FAQ

No. 

Section 6.2.3 of the Full Time Collective Agreement states that the College must provide at least three (3) weeks' notice for changes in scheduled shifts, except in situations beyond its control (p. 16).

If your manager asks you to start your day later to cover work after your regular shift ends(e.g., asking you to work 9:30am-5:30pm instead of your regular 8:30am-4:30pm), you must work your regular shift and request overtime unless given three weeks' notice of the change.

Even if agreeing to a last-minute shift change feels beneficial in the moment, doing so without enforcing our Collective Agreement harms you and your coworkers in the long term.

We Lose Out on Overtime Pay

• We lose out on overtime compensation when you don't enforce the agreement.

We Weaken Employee Protections

• If we accept schedule changes without proper notice, it allows for improperly scheduled shift changes to become normal practice, weakening everyone's ability to claim either fair notice of their shift change or access to overtime.

• Ignoring the Collective Agreement could lead the College to argue that these protections aren’t necessary, ultimately undermining our bargaining strength.

We Face Understaffing and Burnout

• Allowing informal shift changes hides the College’s need for either more staff or proper scheduling, meaning increased stress and burnout for overworked employees who face increasingly unprotected scheduling.

When am I entitled to maternity leave? 

If you have been working for at least thirteen weeks before the expected date of delivery, you are entitled to unpaid leave as per Ontario’s Employment Standards Act whether you are full time permanent or App D. 

How do I get paid during my maternity leave? 

You can apply for maternity/paternity Employment Insurance as either a full-time or app D employee. You are likely eligibe if you have worked 600 hours in the past 52 weeks.

When am I eligible for a top-up from the college to my maternity leave EI payment?  

As a full-time permanent employee, you are entitled to the Supplementary Unemployment Benefit (detailed in 12.6.5 of the Collective Agreement) if you  

• Are entitled to pregnancy and/or parental leave under Article 12.6 

• provide the College with proof that you have applied for and are eligible to receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits

Supplementary Unemployment Benefit (detailed in 12.6.5 of the Collective Agreement) means that

• During the Employment Insurance (EI) waiting period (usually the first week or two of leave, when you don’t yet receive EI benefits), the college will pay you 93% of your normal weekly salary to ensure you still receive most of your regular income during this initial period.

• Once your EI payments start (typically 55% of your salary, as per the EI program), the college will "top up" your income to 93% of your normal weekly salary for up to 51 weeks.

  • You’ll receive your EI benefit directly from EI.

  • The college will add the difference between your EI payments and 93% of your regular pay.

• even if you opt to stretch out your EI benefits over a longer period (e.g., extended parental leave with a lower payment per week), the college calculates its top-up as if you had chosen the standard EI benefit option. The college does this to ensure it end up paying you more if you choose to extend your EI benefits.

• The total top-up will never exceed 93% of your normal pay, regardless of how much you receive from EI or any other earnings during the leave.

Do you get the mat leave top up if you are Appendix D?  

You are not entitled to the section 12.6.5 Supplementary Unemployment Benefit as an Appendix D employee, as according to the Appendix D section of the Collective, “No other provision of the Collective Agreement shall apply to Appendix D employees unless otherwise stated in this Appendix” (p. 111)--- and the supplementary unemployment benefit is not included. 

How long do I have to wait after coming back from one parental leave to go on another parental leave? 

• You are eligible for maternity leave if you have been continuously employed for at least 13 weeks before the expected due date of the next child according to the Employment Standards Act. This applies regardless of whether you've recently returned from a previous leave, and there is no specific requirement to wait a certain amount of time between maternity leaves. 

• BUT if you want the leave to be paid, you must have worked enough insurable hours (at least 600 hours in the 52 weeks before the new claim or since your last EI claim started). That’s usually about 16-17 weeks of full-time work.

• If you’ve recently returned from leave and don’t meet the 600-hour threshold, you may not qualify for EI benefits again.

• As for the college’s top-up, to be eligible, you must provide the College with proof that you have applied for and are eligible to receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, so you must work the 600 hours in 52 weeks according to the ESA to gain this benefit. 

Does my maternity leave contribute to my probation period?
No. The period of a leave is not included when determining whether an employee has completed a probationary period. If an employee was on probation at the start of a leave, the employee must complete the probationary period after returning to work.

If this is a change in your assigned regular full-time hours, then yes, management has the right to make working on certain days of the week mandatory. In the full-time collective agreement, they are granted the right to assign  “the scheduling of assignments and work” (Section 3.1-Management Functions, p. 3). 

However, that being said, the College has to do its best to give you appropriate notice of a shift change. At a minimum, if this is a minor change, it should be giving you 3 weeks' notice. According to Section 6.2.3- Notice of Shift Change, “The College will give at least three (3) weeks' notice with respect to changes in scheduled shifts except in circumstances beyond its control.  The College further agrees that where major changes in shift schedules (including new shift schedules) are to be implemented, it will first discuss such changes with the Union College/Campus Committee and hear any representations by it provided such representations are made promptly and will attempt, in any such case, to give at least four (4) weeks' notice” (p. 16). 

If the College is asking for you to work overtime, you can decline to take the overtime, but it is expected that employees cooperate to ensure the needs of the college are met regarding overtime. Your rights around overtime are explained in Section 6.6.5-Overtime Rights, p. 18. 

Do Appendix D employees gain seniority?

Yes,  but is applied only after they are appointed to a regular full time position and have completed the probationary period . As per Appendix D point 9 (p. 111), Appendix D employees are credited with seniority for their time worked if they are appointed to a regular bargaining unit position. This credit is based on full-time equivalence (261 days of work equals one year of seniority)

Does Appendix D time contribute towards the probation period?

No, Appendix D time does not count toward the probationary period. Employees appointed to full-time positions must complete the probationary period as outlined in Article 14.1 (typically 6 months, but the college can waive or reduce it) before their seniority is credited.

The probationary period is six months within a twelve-month period, as per Article 14.1. The college has the discretion to reduce this period.

Does my maternity leave contribute to finishing my probation period?
No. The period of a leave is not included when determining whether an employee has completed a probationary period. If an employee was on probation at the start of a leave, the employee must complete the probationary period after returning to work.

The provisions of the Collective Agreement do not allow for multiple primary work locations (articles 15 and 17 consistently reference only one primary work location, and the collective must be interpreted harmoniously), so you are entitled to mileage for travel to any secondary location, even if you start your day there.

Here’s how you can calculate your mileage rights, depending on your route:

1. Starting at your Primary Campus and Traveling to a Secondary Work Assignment Location:
   You are entitled to mileage for the full round trip, meaning from your primary campus to the secondary location and back.

2. Traveling Directly from Home to a Secondary Work Assignment Location:
   In this case, the mileage will be calculated as the difference between your usual commute to your primary campus and the actual distance to the secondary location from your home.

   • If your regular commute is 10 km, but travelling directly to the secondary location is 15 km from your home, you’ll be entitled to 5 km of mileage for that trip.

   • If you travel directly home from the secondary location, the mileage will again be the difference between the distance to the home campus and the actual distance travelled.

According to 12.2.1 of the Collective Agreement, "Leaves of absence for religious leave may be granted at the discretion of the College, in accordance with existing human rights standards regarding accommodations, without loss of regular salary. Where leave of absence for religious reasons is denied, reasons shall be given in writing to the applicant where requested" (p. 35).

You may ask for this to be considered paid personal leave and not a use of either vacation or lieu hours.

No. Section 6.2.1 of the Full Time Collective Agreement states that  "there shall be no split shifts during the term of this Agreement" (p. 15).

A split shift is a workday that is divided into two or more parts, where an employee has a break between shifts but is not compensated for the entire time. For example, if you were scheduled to work from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, and then had to return for a workshop from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM, this would be a split shift if you were only paid for the hours actually worked (8:30 AM to 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM) — a total of 8 hours.

• In this case, you must be paid continuously from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM, resulting in 12 hours of pay, even though there is a gap between your shifts.

According to Section 6.6.5 of the Full Time Collective Agreement, “The Colleges agree to attempt to distribute available overtime work as equitably as practicable amongst qualified employees in the work groups in which overtime work is required…Where an employee claims improper distribution of overtime … and such claim is either agreed to or determined to be valid, the College's obligation shall be limited to offering such employee the next opportunities to perform scheduled overtime work in their work group…until such time as the inequity has been addressed.”

• There is no set system for determining who is offered overtime beyond the goal of having it be equitable and practicable. Thus, it is fair to ask your manager to be open about how they are determining the scheduling of overtime. 

• If you are concerned about potentially being passed over for opportunities and feel your treatment is inequitable, you must first get the college to agree that your concern is valid, and at that point, you will be given the next chance to perform overtime until the inequity issue is dealt with. 

• If you have concerns about the distribution of overtime, please reach out to a steward for further guidance.

College of Applied Arts and Technology Support Staff 

Any member in good standing with the union can become a steward. To become a steward you must attend a meeting and have someone nominate you to be a steward in an unrepresented area.

To become an officer, you must first become a steward. After this, if there are any openings among the officers, a person may be nominated to run for an officer position. If more than 1 person is nominated to the same position an election will be held, with a short opportunity to promote ones vision for the position.

Robert’s Rules of Order is a comprehensive manual of parliamentary procedure. It was first created in 1876 by Henry Martyn Robert, an U.S. Army officer. The purpose of these rules is to assist assemblies (such as boards of directors, organizations, and local governments) in conducting their business efficiently and fairly. Here are some key points about Robert’s Rules of Order:

1. Main or Principal Motions: These motions are made to bring a specific subject before the assembly for consideration. They are debatable, subject to amendment, and can have subsidiary motions applied to them. Examples include resolutions and proposals1.

2. Incidental Main Motions: These motions are related to the business of the assembly or its past/future actions. For instance, accepting or adopting a committee report on a referred subject is an incidental main motion1.

3. Objection to Consideration: An objection to considering an original main motion can be sustained by a two-thirds vote. However, this rule does not apply to incidental main motions1.

4. Urgent Matters: Only urgent matters may interrupt a speaker during discussions2.

5. One Motion at a Time: Only one motion can be discussed at a time2.

For more information on Robert's Rules you can see the Robert's Rules definition page on the OPSEU page here. These rules serve as a valuable resource for maintaining order and facilitating effective decision-making at OPSEU functions.

Article 9.5 of the Full Time Collective Agreement states

• Each employee will be entitled to take up to three (3) paid professional development days per year.

• Such leave shall be used to enhance the employee’s transferable job skills and can include such activities as attending seminars, participating in College staff development activities, job shadowing, and other legitimate training and education activities.

• The employee will submit a written application to their Supervisor outlining the purpose of the professional development and the expected skill enhancement contemplated from the activity. 

• Such requests will not be unreasonably denied. 

• Employees are required to join the CAAT plan.

• The pension plan includes a lifetime income in retirement, inflation protection, and survivor benefits.

• For more information you can check out the members portal of the CAAT pension plan website here.

A grievance is a formal allegation that the employer has violated the collective agreement or labour law. 

There are three kinds of grievance:

• Individual Grievance

  • one person grieves a management action has violated their rights (eg. unjust discipline or denial of earned overtime) 

• Group Grievance

  • a group grieves together about a management action which has hurt them all (eg.  refusal to give employees a statutory holiday) 

• Policy Grievance

  • the union (usually our president) grieves that a management action violates the agreement (eg.  a new attendance policy or contracting out)

The grievance process is outlined in Article 18 of the Full Time Collective Agreement. Grieving is healthy, and using the process when agreement cannot be reached with the employer can bring justice for all parties. 

OPSEU dues are 1.375% of your gross salary. In other words, for every $1000.00 you earn your dues are $13.75. Dues are 100% tax deductible.

For full-time employees, the first six years you are entitled to 15 working days of vacation a year. After that, you will accrue additional vacation days for continuous service up to a maximum of 30 working days after 25 years of continuous work.

Vacation entitlement is detailed in Article 11.1 of the Full Time Collective Agreement.

On average, union members experience improved job security, vacation pay, hours of work, pay equity (Khattar, 2021), satisfaction ()health and drug coverage (Petach & Wyant, 2023), health (Leigh & Chakalov, 2021), and safety than  non-unionized workers experience on average. OPSEU/SEFPO also offers its members educational and leadership opportunities, discounted cell phone plans, home and car insurance and travel and group discounts.

The union is an organization we are all members of, and together we come together to solve workplace problems. We pool resources to afford ourselves expertise in law, health and safety, and human rights-- all help us protect ourselves by ensuring our employer treats us fairly.

We work together to make change happen. Our dues pay for legal resources when needed, education for members so that we can learn to stand up for our rights, and fund strike pay when needed.

Your pay band is determined by your position description form's (PDF's) core point rating, which quantifies your skills and education according to this guide.  

As of 2024, our collective agreements do not mention parking. Colleges across the province negotiate the collective agreement together, and not all colleges share parking as a concern, so it has not historically gotten traction in collective bargaining. After the province removed funding for parking upkeep, Conestoga decided to charge to keep up the lots. Sustainable alternatives to driving to work are available to employees through various corporate discounts via Travelwise.