Dear colleagues,
We are close to the end of an eventful year, to say the least. This last bulletin for 2019–2020 includes information about the ongoing collective agreement negotiations, a report from the executive’s meeting with senior administrators, a reminder of the ongoing IPESA consultation, and a few other news items.
We worked hard through difficult conditions. Some of us are still working on summer courses. We will all truly need the vacation period to get our energy back, and to prepare and arrive ready in the fall. We remind you to focus on your health.
COVID-19 Concerns
The following link outlines the preoccupations of teachers as expressed during Regroupement Cégep meetings and acknowledged and reemphasized by our federation, the FNEEQ-CSN.
As its text is only available in French, here is a rapid translation to English:
Teachers from FNEEQ-CSN-affiliated colleges are preparing for the fall of 2020 with the success and academic perseverance of students and the welcoming of those who come from high school as their main concerns. “The winter session was able to end without too many bumps thanks to the rigour and the important adaptive work that teachers were able to do in a hurry, despite significant constraints,” explains Caroline Quesnel, President of the FNEEQ-CSN.
However, teachers have found that the shift to virtual mode has a deleterious effect on the motivation of many students. “Pedagogical supervision and the teacher-student relationship play a fundamental role in school perseverance. Unfortunately, remote communication has its limits: it makes it much more difficult to supervise, which is not without consequences for students, especially those who are experiencing particular difficulties,” says Yves de Repentigny, vice-president of the FNEEQ-CSN for Regroupement Cégep.
It is with this in mind that the delegates of the FNEEQ-CSN Regroupement Cégep ask that, for the courses of the fall semester, the teaching in attendance be privileged over the virtual mode in order to establish a meaningful and stable pedagogical relationship. This, of course, without losing sight of health and safety to the extent that public health recommendations would allow. For example, larger groups could use movie theatres, community centres, churches or other facilities large enough to provide physical distance. It would even be possible to teach outside in good weather!
In particular, we must be careful to offer the laboratories and stages in attendance, since they are essential for the development of appropriate behaviours and know-how that cannot be developed in a virtual way. “If education is truly a priority, the government must provide us with the means and resources to ensure optimal teaching and learning conditions, because we are, pandemic or not, the Quebec of tomorrow,” concludes Yves de Repentigny.
To achieve the rentrée 2020 in the context of the pandemic, you will also find attached the guidelines prepared by the FNEEQ for unions.
Nego Priorities
The list of sectoral table bargaining priority demands has been adopted at Regroupement cégep meetings of May 15 and 21. (see attached) Some demands were added during those meetings, most notably for the resources and funding (see 16 and 17). The negotiations are ongoing at the central and sectoral tables.
Parking Pass
Many of you have expressed concerns about the campus parking pass for this semester. We were told that the College is looking at the possibility of issuing reimbursements or credits. We will let you know if we have more information.
VCTA Membership
All faculty pays dues to the union and is protected by the Collective Agreement. All faculty is welcome at General Assemblies and all open VCTA meetings. If you wish to vote at General Assemblies you need to be a union member. If you wish to become a voting member, please send us an e-mail and note that you will bring us the $2 fee when you can, to our office C-101.
IPESA Consultation
We would like to remind all departments that we are currently in a consultation period for the new IPESA. The deadline is now Sept 4th 2020. Please give it the attention it needs. We will have to work with this IPESA for quite a few years. Please send us your departmental comments and feedback.
We have attached the following documents:
– The draft IPESA with highlights on our concerns.
– The consultation survey.
– Reports from 2 departments (Humanities & Commerce).
Meeting with Administration
As we have mentioned in a previous news bulletin, the VCTA Executive had asked for a meeting with the senior administration at Vanier to discuss planning for the fall. At this meeting, which took place on June 10th, the VCTA Executive was able to present the concerns that you forwarded to us.
We emphasized the fact that communication was not always what it should have been this past semester, and we wanted to be reassured that, when the ministry does decide what the fall semester will look like, the administration will communicate this clearly to our members as soon as possible and to be able to assure teachers that appropriate health and safety measures will be taken. Until then, teachers must be prepared for on-line teaching as well as the possibility of some in-class teaching.
The Director General assured us that the College is working on a detailed phase-three plan that will take into account the evolution of the public health and ministry directives. He said that he hoped to be able to send this to the community sometime during the next couple of weeks.
We transmitted the particular technological concerns and requests that some of you shared with us, and we were told that the administration will follow up on them and get back to us. If there is equipment that you would like the College to provide to you over the summer, you can transmit these requests to your faculty dean.
The College repeated the position that was stated in its memos regarding intellectual property. Teachers maintain all of their collective agreement rights regarding their class notes. However, the College made clear that they may not be able to ensure that these rights are protected if teachers share their material on web platforms like YouTube. The College also informed us that some students had been suspended or expelled for certain inappropriate on-line activities, such as zoom bombs.
Finally, we expressed our disappointment with the College’s position thus far with regard to teachers who have to prepare on-line summer school courses. We had asked at CRT (Labour Relations Committee) that special consideration be given to these teachers as they had very little time to prepare these courses. The College responded that they had not all been aware of this decision and that they would first have to inform themselves of the challenges involved. We agreed to provide them with the relevant information.
At our request, the College agreed to meet with us in the fall. We will continue to insist, in all of our discussions with them, that the College do all it can in relation to teachers’ autonomy, health, and safety.
Petition Against Bill 61
We encourage you to sign the following petition to highlight that “science has been telling us for years that the environment must be the driving force behind our reconstruction, for the resilience of our societies.”
For any urgent matter, you can contact us at vcta@vaniercollege.qc.ca, and we will respond as soon as possible.
Stay safe, stay positive, and have a wonderful summer.
Your VCTA Executive
