- Work-to-rule, partial walk-out, and full walk-out are all forms of strike.
- In work-to-rule, employees perform only the duties that have been assigned, strictly adhering to policy and contract obligations. They continue to receive full salary.
- In a partial walk-out, employees refuse to perform some of their assigned duties. In this situation, the employer may reduce salary in proportion to the withdrawn duties.
- In a full walk-out strike, employees choose to walk the picket line instead of performing their assigned duties and do not receive their salary for that period of time.
In work-to-rule, teachers continue to teach their classes and perform duties as assigned.
- Yes.
- Every employee has the legally protected right to choose to participate, or not to participate, in any Union activity including work-to-rule or other strike action. Article 3.02 of the collective agreement between OPSEU and the Colleges provides:
- The Colleges and the Union agree that there will be no intimidation, discrimination, interference, restraint or coercion exercised or practiced by either of them or their representatives or members because of … an employee's activity or lack of activity in the Union … .
- Similarly, subsection 53 (5) of the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008, provides:
- No person or employee organization shall seek by intimidation or coercion to compel any person to … to refrain from exercising any other rights under this Act or from performing any obligations under this Act.
- The right to strike includes the right not to strike.
- The collective agreement requires teachers to perform such work as is necessary to deliver their assigned courses to students in accordance with the course outline to the best of their ability and the standard required by the College.
- Academic employees are paid an annual salary for 10 months worth of work regardless of whether they have a SWF or not.
- The SWF is not designed to record actual hours of work. It is merely a mechanism to ensure the consistent assignment of work across the system.
- A SWF is not designed to speak to the whole of the work individual teachers do to fulfill their responsibilities within the college. It is simply a tool for consistently assigning courses across the system. For example, the SWF attributes the same notional preparation and evaluation time in every week. However, as teachers know, there will be some weeks when less evaluation or preparation occurs and others when more is required.
- No, your e-mail signature represents the College and cannot be misused for non-College purposes.
- For further clarification, please review your College “acceptable use policy” and brand guidelines.
- The introduced terms are not retroactive with the exception of salary increase.
- When a new SWF is assigned which includes coordinator duties, the duties will be documented in writing. If you received your SWF prior to the introduction of terms on December 13, it is not required.
- No, coordinators assigned to attend orientation and other meetings must do so even during work-to-rule.
- In keeping with the professional responsibility of the teacher, Article 11.08 requires that teachers and the College identify activities to be undertaken during the non-teaching period. Teachers may not unreasonably withhold their agreement to such activities. Where a teacher unreasonably withholds their agreement, they may be directed to perform that activity subject to their right to file a grievance.
- The Union, the Colleges, and all employees are prohibited from taking any negative action against any employee because of that employee’s individual decision to participate, or not to participate, in the activities of the Union. That includes work-to-rule and other strike action. The Colleges will consider any breach of this provision to be a very serious matter. Should any employee experience bullying, intimidation or coercion related to their choice to participate or not, they should report the matter to their Human Resources Department as soon as possible.
