Committee’s Departmental Toolkit to all members on April 27th, 2023 – we encourage you to check it out for other suggestions to improve equity in your department.

Non-Permanent Teachers: When is the workload official?

Although you may have been informed of your workload by your coordinator, it is important to know that this workload is only provisional. The official confirmation of workloads is done by Human Resources once they have received the information regarding possible incoming MEDs. The official confirmation usually happens in July and will be subsequently communicated to you.

What is a MED?
Our Collective Agreement includes protections for permanent teachers when there is not a full-time workload available  at their College. Teachers in these situations are referred to as MEDs (mis en disponibilité).  When a teacher becomes a MED it may result in them having priority to teach in another College. 

If there is a full-time workload available at Dawson, MEDs from another College will have  priority over non-permanent teachers at Dawson in certain circumstances. 

If you would like more information about MEDs the FNEEQ has an explanatory guide that can be downloaded here. 

Owl 561

Posted on by admin

December 12, 2022                                                 Issue 561

Owl Hoots

Inside this issue

Holiday Party

Reminder: Period of Availability

Sick Days for Cont. Ed and End of COVID Accommodations

Final Grade Deadline

CEEC Snubs Teachers

DTU holiday hours

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

Holiday Party

After almost three years, the DTU party returned on Friday, December 9. It was great to see so many people out enjoying themselves with their colleagues. And it was particularly nice to be able to celebrate not only our retiring teachers, but also three years of new perms!

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers who helped with set up, decorations, lights, bartending, and clean up – your contributions helped make the party a success!

Reminder: Period of Availability

For day teachers and those teaching a Continuing Education charge course, the period of availability continues between semesters, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Since those fall on Sundays this year, the statutory holidays have been moved to Monday, December 26 and Monday, January 2.

Teachers are available to the College during this period and are expected to be able to come to Dawson with reasonable notice if needed.

With the exception of submitting final grades, Continuing Education teachers do not owe any availability to the College after the last day of their contract.

Sick Days for Cont. Ed.
and End of COVID Accommodations

Following the Government’s announcement at the beginning of November that the mandatory COVID isolation was being lifted, the DTU brought the issue of sick days for Continuing Education faculty to CRT. We deplored the unacceptably low number of sick days (two annually) available for Continuing Education faculty and denounced that these are usually only partially remunerated. Continuing Education teachers are having to choose between financial hardship or putting members of the community at risk when they fall ill. Considering the significant infection rates and the risk that this may pose to the broader community, we asked the College to consider increasing the number of paid sick days for Continuing Education teachers. The College responded that although it is true that the College can exceed what is minimally required by the Loi sur les Normes de Travail, it chooses not to.

Final Grade Deadline

The deadline for all teachers to submit final grades is Friday, December 30. This deadline is the same whether you teach day courses or Continuing Education courses, and whether or not your course includes a final exam in the final examination period.

We have recently been in discussions with the College regarding the impact of intensive courses on the grade deadline. The Collective Agreement stipulates that there are only two regular semesters – Fall and Winter – and that the final grade deadline is 5 working days after the end of the semester (Clause 8-4.02). At Dawson, there are Fall semester intensive courses that are held in early January. The DTU’s position is that this extends the Fall semester and thus the final grade deadline should be 5 working days after the last intensive class ends. The College disagrees with this interpretation and has maintained that the grade deadline published in the Academic Calendar stands. We will be pursuing discussions with the College to ensure that our Collective Agreement is being respected.

CEEC Snubs Teachers

You may recall that at the end of November representatives from the Commission d’évaluation de l’enseignement collégial visited Dawson. Diane Gauvin sent an invitation to all members of the community to attend an open session to share their concerns with the Commission.

The CEEC is an advisory committee that provides recommendations to Cegeps and the Ministry of Education. The last time that Dawson went through the evaluation process with CEEC, it led to the imposition of the Summative Assessment in all courses. Since its implementation, we have regularly heard from teachers about the detrimental impacts of the Summative Assessment. Given this, the DTU encouraged its members to attend the open session with the CEEC and voice their concerns about the pedagogical implications of its decisions.

On November 23, a group of approximately 10 teachers, including several members of the DTU Executive, turned up at the Boardroom at the appointed time to meet with the CEEC. Things got off to a bad start as the CEEC members were packing up to leave and seemed surprised that teachers had come to meet them. They agreed to stay but only for 30 minutes, even though the meeting had been scheduled for an hour. However, the atmosphere was tense during the whole meeting and the chair of the CEEC seemed particularly hostile.

During the meeting, teachers asked for clarification on the mandate of the CEEC and raised concerns about the process, as well as the pedagogical implications of its recommendations. In particular, it was noted that the Dawson administration frequently presents recommendations from the CEEC as obligations that they have no choice but to implement. Several teachers also commented on the detrimental impact that the Summative Assessment has on student success and denounced that recommendations implemented on the advice of the CEEC are not determined and never approved by teachers.

The chair of the CEEC expressed surprise that teachers were not involved in the discussions, claiming that they had been presented as recommendations that had passed through Senate. One of the teachers present is currently serving as a Senator and was able to clarify that this was not the case. The CEEC repeatedly stated that their mandate is only to provide recommendations, and that any specific mechanisms implemented as a result of these recommendations are determined by the College.

While it was an extremely frustrating meeting, it was good to hear directly from the CEEC that their mandate is solely to recommend and that they expect that proposals that come from the College have gone through appropriate channels of faculty consultation and feedback. Next time our administration claims that its hands are tied and that they are simply implementing recommendations from the CEEC, we will know that this is not the case! Teachers, especially those involved in committees and Senate, should be pushing back on such claims and insisting on more active involvement from and consultation of all faculty in these processes – and not just a small group of faculty selected by the administration.

Dawson Teachers Union
3040 Sherbrooke, Westmount, Suite 8A.11
514-931-8731 ext 1799
dtu@dtu.qc.ca

owl 561

Posted on by admin

June 2, 2022                                                 Issue 557

Owl Hoots

Inside this issue

Bill 96 Adopted
College Renews Pilot Project
College Policy on Leaves & Gradual Retirement
Professional Development
Faculty Availability and Vacation Period
Dawson College Financial Aid Office 

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

Bill 96 Adopted Despite Mobilization Efforts 

Over the past month or so, there has been increasing mobilization around Bill 96, with numerous articles in the press as well as recent rallies held at Anglophone Cegeps and a protest on May 14th. Although these efforts were unsuccessful in preventing the Bill from being adopted, they highlighted the commitment of faculty and students to counter the negative impacts of the Bill. 

On Thursday, May 5th, the Dawson Student Union, in collaboration with faculty members, organised a successful rally in opposition to the proposed bill. The rally was very well attended and included engaging speakers from both students and faculty. One faculty member, Adam Bright (English), led the students in a collective activity to send simultaneous messages to local MNAs. Reports about the rally appeared in both Francophone and Anglophone media outlets, such as 24Heures and The Montreal Gazette.

On Saturday May 14th, Dawson teachers and students gathered at Dawson for a protest against Bill 96. The Dawson community was joined by people from across the Montreal community who are concerned about the implications of the proposed bill.

The protest opened with several speeches from organisers of Anglophone community groups, political leaders, and Indigenous representatives. The speeches highlighted the detrimental impacts of the proposed law, both in terms of the impacts for education as well as more broadly for access to health and legal services. Reports on the protest appeared in both Francophone and Anglophone media outlets, such as Le Devoir and The Montreal Gazette.

Although Bill 96 was adopted into law at the National Assembly on May 24th, much remains uncertain about both the process and timeline for implementation. There has been no indication of how the Ministry of Higher Education will implement the Bill’s requirements related to French courses and the French Exit Exam at Anglophone Cegeps. The DTU Executive attended a meeting of FNEEQ at the end of last week, but there remains no information from the Ministry of Higher Education. The Directors of the Anglophone Cegeps will be meeting with the Ministry of Higher Education on June 6th, and we hope that similar discussions will also be taking place with representatives from FNEEQ.  Any information we receive before the end of availability will be posted on our Bill 96 webpage.

 

College Renews Pilot Project Despite Questions Remaining

In our last Owl Hoots, we reported on the lack of transparency and information regarding the College’s Blended Learning Pilot Project. At that time, we sent an open letter to the Academic Dean and Regular Sector Deans expressing our concerns and again asking for answers to several key questions that we have repeatedly raised. Although the College has indicated its intention to respond to at least some of the Union’s questions, to date, no response has been received.

When the College launched its Blended Learning Pilot Project in the Fall, it clearly indicated that all students and teachers involved in the project would participate in evaluations of the courses. Ideally, these evaluations should have been done so as to allow time for departments to evaluate the impact of the Pilot Project before further pursuing online pedagogy. However, the College has only recently sent the evaluations to the teachers involved in the Pilot Project and has given no indication of whether the results of these evaluations will be made available – to departments, Senate, or the wider community. 

Moreover, we are concerned that the College is being selective in who it is soliciting feedback from. The Academic Dean recently contacted coordinators of departments with at least one teacher participating in the Pilot Project to ask for feedback. The Memo asks those coordinators to provide “comments about blended courses – the process for reviewing them, the criteria or principles the department used to form its opinion on the proposed blended courses, their impact on other courses delivered by your department, their impact on students or other related matters”. These issues are relevant to all departments; it is equally important that the College understand the criteria or principles on which departments decided not to offer blended courses. Furthermore, we have heard from many teachers this semester about the impact that the Pilot Project has had on their students’ (in)ability to attend and participate in their in-person classes; these impacts are not limited to other courses in the same department but have been felt across the College. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the College has not yet indicated whether it will solicit data from non-participating departments.

As we have repeatedly made clear to the College, if departments are to participate in meaningful discussions about online pedagogy, the process of evaluation and feedback needs to be more transparent. The College, however, has pushed full-steam ahead and launched another round of the Pilot Project for Fall 2022. Once again, it seems that the College is drawing conclusions about Blended Learning without concrete evidence. As the College moves forward with yet another Pilot Project and, presumably, the development of a policy related to online teaching and learning, it is imperative that it solicit feedback from all teachers. Whether or not members of your department participated in the project, feel free to email the Academic Dean directly if you have comments about it, and please copy the DTU. 



College Policy on Leaves and Gradual Retirement 

At the end of last semester, we learned that the College was being more restrictive in granting leaves, both Voluntary Workload Reductions and anticipated sabbaticals. At the time, we managed to convince the College to reconsider its position on anticipated sabbatical requests for the Winter 2022 semester; however, the College was only willing to grant these over a period of two years. Unfortunately, we were not able to dissuade the College from its position of granting only the minimum number of VWRs required by the Collective Agreement (and even granting none in Nursing despite the requirement that at least one per discipline be granted).

Since then, the College has continued to be conservative in its approach to granting leaves. Although the College has not officially declared a change in its policies concerning anticipated sabbatical leaves and gradual retirement, there has been a clear change in practice. In all recent cases, teachers asking for an anticipated sabbatical or gradual retirement plan to take place over a period of five years have been declined, and only requests taking place over a shorter period have been approved. 

The College is acting within the parameters of the Collective Agreement since these types of leaves require “agreement between the parties”; however, the DTU has raised several concerns about this change of practice with the College. In particular, the DTU has asked the College to clearly communicate its current policies to all teachers as it is important teachers know what options are available to them for planning purposes. The College, however, seems reluctant to send a message to all faculty as it claims to deal with requests on a case-by-case basis. Despite this statement, faculty should be aware that the College’s position seems to be to deny requests for anticipated sabbaticals and gradual retirements that exceed more than two years. 

Professional Development

All Dawson teachers (whether they teach in the Day or Continuing Education sector) have access to Professional Development Funds to cover professional development activities such as courses, workshops, and conferences.

The PDF committee meets regularly to assess applications, though it does not meet during the Summer. Send your application in advance of the proposed activity to: pdfsecretary@dawsoncollege.qc.ca 

Faculty Availability and Vacation Period

For teachers with a day contract, the last day of availability for this academic year is June 13. The vacation period is from June 14 to August 15, inclusive. Teachers are expected to be available to the College until the vacation period begins. Although the nature of our work changes after classes end, teachers are expected to be available to attend meetings with the College if required. For full-time teachers, availability is 32.5 hours per week. For part-time teachers, availability is proportional to the workload. 

Teachers who wish to be unavailable to the College either prior to the beginning of the vacation period or after the availability period resumes in the Fall can request a transfer of availability. You need to complete the form provided by the College at least one month in advance of the period you are transferring, with your Department Coordinator’s support. Note that the form asks teachers to indicate what activities you propose to make up for the period of unavailability; you do not have to provide too much detail here. It is sufficient to indicate something along the lines of “course prep” or “departmental work”.

Dawson College Financial Aid Office Food Bank & Snack Centre

Stocked through the generosity of the Dawson College community, a small food bank is available for students whose monthly income does not cover all their needs.

Please consider dropping off some items at the Financial Aid Office (Room 4E.2-8). They’re often in need of the following items:

  • canned proteins (salmon, tuna, sardines, turkey, chicken, ham, beef, etc)
  • vegetables (corn, peas, string beans, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, carrots, etc)
  • fruits (cocktail, pears, peaches, applesauce, mandarin, etc)
  • rice (long grain, basmati, Uncle Ben’s, Dainty, Minute Rice, etc)
  • pasta sauces
  • prepared soups, Chef-Boy-R-Dee, Kraft dinner, chili, 
  • personal hygiene items (soap, shampoo, pads, tampons, deodorant, toothpaste/brushes/mouthwash, etc)
  •  cereal, crackers, nuts, treats of all kinds
  • vegan/gluten free items

Dawson Teachers Union
3040 Sherbrooke, Westmount, Suite 8A.11
514-931-8731 ext 1799
dtu@dtu.qc.ca

 

owl560_updated

Posted on by admin

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

In this Issue:

Common Front Mobilisation
Local Mobilisation
Union Dues Holiday
Ventilation Issues
Pub Night
November is Insurance Month
Voluntary Workload Reduction
Scholarity Evaluations
Retirement and RREGOP

 

Common Front Mobilisation

On Friday, October 28, members of the DTU Executive participated in a demonstration to launch the Common Front for the 2023 round of Negotiations. We joined representatives from CSN, CSQ, FTQ and APTS unions in Quebec City in a show of solidarity as we marched to the Ministry to present our central table demands. 

Local Mobilisation

On November 1, teachers at Dawson met with Diane Gauvin to deposit a copy of our Sectoral Table demands, which were submitted to the CPNC on October 21. You can read the initial sectoral demands on our website, in English or in French. 

As negotiations ramp up, there will be more local actions and more opportunities for you to have your voices heard! Keep an eye out for information on how to get involved!

Union Dues Holiday

After closing its budget for 2020-2021 and reviewing its financial position, the DTU Executive assessed that there is a sufficient accumulated surplus to allow for a dues holiday for all members, as we have done in the past. At the General Assembly in which the budget for 2021-2022 was approved, the DTU Executive proposed two Union dues holidays, one for Fall 2022 and one for Winter 2023, which were approved.

The first of these Union dues holidays will be for the pay period of 13 to 26 November 2022. The DTU Executive has asked the College not to deduct dues for this pay period. On the pay statement of 24 November, there should be an amount of 0.00 in the “current” column for Union dues. Deductions for Union dues will resume for the subsequent pay period. 

Ventilation Issues

Several teachers have reported issues with ventilation in their classrooms. Although some of these issues appear to have been resolved, if you are experiencing problems in your classroom or office, we invite you to email Jorge Sanchez directly (jsanchez@dawsoncollege.qc.ca) and copy the DTU (dtu@dtu.qc.ca).

November is Insurance Month!

During the month of November, you have the opportunity to make changes to your insurance coverage. Changes will take effect on January 1, 2023. Note that there have been some recent modifications to the insurance policy which will affect both your coverage and your premiums. You can check out more details

Info-insurance in English:
https://fneeq.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/no-34-2022.10.19_2023-Renewal_ENG.pdf

Info-insurance in French
https://fneeq.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/no-34-2022.10.19-Renouvelement-2023_VF.pdf

 If you wish to alter your plan, you should contact Allison Freund in Human Resources.  

Voluntary Workload Reduction Requests

If you wish to apply for a Voluntary Workload Reduction for Winter 2023, the deadline is November 15. You should email Cristina Stanciu in Human Resources at hrfaculty@dawsoncollege.qc.ca. We suggest that you copy the DTU on this email at dtu@dtu.qc.ca. 

Scholarity Evaluations

Our FNEEQ representatives on the Scholairty Committee have informed us of some issues that have been identified with the evaluation of scholarity in two very specific situations. If either of the situations below apply to you, please contact the DTU (dtu@dtu.qc.ca) so that our representatives can look into your case.

  1. You completed two DEC programs, one of which was in a technical program and one of which was a pre-University program. 
  2. You completed a Specialist Diploma based on the USSR educational system or a Kandidat Nauk. Evaluation rules have recently been changed for these.

Retirement and RREGOP Training

FNEEQ is providing an online training session on retirement and RREGOP for members, which will include information about how to buy back leave periods. The training will take place on Tuesday,  November 29 from 5pm until 7pm. If you wish to attend this training, please email the DTU (dtu@dtu.qc.ca) by noon on Friday, 18 November. A Zoom link will be sent to registered participants nearer the time. 

Owl 558

Posted on by admin

September 1, 2022                                                 Issue 558

Owl Hoots

Inside this issue

Welcome Back!
Upcoming Events
Climate Strike – 23rd September 2022
New Teachers Information Session
Bill 96
College’s Memo on Continuing Education
College Readiness
Dawson College Financial Aid Office 
Food Bank  & Snack Centre

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

Welcome Back!

We hope that the new semester is off to a great start. As always, we invite you to drop by our office in 8A.11. We can answer questions regarding workloads, seniority and priority, schooling and work experience documentation, and anything else related to working at Dawson. In particular, before turning down work we encourage you to come and discuss the implications with us. You can also call us at local 1799, or email us at dtu@dtu.qc.ca with any questions. 

Upcoming Events

Our first General Assembly of the year will be held on 15th September at 2pm in 5B.13; lunch will be served at 1:30pm. This is an important opportunity for you to provide your feedback on the priorities for the upcoming negotiations as well as on the “Bargaining Projects” documents prepared by the FNEEQ and CSN negotiating teams. The documents are available in English and French on the Négo 2023 section of our website. 

Climate Strike – 23rd September 2022

As part of ongoing action around the climate crisis, Travailleuses et Travailleurs pour la Justice Climatique are inviting unions to consider participating in a Climate Strike on September 23rd. This issue was discussed at the recent Executive Council meeting and will be brought to the General Assembly on September 15th. If the General Assembly votes to hold a strike vote, it will be open to  all DTU members via referendum. We encourage you to participate in the important discussions around this issue at the GA.

 

The DTU invites New Teachers to an information session on Monday 12th September at 4:30pm in the Rose Lounge (7C.5).

Come out to meet your Union representatives and get information on your contracts, workload and anything else you might be interested in.

Please RSVP at dtu@dtu.qc.ca

Bill 96

As you know, Bill 96 was passed into law in May, so the focus has now moved to implementation. Unfortunately, there has been no concrete information communicated regarding either the timeline or the process of implementation. It is our understanding that Dian Gauvin is involved in committees concerning the implementation, although those discussions are in-camera. We have been informed that the Ministry of Education will be providing more information to the English Colleges in October. 

Next week, the DTU Executive will be attending a special meeting of the Conseil Fédéral to discuss Bill 96. The Conseil Fédéral brings together representatives of all FNEEQ unions, not only Cegeps, but also universities and the private sector. The Executive will inform members of any updates from the meeting. 

College’s Memo on Continuing Education 

Shortly before the start of semester, the Continuing Education office sent out a Memo to Continuing Education faculty which contained many errors and included directives that contravened Quebec’s labour code. 

The DTU immediately contacted the Dean of Continuing Education, along with several other members of the College administration, but have yet to receive a response. Moreover, the Continuing Education office has not responded to the individual Continuing Education faculty who have directly reached out for clarification regarding certain issues, such as whether they will be paid to invigilate Final Exams. Clearly, this causes issues for teachers who are trying to plan their courses.

The DTU also sent an email to coordinators and Continuing Education faculty including some clarifications and corrections on sick leaves, Comprehensive Examinations, and the expectations around encadrement. We invite Continuing Education faculty to contact us with any specific questions relating to these issues. 

College Readiness

The return to classes this semester was once again marred by the College’s lack of readiness. We heard from teachers that classrooms and hallways were unclean and that there was overflowing garbage. Additionally, in the first week of semester, there were repeated issues with the elevators in the A/B wings and at one point none of the elevators were operational. Clearly this causes accessibility issues for teachers and students. The DTU will be raising these concerns with the College.

Dawson College Financial Aid Office Food Bank & Snack Centre

Stocked through the generosity of the Dawson College community, a small food bank is available for students whose monthly income does not cover all their needs.

 Please consider dropping off some items at the Financial Aid Office (Room 4E.2-8). They’re often in need of the following items:

  • canned proteins (salmon,
    tuna, sardines, turkey, chicken, ham,
    beef, etc)
  • canned vegetables (corn, peas, string beans,
    mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach,
    carrots, etc)
  • fruits (cocktail, pears, peaches,
    applesauce, mandarin, etc)
  • rice (long grain, basmati, Uncle Ben’s,
    Dainty, Minute Rice, etc)
  • pasta sauces
  • prepared soups, Chef-Boy-R-Dee,
    Kraft dinner, chili, 
  • personal hygiene items (soap, shampoo,
    pads, tampons, deodorant,
    toothpaste/brushes/mouthwash, etc)
  •  cereal, crackers, nuts, treats of all kinds
  • vegan/gluten free items

Dawson Teachers Union
3040 Sherbrooke, Westmount, Suite 8A.11
514-931-8731 ext 1799
dtu@dtu.qc.ca

 

Owl 558

Posted on by admin

September 1, 2022                                                 Issue 558

Owl Hoots

Inside this issue

Welcome Back!
Upcoming Events
Climate Strike – 23rd September 2022
New Teachers Information Session
Bill 96
College’s Memo on Continuing Education
College Readiness
Dawson College Financial Aid Office 
Food Bank  & Snack Centre

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

Welcome Back!

We hope that the new semester is off to a great start. As always, we invite you to drop by our office in 8A.11. We can answer questions regarding workloads, seniority and priority, schooling and work experience documentation, and anything else related to working at Dawson. In particular, before turning down work we encourage you to come and discuss the implications with us. You can also call us at local 1799, or email us at dtu@dtu.qc.ca with any questions. 

Upcoming Events

Our first General Assembly of the year will be held on 15th September at 2pm in 5B.13; lunch will be served at 1:30pm. This is an important opportunity for you to provide your feedback on the priorities for the upcoming negotiations as well as on the “Bargaining Projects” documents prepared by the FNEEQ and CSN negotiating teams. The documents are available in English and French on the Négo 2023 section of our website. 

Climate Strike – 23rd September 2022

As part of ongoing action around the climate crisis, Travailleuses et Travailleurs pour la Justice Climatique are inviting unions to consider participating in a Climate Strike on September 23rd. This issue was discussed at the recent Executive Council meeting and will be brought to the General Assembly on September 15th. If the General Assembly votes to hold a strike vote, it will be open to  all DTU members via Referendum. We encourage you to participate in the important discussions around this issue at the GA.

 

The DTU invites New Teachers to an information session on Monday 12th September at 4:30pm in the Rose Lounge (7C.5).

Come out to meet your Union representatives and get information on your contracts, workload and anything else you might be interested in.

Please RSVP at dtu@dtu.qc.ca

Bill 96

As you know, Bill 96 was passed into law in May, so the focus has now moved to implementation. Unfortunately, there has been no concrete information communicated regarding either the timeline or the process of implementation. It is our understanding that Dian Gauvin is involved in committees concerning the implementation, although those discussions are in-camera. We have been informed that the Ministry of Education will be providing more information to the English Colleges in October. 

Next week, the DTU Executive will be attending a special meeting of the Conseil Fédéral to discuss Bill 96. The Conseil Fédéral brings together representatives of all FNEEQ unions, not only Cegeps, but also universities and the private sector. The Executive will inform members of any updates from the meeting. 

College’s Memo on Continuing Education 

Shortly before the start of semester, the Continuing Education office sent out a Memo to Continuing Education faculty which contained many errors and included directives that contravened Quebec’s labour code. 

The DTU immediately contacted the Dean of Continuing Education, along with several other members of the College administration, but have yet to receive a response. Moreover, the Continuing Education office has not responded to the individual Continuing Education faculty who have directly reached out for clarification regarding certain issues, such as whether they will be paid to invigilate Final Exams. Clearly, this causes issues for teachers who are trying to plan their courses.

The DTU also sent an email to coordinators and Continuing Education faculty including some clarifications and corrections on sick leaves, Comprehensive Examinations, and the expectations around encadrement. We invite Continuing Education faculty to contact us with any specific questions relating to these issues. 

College Readiness

The return to classes this semester was once again marred by the College’s lack of readiness. We heard from teachers that classrooms and hallways were unclean and that there was overflowing garbage. Additionally, in the first week of semester, there were repeated issues with the elevators in the A/B wings and at one point none of the elevators were operational. Clearly this causes accessibility issues for teachers and students. The DTU will be raising these concerns with the College.

Dawson College Financial Aid Office Food Bank & Snack Centre

Stocked through the generosity of the Dawson College community, a small food bank is available for students whose monthly income does not cover all their needs.

 Please consider dropping off some items at the Financial Aid Office (Room 4E.2-8). They’re often in need of the following items:

  • canned proteins (salmon,
    tuna, sardines, turkey, chicken, ham,
    beef, etc)
  • canned vegetables (corn, peas, string beans,
    mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach,
    carrots, etc)
  • fruits (cocktail, pears, peaches,
    applesauce, mandarin, etc)
  • rice (long grain, basmati, Uncle Ben’s,
    Dainty, Minute Rice, etc)
  • pasta sauces
  • prepared soups, Chef-Boy-R-Dee,
    Kraft dinner, chili, 
  • personal hygiene items (soap, shampoo,
    pads, tampons, deodorant,
    toothpaste/brushes/mouthwash, etc)
  •  cereal, crackers, nuts, treats of all kinds
  • vegan/gluten free items

Dawson Teachers Union
3040 Sherbrooke, Westmount, Suite 8A.11
514-931-8731 ext 1799
dtu@dtu.qc.ca

 

owl Hoot 561

Posted on by admin

December 12, 2022                                                 Issue 561

Owl Hoots

Inside this issue

Holiday Party
Reminder: Period of Availability
 Sick Days for Cont. Ed and End of COVID Accommodations
Final Grade Deadline
CEEC Snubs Teachers
DTU holiday hours

The DTU Executive
Louisa Hadley, President
President@dtu.qc.ca
Brian Seivewright, VP Internal
VPInternal@dtu.qc.ca
Mélanie Beck, VP External
VPExternal@dtu.qc.ca
Antonia Fikkert, Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary_Treasurer@dtu.qc.ca
Emilie Richer, Grievance Officer
grievanceofficer@dtu.qc.ca

Administrative Assistant
Elisabeth Leone
Elisabeth@dtu.qc.ca
DTU email: dtu@dtu.qc.ca

Holiday Party

After almost three years, the DTU party returned on Friday, December 9. It was great to see so many people out enjoying themselves with their colleagues. And it was particularly nice to be able to celebrate not only our retiring teachers, but also three years of new perms!


We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers who helped with set up, decorations, lights, bartending, and clean up – your contributions helped make the party a success!

Reminder: Period of Availability

For day teachers and those teaching a Continuing Education charge course, the period of availability continues between semesters, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Since those fall on Sundays this year, the statutory holidays have been moved to Monday, December 26 and Monday, January 2.

Teachers are available to the College during this period and are expected to be able to come to Dawson with reasonable notice if needed.

With the exception of submitting final grades, Continuing Education teachers do not owe any availability to the College after the last day of their contract.

Sick Days for Cont. Ed.
and End of COVID Accommodations

Following the Government’s announcement at the beginning of November that the mandatory COVID isolation was being lifted, the DTU brought the issue of sick days for Continuing Education faculty to CRT. We deplored the unacceptably low number of sick days (two annually) available for Continuing Education faculty and denounced that these are usually only partially remunerated. Continuing Education teachers are having to choose between financial hardship or putting members of the community at risk when they fall ill. Considering the significant infection rates and the risk that this may pose to the broader community, we asked the College to consider increasing the number of paid sick days for Continuing Education teachers. The College responded that although it is true that the College can exceed what is minimally required by the Loi sur les Normes de Travail, it chooses not to.

Following the Government’s announcement at the beginning of November that the mandatory COVID isolation was being lifted, the DTU brought the issue of sick days for Continuing Education faculty to CRT. We deplored the unacceptably low number of sick days (two annually) available for Continuing Education faculty and denounced that these are usually only partially remunerated. Continuing Education teachers are having to choose between financial hardship or putting members of the community at risk when they fall ill. Considering the significant infection rates and the risk that this may pose to the broader community, we asked the College to consider increasing the number of paid sick days for Continuing Education teachers. The College responded that although it is true that the College can exceed what is minimally required by the Loi sur les Normes de Travail, it chooses not to.

Sick Days for Cont. Ed.
and End of COVID Accommodations

Following the Government’s announcement at the beginning of November that the mandatory COVID isolation was being lifted, the DTU brought the issue of sick days for Continuing Education faculty to CRT. We deplored the unacceptably low number of sick days (two annually) available for Continuing Education faculty and denounced that these are usually only partially remunerated. Continuing Education teachers are having to choose between financial hardship or putting members of the community at risk when they fall ill. Considering the significant infection rates and the risk that this may pose to the broader community, we asked the College to consider increasing the number of paid sick days for Continuing Education teachers. The College responded that although it is true that the College can exceed what is minimally required by the Loi sur les Normes de Travail, it chooses not to.

Following the Government’s announcement at the beginning of November that the mandatory COVID isolation was being lifted, the DTU brought the issue of sick days for Continuing Education faculty to CRT. We deplored the unacceptably low number of sick days (two annually) available for Continuing Education faculty and denounced that these are usually only partially remunerated. Continuing Education teachers are having to choose between financial hardship or putting members of the community at risk when they fall ill. Considering the significant infection rates and the risk that this may pose to the broader community, we asked the College to consider increasing the number of paid sick days for Continuing Education teachers. The College responded that although it is true that the College can exceed what is minimally required by the Loi sur les Normes de Travail, it chooses not to.

Reminder: Period of Availability

For day teachers and those teaching a Continuing Education charge course, the period of availability continues between semesters, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Since those fall on Sundays this year, the statutory holidays have been moved to Monday, December 26 and Monday, January 2.

Teachers are available to the College during this period and are expected to be able to come to Dawson with reasonable notice if needed.

With the exception of submitting final grades, Continuing Education teachers do not owe any availability to the College after the last day of their contract.

Final Grade Deadline

The deadline for all teachers to submit final grades is Friday, December 30. This deadline is the same whether you teach day courses or Continuing Education courses, and whether or not your course includes a final exam in the final examination period.

We have recently been in discussions with the College regarding the impact of intensive courses on the grade deadline. The Collective Agreement stipulates that there are only two regular semesters – Fall and Winter – and that the final grade deadline is 5 working days after the end of the semester (Clause 8-4.02). At Dawson, there are Fall semester intensive courses that are held in early January. The DTU’s position is that this extends the Fall semester and thus the final grade deadline should be 5 working days after the last intensive class ends. The College disagrees with this interpretation and has maintained that the grade deadline published in the Academic Calendar stands. We will be pursuing discussions with the College to ensure that our Collective Agreement is being respected.

CEEC Snubs Teachers

You may recall that at the end of November representatives from the Commission d’évaluation de l’enseignement collégial visited Dawson. Diane Gauvin sent an invitation to all members of the community to attend an open session to share their concerns with the Commission.

The CEEC is an advisory committee that provides recommendations to Cegeps and the Ministry of Education. The last time that Dawson went through the evaluation process with CEEC, it led to the imposition of the Summative Assessment in all courses. Since its implementation, we have regularly heard from teachers about the detrimental impacts of the Summative Assessment. Given this, the DTU encouraged its members to attend the open session with the CEEC and voice their concerns about the pedagogical implications of its decisions.

On November 23, a group of approximately 10 teachers, including several members of the DTU Executive, turned up at the Boardroom at the appointed time to meet with the CEEC. Things got off to a bad start as the CEEC members were packing up to leave and seemed surprised that teachers had come to meet them. They agreed to stay but only for 30 minutes, even though the meeting had been scheduled for an hour. However, the atmosphere was tense during the whole meeting and the chair of the CEEC seemed particularly hostile.

During the meeting, teachers asked for clarification on the mandate of the CEEC and raised concerns about the process, as well as the pedagogical implications of its recommendations. In particular, it was noted that the Dawson administration frequently presents recommendations from the CEEC as obligations that they have no choice but to implement. Several teachers also commented on the detrimental impact that the Summative Assessment has on student success and denounced that recommendations implemented on the advice of the CEEC are not determined and never approved by teachers.

The chair of the CEEC expressed surprise that teachers were not involved in the discussions, claiming that they had been presented as recommendations that had passed through Senate. One of the teachers present is currently serving as a Senator and was able to clarify that this was not the case. The CEEC repeatedly stated that their mandate is only to provide recommendations, and that any specific mechanisms implemented as a result of these recommendations are determined by the College.

While it was an extremely frustrating meeting, it was good to hear directly from the CEEC that their mandate is solely to recommend and that they expect that proposals that come from the College have gone through appropriate channels of faculty consultation and feedback. Next time our administration claims that its hands are tied and that they are simply implementing recommendations from the CEEC, we will know that this is not the case! Teachers, especially those involved in committees and Senate, should be pushing back on such claims and insisting on more active involvement from and consultation of all faculty in these processes – and not just a small group of faculty selected by the administration.

Dawson Teachers Union
3040 Sherbrooke, Westmount, Suite 8A.11
514-931-8731 ext 1799
dtu@dtu.qc.ca