CUPE PERMANENT ORIENTATION

CUPE PERMANENT
ORIENTATION

CONTENTS
•   Pay information
•   Benefits
•   Seniority
•   Collective agreement
•   Performance appraisals
•   Job postings
•   Miscellaneous

Pay information - wages
• Pay-days - every second Friday
• Increment dates - three months, 12 months, 24 months
• Wage ranges are as per Schedule ‘A’
• Current custodian rate - $21.61 to $22.77 per hour
• Last increase for CUPE was Sept. 1, 2020, which was a 1%
  increase
• For shift premiums and allowances, please refer to Articles 18.06,
  18.07, 18.08, 18.09, 18.10, of the CUPE Collective Agreement
• The next scheduled increase is for Sept. 1, 2021

Pay information – vacation pay
• In accordance with article 20 of the CUPE collective agreement
• Calculated based on the vacation fiscal year - July 1 to June 30
• CUPE employees earn vacation six months in advance of being
  able to take it (e.g. - for 2021 vacation time, if the earning period is
  July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, you are eligible to begin taking this
  vacation time in on Jan. 1, 2021)
• Earned vacations are taken during the calendar year
• Article 20.03 - “Permanent employees who have more than one (1)
  year of continuous service by June 30 of any year shall receive
  vacation as defined below. Continuous services for the purpose of
  this article will be determined by the employee’s seniority date”

Pay information – vacation pay
• Vacation time is as follows:
   – Less than one year of continuous service – one vacation day
     per full month of service (max. 10 days)
   – One year but less than three years - two weeks
   – Three years but less than 10 years - three weeks
   – 10 years but less than 17 years - four weeks
   – 17 years but less than 26 years - five weeks
   – 26 years or more - six weeks

Pay information – vacation pay
• Employees must submit the vacation request form to their Regional
  Operations Supervisor (typically submitted in October each year)
• Vacations of less than five days in length have a separate form
• Other conditions surrounding vacation are outlined in Letter of
  Understanding #3 in the CUPE collective agreement
   • LOU #3 (5) – “A Custodian entitled to three (3) or more weeks of
     vacation shall be scheduled for three (3) weeks of vacation
     during non-instructional days of which two (2) weeks must be
     taken during the summer, unless otherwise agreed to with the
     immediate supervisor. Operation needs will be considered
     before approvals will be granted."

Public holidays (statutory holidays)
•   New Year’s Day     •   Thanksgiving Day
•   Family Day         •   Christmas Day
•   Good Friday        •   Boxing Day
•   Easter Monday      •   Three floaters (to be designated by
•   Victoria Day           the board to be taken during
•   Canada Day             Christmas/New Year’s period)
•   Civic Holiday
•   Labour Day

Benefits
• Pension
   – Once you qualify, CUPE permanent staff pay into the OMERS
     pension plan
   – If at any time you, as a CUPE member, receive your Ontario
     Teaching Certificate (OCT), you must notify they board as you
     will be required to pay into the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
     (OTPP)
• Benefits
   – There is a handout available for CUPE permanent staff outlining
     benefit information. The benefits plan is not managed by the
     Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB)

Seniority
Probationary employees
• Article 12.01 – “Permanent employees will be required to serve a
  probationary period of six (6) continuous months in the same
  classification, notwithstanding the location."
• Article 12.01(a) – “A probationary employee who changes their
  permanent classification within the probationary period shall serve a
  new probationary period of six (6) months.”
• Article 12.01 (b) – “A probationary employee who temporarily changes
  classification through a temporary posting shall service a new
  probationary period of six (6) months. If the employee is returned to
  their original classification as a result of the temporary posting ending,
  then previous time served in the original classification will be counted
  toward the completion of the original probationary period of six (6)
  months.”

Seniority
Probationary Employees

• Article 12.02 – “The probationary period referred to in Article 12.01 will
  commence on the first scheduled shift worked as a permanent
  employee.”
• Article 12.04 – “For the purpose of Article 12.01, an employee initiated
  absence of five (5) continuous days or less or a Board initiated
  absence, other than a termination, will not be considered as a break in
  continuity”

Seniority
Probationary Employees
• For example:
   − If you accept a temporary chief custodian posting, you would have
     changed classifications and would be required to serve a new
     probationary period
   − If you accept a temporary preventative maintenance person posting,
     you would have changed classifications and would be required to
     serve a new probationary period
   − If the temporary assignment ends prior to your probationary period
     being completed, you would go back to your custodian position and
     serve the remainder of your probationary period

Seniority
• Seniority will be acquired after an employee completes their
  probationary period
• Article 13.02 - Effective February 5, 2003, new permanent
  employees with previous periods of temporary employment in this
  bargaining unit, within the previous twenty-four (24) months, will
  have their rate of pay and seniority adjusted as follows:
  (continued on next slide)

Seniority
• 13.02 (a) – Any temporary employment within the 24 months prior to
  your permanent start date
• 13.02 (b) – You will be placed in your new classification at the same
  level (or grid step) that you were at when you were a casual/temporary
  employee (whichever is higher)
• 13.02 (c) – Increment date – Your permanent start date will be adjusted
  to give you credit for hours paid (working eight [8] hours per day or one
  hundred and sixty [160] hours a month)
• 13.02 (d) – Seniority date – At the completion of your probationary
  period, you will receive credit for all hours paid as a casual/temporary
  employee using eight (8) hours per day or one hundred and sixty (160)
  hours a month

Seniority
• When you receive your letter for the completion of your
  probationary period, if you have any questions regarding your
  seniority date, please contact Human Resource Services
  (HRS) as soon as possible
• Each February, the seniority list for CUPE will be posted at
  your work location. The list shall be subject to challenge for a
  period of two months. After the two-month period it is
  considered correct. You are only able to challenge information
  since the last posting of the list

Collective agreement
• The terms and conditions of employment for CUPE permanent
  employees is the CUPE collective agreement.
• There are two sections:
   − central terms and conditions, bargained between CUPE
     National and the government
   − local terms and conditions, bargained between CUPE Local
     1310 and the SCDSB

Collective agreement – lay-off and recall
• For CUPE, in fall (and sometimes spring/early summer), custodial and
  maintenance staffing adjustments are sometimes made. The following
  factors are taken into account:
      − portable changes to the school
      − square footage
      − student enrolment
      − number of classrooms used for teaching
      − funding
• There are sometimes reductions of a ½ hour but no access to
  bumping options. Where reductions of a ½ hour have taken place,
  where available, employees will be offered equivalent time within their
  work area
• Out of cycle staffing process – occasionally occur, typically due to
  school closures or consolidations

Collective agreement – lay-off and recall
• Article 14.02 (b) (ii) – Notwithstanding Article 15, Article 14.02 (b) will be applied
  prior to the application of Article 15. Vacant positions from July 15 to Oct. 15 will
  be held for the regular staffing process
• For permanent positions this means:
   – transfers are not processed
   – positions are not posted
• The reason is that staffing can affect senior individuals when hours are reduced,
  or schools are closed or consolidated. Positions are offered to surplus staff
• After staffing, positions are then filled via the normal methods, for example:
   – 15.03 (d) applied
   – positions of less than three hours are offered to staff
   – transfers and postings are processed

Collective agreement – lay-off and recall
• Article 14.02 – …a permanent employee is declared surplus or
  whose daily hours of work are reduced by more than one half (1/2)
  hour
• 14.02 (a) – “Where the Employer determines that it is necessary to
  reduce the number of custodial hours assigned to a school or
  location and/or to reduce the number of employees, the Employer
  will identify the classification to be affected. Such reduction will then
  be applied to the junior employee(s) and/or the vacancy in that
  classification at that location provided the remaining employee(s) at
  that location have the necessary qualifications/skills to fill the
  remaining position(s). For clarity, the order of the reduction will then
  be applied to the vacancy and then to the junior employee(s) in the
  classification”

Collective agreement – lay-off and recall
Article 14.02
• At the time of being declared surplus, employees would be given
  options based on Article 14:
       − available vacancy opportunities
       − bumping option(s) - if applicable
       − lay-off - if no other options are available

Collective agreement – absence from work
• Regular attendance at work is very important for you, for the board
  and for your fellow employees. Unnecessary absence may put
  additional strain on your co-workers as they attempt to cover your
  absence
• The board does, however, recognize that there may be times when
  you will be justifiably absent due to illness, family emergency, etc.
  Should that happen, you are required to notify your immediate
  supervisor as soon as possible. When reporting your absence,
  please state the reason and the expected length of time for the
  absence
• Any replacement coverage should be discussed with your
  supervisor

Collective agreement – leaves of absence
Leaves outlined in the collective agreement are:
  • pregnancy and parental leave
  • adoption leave
  • bereavement leave
  • union conference
  • election leave
  • union/public office
  • jury duty/subpoena
  • special leaves

Collective agreement – leaves of absence
• For leaves not covered, employees are required to submit a Leave of
  Absence request form
• Leaves of absence shall not exceed 12 months
• Article 17.01 (a) - “…If the Employer grants a leave of absence in
  excess of thirty (30) days, the employee shall not accumulate
  seniority beyond thirty (30) days”
• Article 17.01 (b) - …”the Employer may grant a medical leave for
  medical reasons for a period greater than twelve (12) months”

Collective agreement – leaves of absence
• If requesting a leave, employees are required to submit a leave request
  and any additional information to HRS. Your principal/manager/
  supervisor must sign the request. Leaves will be reviewed in
  accordance with the collective agreement and APM A4005, Leave of
  Absence Process – Short term
• As a general rule, vacations during the school year will not be approved
  for those employees who are employed on a school year basis.
  Exceptions have been Christmas and March Break. Summer is a peak
  period for custodial services, as schools are cleaned extensively over
  the summer
• Correspondence will be sent back to you directly from Human
  Resource Services as to whether the leave was approved or not

Performance appraisals
Probationary period
  • There will be two performance appraisals during your
     probationary period:
     − mid probationary review
     − final probationary review
  • Your regional operations supervisor or manager will meet with
     you to go over your performance
  • Ensure that you improve on items identified in the mid
     probationary review

Performance appraisals
Performance Appraisal - Regular
  • The board has an APM on Performance Appraisals titled –
     A4222 – Performance Appraisal – AESP, CUPE, ETFO DECE,
     OPSEU, OSSTF, Instructors
  • Upon hire, CUPE employees will be assigned a cycle year for
     the normal performance appraisal process, e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
  • CUPE staff will have their performance formally evaluated once
     every five years. In the year an employee is to be evaluated,
     your supervisor will notify you that it is an evaluation year

Performance appraisals
Performance Appraisal - Regular
  • Annually, prior to October 31, employees will submit an annual
     performance plan outlining their goals, along with training and
     development needs for the upcoming year
  • Should there be required improvements in performance, the
     evaluation cycle could be sooner than five years

Job postings
• Postings are posted for a minimum of five business days
• Resumes are now accepted on the Apply to Education website,
  www.applytoeducation.com
• You are required to create a profile and then apply to each position
  of interest
• Article 15.03
   – (a) - “All permanent vacancies shall be posted”
   – (b) (i) - “Original temporary vacancies which are anticipated to
     be three (3) months or more will be posted. The first resulting
     vacancy will also be posted where the original vacancy has
     been filled from within the bargaining unit”
     Please note: second resulting vacancies are not posted

Job postings
• Article 15.03 – cont’d
   – (b) (ii) - “In the event that a temporary vacancy occurs in a
     maintenance classification as a result of a posting specified in
     15.03 (b) (i), qualified permanent staff will be considered for the
     vacancy prior to seeking a replacement from outside the
     bargaining unit”
   – (c) - “Positions of three (3) hours or less will not be posted”
   – (d) - Allows custodial services to assign up to four hours to
     locations where there are part-time hours available. Offers will
     be made according to seniority. Employees will only be able to
     accept hours up to a 1.0 FTE

Job postings
• Article 15.04 (b) - “The board shall give first consideration to casual
  custodial employees of the board (casual custodians must identify
  their employment status on the cover letter including their
  employee ID number)”
   − consideration is not a guarantee of a permanent position

Job postings
• Article 15.10 (a) - “A successful candidate to a job posting, or a
  transfer request under Article 15.09, may not apply for another
  transfer or job posting for a period of six (6) months from the
  effective date, except to apply for a job posting that would provide
  for a promotion, additional permanent hours or transfer for
  additional permanent hours, or to apply for a transfer from a
  position that has changed to a split shift position.” (length of time in
  a new posting or transfer)
• Article 15.10 (b) - “…an employee in a temporary assignment may
  apply for a transfer or job posting, if his/her temporary assignment
  becomes a permanent vacancy”

Transfers
• Article 15.09 (a) - “An employee with seniority wanting to transfer
  within their permanent classification to another location in the same
  classification with no increase in hourly rate (including allowances)
  may indicate such by completing an on-line Request for Transfer.
  Employees are eligible to increase their hours in the transfer
  process”
• Once you have completed your probationary period and have a
  seniority date, you may submit transfer requests online through the
  staff website.
• Transfers are effective 30 days from the date that they are
  submitted online

Transfers
• All transfers remain active unless they are withdrawn online by the
  employee
• 15.09 #4 – “An employee whose request for transfer has been
  granted must accept the transfer.”
• If an employee is transferred, the board will remove all transfers on
  file
• Transfers are only for permanent vacancies within your own
  permanent classification (e.g. custodian, etc.) Transfers are not for
  temporary postings
• You are able to transfer up in hours within your own job
  classification

Transfers
• Article 15.09 #9 – “All requests for transfers will be removed
  annually on July 15. It is understood that there will be a two (2)
  week grace period from July 16 until July 31 where no new
  postings will be activated in order to allow employees to submit
  their transfer requests. Transfers after July 31 will have a thirty (30)
  day waiting period”
• Custodial employees may use the transfer process to transfer to a
  lower custodial classification
• Maintenance employees may use the transfer process to transfer
  to a lower classification, provided they have the required skills and
  qualifications. The employee must have held the lower
  classification previously to be eligible to transfer into the position

CUPE transfer sample

Miscellaneous – hours of work
For full-time employees
Article 21 of the CUPE collective agreement:
   • 40 hours per week
   • Overtime after 40 hours per week (1 1/2 times basic hourly rate)
      * Some restrictions*
   • For 40 hours per week employees, meal break - 1/2 hour
   • Article 21.04 – Employees will receive rest period(s) of fifteen
      (15) minutes duration without reduction of pay and without
      increasing the regular working hours as follows:

Miscellaneous – hours of work
• (a) Full-time employees will receive two (2) rest periods per shift
• (b) Part-time employees will receive rest period(s) as follows:
        Continuous hours of work per shift   Number of rest periods
                Less than 3 hours                      0
                   3 – 6 hours                         1
                     7 hours                           2

• Article 21.05 - “All shift employees working six (6) or more hours
  per shift other than those on day shifts shall receive a one-half
  (1/2) hour paid lunch period”

Miscellaneous – hours of work, overtime
• Article 21.06 – “An employee who is called in and required to
  perform emergency work outside his/her regular working hours and
  after the employee has gone home having completed the normal
  day’s work, shall be paid for such work a minimum of three (3)
  hours’ pay at overtime rates or at overtime rates for all work
  performed by the employee, whichever is the greater. This
  provision does not apply to the school check referred to in Article
  18.10, or does it apply in the event that an employee is requested
  to report for work before his/her normal starting time.”

Miscellaneous – dress code
Safety Footwear - Article 24
• Article 24.01 (b) - “Employees shall be required to wear enclosed
  safety footwear that is CSA approved and that is in compliance with
  department procedure manuals. Employees who fail to wear such
  footwear shall be subject to discipline.”
• Article 24.01 (c) – “The Employer shall reimburse, upon submission
  of not more than two (2) receipts, an overall maximum eligible
  expense of $200 per employee in any 24 consecutive months
  towards the cost of the safety footwear specified above, retroactive
  to January 1, 2020. The 24 consecutive months will start when the
  first receipt is received by the payroll department for a maximum
  of two (2) pairs of safety footwear.”

Miscellaneous – dress code
Clothing
• Uniforms are required while at work
• Employee uniforms are to be clean and presentable at work
• Article 25.03 - “Each permanent employee will be supplied with an
  initial issue of:
       • two t-shirts
       • one shorts
       • two pants/slacks
       • three shirts/blouses (choice of long or short sleeves)
       • one sweater (optional)”

Miscellaneous – dress code
Clothing
• Article 25.05 - “Uniforms that are damaged beyond repair will be
  exchanged and the Employee will pay 50% of the cost”
• Clothing vouchers typically go out in January of each year. In a
  negotiation year, this may be delayed

Miscellaneous
Smoke free learning and working environments
• It is the policy of the SCDSB to prohibit smoking and the use of
  tobacco products, emerging tobacco industry products, tobacco-
  related products (e.g. e-cigarettes and vapourizers) and any smoking
  paraphernalia. This applies to all school board employees
• If required, at board locations there are designated smoking areas
  which are off board property. If you need to smoke, please check for
  a designated area
• Further information can be found in:
   − APM A1140 – Smoke Free Learning and Working Environments

Miscellaneous – board email

• All CUPE staff have a personal board email account
• Employees are required to check their board email on a regular
  basis
• If you are having difficulty with your board email, please contact
  the IT helpdesk at (705) 734-6363, ext. 11777

Connect with us
Human Resource Services
Terri McCloskey, HR Assistant
   tmccloskey@scdsb.on.ca
   705-734-6363, ext. 11225
Lisa McArthur, HR Officer – Support Staff
   lmcarthur@scdsb.on.ca
   705-734-6363, ext. 11349

Connect with us
 www.scdsb.on.ca

    @SCDSB_Schools   /SCDSB

Know your local executive members
President                                  Treasurer
Eric Couture                               Janice Cochrane
705-718-4446                               705-790-4437
cupepresident1310@outlook.com              cupetreasurer1310@outlook.com

Vice-President                             IT person
Misty Archer                               Mike Beleskey
705-686-3193 (home), 249-359-7882 (cell)   705-279-8807
vicepresident1310@outlook.com              cupe1310it@outlook.com

Recording Secretary                        Connect with us:
Michelle Ivanvi                            www.1310.cupe.ca
705-896-1747
cupesecretary@outlook.com