Toronto Substitute Teachers Action Caucus Home | upcoming events | newsletters | questions for the OTBU Executive | Collective Bargaining Priorities | They Did it Again! | Toronto Substitute Teachers Grassroots Newsletter (in OSSTF District 12) Join the Substitute Teachers‚ Action Caucus. Call the Help Line at 416-588-9090 November 2004 - Uncensored. Produced by Toronto OTBU grassroots activists. Members Suffer While OTBU Executive Fiddles and Fibs "It's been the worst ever September and October for substitute teaching at the TDSB" say many members calling the Action Caucus Help Line. Concerning the size of the secondary schools OT dispatch list, confusion reigns in the face of conflicting claims. But one thing is crystal clear: members with no pension, members with scarcely any income are suffering. What is the response of Jennifer Mills and her executive to this situation? Mills tells members that there is little work due to the mild autumn weather. She says it's wise to look for employment elsewhere like real estate or tutoring. Shamefully, she answers members' desperation with evasion and falsehood. Instead of taking corrective action on the jobs crisis that her crew helped to create (by nixing the OT list cap), Mills and company conduct contract bargaining with non-elected negotiators and no mandate from members. They set up Occasional Teachers' Bargaining Unit committees filled with their personal appointees (excluding anyone who differs with them). They cancel membership in-put meetings, and conduct members‚ business in secret. They refuse to publish the contract survey results or executive minutes, and ignore members‚ petitions. They use the member-financed newsletter to disseminate misleading propaganda and poisonous libel. They have the gall to appeal for "solidarity" while they keep members in the dark, misrepresent what happened on September 21 (see below), and break every promise they made last spring about greater democracy and membership involvement. Ms. Mills and her entire executive, who were installed by OSSTF provincial office after a political purge of the OTBU in 2003, followed by a series of bogus, mail-in ballot votes, have displayed a cold indifference to the plight of the majority of members. By their contempt for democracy and freedom of expression, they have squandered any credibility they might have had. The only honorable thing for them to do now is to resign. OTBU members must take back our union; re-start negotiations based on democratic membership control, and restore job opportunities, benefits and decent working conditions. Come to the General Membership Meeting on Tuesday, December 7, 4:30 p.m. at 60 Mobile Drive, and help make change happen. The job you save may be your own. Get Involved in your Future Together we can restore Job Security, Decent Wages, Local Autonomy and Union Democracy. Join the Toronto Substitute Teachers' Action Caucus. Attend our monthly meetings. Please make a financial contribution to support our newsletter, our exciting new web site, and the telephone Help Line 416 - 588-9090. Send a cheque today to: Legal Defence Fund, 526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ontario M6G 3R4. What's the Truth about the size of the Secondary Dispatch List? On October 25, the OTBU president told a member that there are 1844 teachers on the TDSB secondary dispatch list -- of which 750 are retirees! According to OSSTF staff liaison officer Craig Brockwell, who quotes Chuck Hay, TDSB Central Coordinating Principal, Secondary Teaching, there were 1505 on the list then, and only 1234 on the list now. The story is... the school board is culling the list, removing the names of those who obtained contract teaching positions or who quit substitute teaching. But does that explain what happened to over 600 names in so short a time (if indeed the 1234 figure is correct)? In any case, the Board continues to recruit teachers to the OT list. We know this because we meet them every day. Most of the new recruits are retirees. So, even if the list is culled down to 1200 or so (where it was before the list cap was suspended and abandoned), how can regular O.T.s make a living if most of the daily substitute teaching assignments, and almost all the LTO jobs, go to retirees? When asked, Ms. Mills says she can do nothing about work distribution because she will not discriminate against retirees. Coincidentally, she is one of them. But what about the right of veteran, professional substitutes, and the new, young teacher substitutes, to make a living? Bargaining Farce, Behind Closed Doors On September 25 over fifty Toronto Occasional Teachers' Bargaining Unit (OTBU) members arrived at OSSTF provincial headquarters to attend a meeting advertised in the OTBU newsletter as a Toronto OTBU "Collective Bargaining Committee Meeting" (CBC). About half of the members in attendance were supporters of the democratic, grassroots Action Caucus ˆ ready to nominate and elect a committee chairperson and ready to vote for important contract demands, including restoration of the job security cap. This was not to be. OSSTF officials must have got wind of the Action Caucus mobilization. As a result, they declared that the advertised CBC meeting was not a CBC meeting after all -- it would be only an „information‰ meeting. That meant the OSSTF big shots, including President Rhonda Kimberley-Young, Executive Assistant Rosemary Clark and Negotiator Moe Jacobs, would talk at us for an hour or two about how they have again taken control of our local contract negotiations. There would be no election for the negotiating committee members, and no vote by OTBU members on contract issues. The top brass, flanked by the bureaucrats‚ choice, OTBU president Jennifer Mills, thought the assembled members would just sit there quietly and once again suffer manipulation, misrepresentation, and violation of our democratic rights. They thought wrong. Members stood up and insisted that the CBC meeting occur as advertised: that a chair be elected; and that a discussion on bargaining issues take place. The bureaucrats said no‚. They said they would record the names of members who wish to apply to join the CBC (they would decide who gets to join ˆ which is another violation of Bylaw 4 of the OTBU Constitution which says „Any member may become a member of the CBC by attending the first meeting of the school year.) They told us to sit down, be quiet and let them run our meeting. Members refused to be intimidated. We insisted on our right to have the meeting that was publicized. We insisted on the right of all members present to constitute the CBC. And we refused to budge. This was a blow struck for rank and file democracy. It seemed to rattle the head table. The bureaucrats declared the meeting adjourned. Then they packed up and left the room. About twenty members remained, held a lively discussion on contract issues, and approved a set of key contract demands, which you can see on our web site at: www.angelfire.com/un/torontosubstitutes Clearly, OSSTF officials and their OTBU Executive have a problem. Members show up to meetings -- which officials reluctantly call. Naturally, members want to discuss issues that affect our work and our lives. But OSSTF has a different agenda. That includes settling‚ our issues with Management on the cheap, and working to dissolve our unit into the full time teachers‚ bargaining unit where we would pay dues but have almost no audible voice. We cannot and will not allow them to do this without a long and hard struggle. Action Caucus members planned to ask Executive members a number of questions, but were unable to do so due to their walkout. Before leaving, OSSTF officials announced that they would convene the CBC in future, inviting whomever they choose. We served notice that we intend to be there, invited or not. After all, the contract issues they would be discussing belong to all OTBU members. Then they did it again. The people who control the Toronto OTBU scheduled another "first" meeting of the Toronto Occasional Teachers' CBC for October 4, and then they proceeded once again to cancel it. Most of the members who arrived at 60 Mobile Drive, from far and wide, were informed only on arrival that the meeting had been cancelled (no reason was given). And then we were tersely told to leave the building. Outraged members insisted on speaking to any OSSTF official about our urgent concerns -- especially the rapidly expanding OT dispatch list, the lack of work for non-pensioner substitute teachers at the TDSB, and the lack of democracy in the Toronto OTBU. OSSTF Associate General Secretary Wendy Bolt, accompanied by OSSTF lawyer Morris Green, were present in the lobby at provincial office. But they refused to listen to members' concerns. Nonetheless, they 'heard' members complain about the lack of work and income, and about the disrespectful and undemocratic actions of Jennifer Mills and her executive. Eventually, Ms. Bolt called the police, while Mr. Green quoted the Trespass Act. When the police arrived, they spoke to both sides. The police politely asked the OSSTF officials to talk to their dues-paying members. But Ms. Bolt and Mr. Green refused. So the members thanked the police for their efforts to mediate, and departed without incident. The Toronto OTBU executive, supported by Federation officials, appears to be running away from concerned members. The truth is, they can run, but they can't hide. The Substitute Teachers' Action Caucus will endeavor to keep you informed, and will be present when possible at any meeting where members' rights and interests are at stake. When the Dispatch System Went Down on Nov. 1.... A call for help was met with Cold Indifference By Rachel D. (Here is Proof of the narrow agenda and attitude of our New Executive towards its Members) On Monday, November 1, 2004 the call-out system went down and until late morning on Tuesday November 2nd, a great number of dailies were unable to obtain jobs or log into their job mailboxes. One of our members (concerned because every day of pay is essential to being able to pay her bills as teaching is her only source of income), called our president, Jennifer Mills at home at approximately 7:10 a.m. on November 2nd. The primary goal of the call was to find out if others were also having problems logging onto the system (during off call-out hours), and if others were able to secure jobs for the day. Jennifer's response was cold and mildly irritated that she was being bothered about this. She told the caller that since she was working that day, that this was none of her concern, and she did not care to know any details of what the situation might be. She suggested the caller phone the help desk after 9:30 a.m. (the time, according to Jennifer, that it opened). Not only would calling at that time have prevented the member from working that day, she was shocked that the president of the Occasional Teachers didn't even know when the hours of operation of the help desk were!!!!! It is common knowledge that the help desk takes calls from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. She was shocked at the level of indifference to her problem (especially after reading the official newsletter where Jennifer claims her caucus is there to help and serve the needs of every member!!!). At 8:00 a.m. she was still unable to access the system or the help desk, and really started to panic about being able to secure any job for the day. Knowing no other substitute teachers, and having no other contact info to call for help/support, she called Jennifer again, and was met with continued disinterest in her problem and a refusal to help her solve it. I wonder whether Jennifer would have been so indifferent to the issue if it had been something that affected her or her friends personally! Isn't the point of having a union executive to have people to call for help who will be there for you, to assist you? What exactly is she being paid to do, if not this? Proposed Amendments to the Toronto OTBU Constitution Unfortunately, the people now in control of the OTBU refuse to publish and circulate all the amendments we submitted, along with the rationale for each one, as submitted. They have tampered with the wording of the actual amendments, and while claiming there is a lack of space and funds to publish our rationale in their newsletter, they did publish their own misleading arguments in opposition to our amendments. Is this fair? For accurate information, visit the new web site of the Toronto Substitute Teachers' Action Caucus at: www.angelfire.com/un/torontosubstitutes Proposed Amendments #1 and #2 First submitted February 11, 2004, and re-submitted in May 2004. 1. Be It Resolved That the District 12 Secondary Occasional Teachers‚ Constitution be amended by deletion of current Articles 1 to 11 and substitution of proposed * Articles 1 to 10. (Moved by Barry Weisleder, Seconded by Janine Carter) 2. Be It Resolved That the District 12 Secondary Occasional Teachers‚ Constitution be amended by deletion of current Bylaws 1 to 8 and substitution of proposed * Bylaws 1 to10 and 12 to 15. (Moved by Barry Weisleder, Seconded by Janine Carter) * The proposed Articles and Bylaws are found in the previous Toronto OTBU Constitution, which was in force May 1998 through January 2004. Rationale for Amendments #1 and #2 A) The new OTBU constitution, imposed in January 2004, is grossly undemocratic. It reduced the requirement to hold General Membership Meetings to only once a year. Previously, General Meetings were held 4 or 5 times a year. This facilitated healthy membership inter-action and involvement, enabling members to hold their leaders accountable. The new constitution permits members to petition for a General Meeting. Such a binding petition was submitted by members in August 2004. But the current executive refused to convene a General Meeting until December ˆ nearly 4 months after the petition was submitted! In addition, the current executive asked for „provincial resumption of bargaining‰ (which means an OSSTF take over of local contract negotiations) back in June 2004. Why so early? They did it to avoid the obligation to hold a meeting where all members could attend, elect their bargaining team, and vote on contract issues and priorities. The executive called, then cancelled two meetings (September 21 and October 4) of the local Collective Bargaining Committee (a committee of volunteers which any member has the right to join). Instead, a handpicked, executive-appointed CBC now meets in secret. Meanwhile, many members are hard pressed to make a living due to the decline in teaching assignments and the 50%-plus increase in the number of teachers on the OT secondary dispatch list. By restoring the previous constitution, rank and file members will regain democratic control. Democracy will prevail through the mechanism of regular and more frequent General Meetings, through the direct election at General Meetings of the executive, the direct election of the bargaining team, and the direct election of OTBU representatives to a variety of internal and external bodies. Democracy will prevail through an open (non-censored) newsletter, and through the activation of OTBU standing committees, which will enable us to organize social events, P.D. seminars, union steward training and contract interpretation work shops, and many other beneficial activities. B) The President and the entire Executive should be elected at a democratic Membership meeting, not via a dubious mail-in ballot procedure. Many problems occurred with mail-in balloting during the so-called contract ratification vote in November 2003. Hundreds of active members did not get ballots. There was no positive identification of voters. We don‚t know whether any person who voted, and who mailed in a ballot, was actually the member to whom the ballot was sent. The secrecy of the ballots was violated at OSSTF provincial office. Envelopes containing ballots were opened before scrutineers arrived for the official count. Scores of ballots were disqualified and were not counted. In the mail-in vote for Executive in May 2004, barely 25% of the electorate voted, 66 ballots were disqualified, and the vote was preceded by OSSTF mailing out negative information about several of the candidates seeking office. It is unlikely that most of the voting members ever met, let alone questioned, most of the candidates seeking office. This problem does not arise at a direct, in-person vote at a General Meeting. An election that is not based on the principle of an informed electorate, an election that is not seen to be fair and clean, has little credibility. C) The size of the Executive should be restored to fourteen (14) positions. The reduction to nine (9) decreases membership involvement and retards the development of new leaders. It leaves several of the eight TDSB dispatch zones without a designated executive member-at-large, thus reducing service, direct contact and support to members. D) An unsuccessful candidate for office (for example, one who losses with 49% of the votes) should be able to run for other executive offices on a separate ballot. But under the current mail-in ballot procedure, a candidate defeated for a senior executive position would be able to run only for one other office, and to do so, would have to run in advance for both offices on the same ballot! This causes wasted votes, accidental acclamations, and massive confusion in the voting process. It keeps candidates with substantial membership support off the executive, thus depriving the union of the talent, energy and ideas they may offer. Alternatively, direct voting at a membership meeting not only allows us to verify who the voters are; it fosters leadership accountability, and direct participation by members. Voting at a meeting is far less costly than voting by a mail-in ballot procedure; it is cleaner, swifter, more efficient, and far more democratic. E) The Bargaining Team should be elected by the members at a general membership meeting where debate on bargaining issues can occur. The new constitution provides that our negotiators are appointed by an advisory group of volunteers known as the collective bargaining committee. Even worse is the fact that members no longer get to vote on the contract demands. The executive determines the demands package. And the Executive can circumvent the local CBC by applying prematurely for OSSTF provincial resumption of bargaining, as the Executive did in July 2004. General membership control of bargaining must be restored. That's what it will take to win back the rights and benefits we‚ recently lost, especially the job security cap. F) Representatives to TDSB Consultation Committee, Health and Safety Committees, Labour Council and other bodies should be elected by the membership, not appointed by the executive. The selection of our Health and Safety reps. should not be subject to the approval of the District 12 H&S committee, but should be exclusively the choice of the OTBU members. G) Member grievances should not be subject to the approval or veto of a Grievance Officer (the First V.P.), or of a Grievance Appeals Committee consisting mostly of members of the Executive. Provincial OSSTF already has the power to veto or abandon grievances. The Executive should be dedicated to the support of members, and not be subservient to the priorities of the provincial office. H) All important votes, elections and decisions should occur at General Meetings. The new constitution strips the General Meeting of most of its rights and duties. This can result only in a decline in attendance, and a withering of the local organization ˆ a trend considerably exacerbated by the reluctance of the current executive to convene timely and frequent General Meetings. The new constitution is far less democratic than its predecessor. The new constitution was repeatedly promoted in the official OTBU newsletter. No contrary or critical opinions on the subject were published there. The new constitution was adopted at a meeting held under the intimidating circumstances of provincial OSSTF Trusteeship, convened at a very strange location, far from any secondary school in the TDSB, at a cost of over $1200. Why? The original OTBU constitution served members well for over five years. Restore the democratic OTBU Constitution. Restore local democracy now by voting for Amendments #1 and #2. Amendment #3 Proposed Constitutional Amendment to current Bylaw 1 Be It Resolved That the District 12 Secondary Occasional Teachers' Constitution be amended by deletion of Bylaw 1 - Supplementary Fees or Assessments. Moved by Chris Sojka, seconded by Barry Weisleder. Rationale for rescinding Bylaw 1: Presently, the OTBU has a financial surplus of over $100,000* in the bank. The majority of members, on the other hand, have seen their work opportunities decline and their income plunge. We can ill afford a special levy of 50 cents a day. Those who control the OTBU now use our levy money to rent an apartment in a private residential building, in other words, in a non-public location. They convene OTBU meetings at difficult-to-reach sites. Since OSSTF provincial office seized OTBU funds in October 2002, and even more so since Trusteeship was imposed on the OTBU in April 2003, the levy has not been used to benefit OTBU members. We are the poorer for it, financially and politically. The OTBU Special Levy generates funds excessive to our needs, contrary to our interests, and beyond what we can afford. It should be abolished now. * This figure is an estimate owing to the lack of a Toronto OTBU financial report from the Executive or provincial OSSTF since May 2004. Amendment #4 Proposed Constitutional Amendment to current Bylaw 3 Be It Resolved That the District 12 Secondary Occasional Teachers' Constitution be amended by addition to read as follows: "Bylaw 3.3 A General Meeting may be called „3.3.2 by fifty members upon request in writing to the Secretary, and in that event the General Meeting shall be held within 35 days of receipt of the request in writing." Moved by Barry Weisleder, seconded by Janine Carter. Rationale for Amendment to current Bylaw 3: OTBU Bylaw 3.3.2 empowers members to petition for a General Meeting. Its intent is to facilitate a swift and timely convening of a General Meeting, especially when the OTBU Executive is reluctant to call a General Meeting and at least 50 OTBU members want one to be called as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the current Bylaw 3 does not state precisely when a meeting must be convened in response to such a petition -- notwithstanding the clear intent to empower members to compel a quick meeting call. The OTBU Constitution requires 30 days notice to members of a General Meeting. This amendment, which would compel the executive to convene a meeting within 35 days (nearly two calendar months) following receipt of a petition by 50 or more members, gives the executive ample time (a full week) to issue the required notice. The need for this amendment is demonstrated by the fact that such a petition was submitted on August 17, 2004, and the executive refused to convene a General Meeting on any date prior to December. A member‚s right to petition, and by so doing to compel a constitutional course of action is rendered meaningless if the body being petitioned has impunity to ignore or delay unduly its duty to comply with the intent of the constitution. This amendment will further clarify and reinforce the duty to comply. Hamilton Elementary O.T.s Approve Strike Mandate Members of the Hamilton-Wentworth occasional teacher local voted overwhelmingly on Nov. 2 to authorize strike action if their bargaining demands are not met. The OT 2002-2004 collective agreement has not been settled because the school board is offering only 3 per cent over the term of the contract as opposed to 6 per cent over two years negotiated in other collective agreements. The board has received the money from the provincial government but is not passing it on to pay for occasional teacher salary increases. The board offer would mean that elementary teachers are paid substantially less than their secondary counterparts. (This report is from the ETFO web site.) OTBU Executive Ignored Membership Petition Jennifer Mills, the OSSTF-installed president of the OTBU, acknowledged in mid-August that she received a petition signed by more than 50 OTBU members requiring that a General Membership meeting be held prior to October 7. Her response: "The Executive will call a meeting before Christmas." Despite calling a General Membership Meeting for December 7, the Executive is still in violation of Bylaw 3 of the Toronto OTBU Constitution. New charges have been laid at OSSTF Judicial Council on this issue. Stay tuned. OSSTF Opposes Ending Mandatory Retirement OSSTF presented a Brief to the Ministry of Labour Mandatory Retirement Project public consultation, addressing the Ontario government‚s stated intention to end mandatory retirement at age 65. Here are some excerpts from the OSSTF Brief, as posted on the OSSTF web site: „...As a union we also have serious concerns about the implications of this potential change and urge the Ministry to consider these implications before taking this drastic step. „In general, OSSTF does not believe that Ontario should address its areas of skills shortages by calling upon the over-65 population to continue working past the age when most people wish to enjoy retirement. „Union renewal may be impacted if leaders, particularly in occasional teacher bargaining units, choose to stay on for years rather than training replacement union representatives." „OSSTF sees no reason to remove the provisions that deal with age in the Education Act, the Employment Standards Act, or the Insurance Act. Another possible solution would be to enable unionized sectors such as ours to deal with cases of individuals who choose to work past age 65 on a case by case basis as we now deal with other individual cases of accommodation under the Human Rights Code." „Ending mandatory retirement would increase the workforce over the age of 65 and cause additional claims to be submitted through the Worker Safety and Insurance System." Workers Launch Solidarity and Union Democracy Coalition Activists from 9 different unions, including CAW, CUPE, UFCW, OSSTF, plus 8 other organizations, including the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, the Metropolitan Hotel Workers‚ Committee, the Toronto Substitute Teachers‚ Action Caucus, the NDP Socialist Caucus, and Global Community ˆ a multi-ethnic community-based organization, met at OISE on September 16 to launch a movement to fight labour concessions and to restore union democracy. Participants unanimously approved a Basis of Unity for the Workers‚ Solidarity and Union Democracy Coalition. It argues that „A very disturbing pattern of union concessions to the bosses‚ agenda is taking hold of the labour movement across Canada. Even unions with a progressive‚ reputation have recently reached contract settlements that erode or utterly abandon job security, wage protection, health benefits and severance pay∑‰ and „∑ that is why we need Workers‚ Solidarity more than ever." Among the chief goals of the Coalition are these: to resist labour cutbacks, support struggles for union democracy, and turn the unions into fighting organizations against corporate power. The new Coalition's Action Plan rejects the tired old model of the so-called „loyal opposition‰. It boldly declares that Workers‚ Solidarity will „encourage independent action by the rank and file to challenge inadequate or treacherous leaderships." The Action Plan also includes efforts to mobilize support for local union struggles, build a common front with other workers‚ action caucuses, such as the B.C. Workers‚ Fight Back Caucus, and prepare a coordinated intervention at upcoming conventions of the Canadian Labour Congress (June 2005 at Montreal) and the Ontario Federation of Labour (November 2005 at Toronto). Why Won‚t the District 12 Voice Editorial Board Publish This Letter? Just ask Earl Burt at 416-393-8900 - Here’s the Letter Dear Editor, The article "Activism on parade" in D12 Voice (October 2004, page 8) presents a somewhat incomplete picture. The writers claim that „prior to amalgamation, members from the six legacy districts, to varying degrees, attended the Labour Day parade, but not as official members of the Toronto and District Labour Council." Readers of D12 Voice may find it interesting to learn that substitute teachers at the former City of Toronto Board of Education affiliated as a bargaining unit to Toronto‚s labour council in 1984 and participated in all subsequent Labour Day marches. Immediately following amalgamation of school boards across Metro in early 1998, the new Toronto Occasional Teachers‚ Bargaining Unit (OTBU) of District 12 OSSTF affiliated to labour council. (This preceded STBU affiliation to labour council by about two years.) With our banner held high, OTBU members walked and rode in every Labour Day parade. For three years in a row, the OTBU contingent won the Labour Council‚s award for either the best, or second best decorated vehicle in the procession. OTBU proud participation, with our own banner and contingent, continued even during the undemocratic provincial OSSTF-imposed trusteeship in 2003. Sadly, there was no sign of an OTBU contingent in the September 6, 2004 parade. In solidarity, Barry Weisleder, President 1984 - 2002, Toronto Substitute Teachers Contact Us: Hotline: 416 - 588 - 9090 | email: Substitute Teachers' Action Caucus