WORK TO RULE
Management has imposed terms and conditions effective December 13, 2021. The imposition of terms and conditions prevents the possibility of good labour relations, eliminates faculty consent, and is itself a form of labour disruption. It is a choice by the colleges and the College Employer Council (CEC) to abandon negotiations and to force faculty to work only under the conditions the colleges and CEC want.
Throughout Work to Rule, faculty will focus on the needs of students and supporting their learning. If you haven’t done so already, please ensure you are signed up to our mailing list. Information will be shared with you via our mailing list on a regular basis. If you have questions, please email us at info@opseu562.org.
Update: Jan 14, 2022: In response to escalating rhetoric from the College Employer Council and a number of colleges (including Humber College), OPSEU has filed an Unfair Labour Practice (ULP) complaint regarding union interference with the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
Update: March 1, 2022: Phase 3 of Work to Rule begins tomorrow, March 2, 2022. More information about what’s happening in Phase 3 can be found below in the Resources section, as well as in our FAQ.
Are you a student? Visit our Students FAQ page!
RESOURCES FROM THE BARGAINING TEAM:
FAQ for Humber Faculty
ALL FACULTY
On December 13, 2021, the College Employer Council imposed terms and conditions on faculty. Because of our successful strike mandate vote, the Faculty Bargaining Team gave the Employer notice, and effective December 18, 2021, faculty are in a legal strike position.
Work to rule exists within the sphere of strike action. Work to rule is a job action in which employees do their jobs exactly as outlined by the rules of their contract or job description. This may cause a slowdown or increase pressure on supervisors, as faculty stop working beyond the time allotted in their contracts, SWFs, or (for counsellors and librarians) the 35-hour weekly cap.
Because work to rule is an organized labour action, we will collectively undertake specific activities, in escalating phases. Our Bargaining Team determines the activities and what constitutes strike breaking, or “struck work”, and we follow their direction. Doing any work deemed “struck work” is the equivalent of crossing a picket line. All 24 colleges are in the same boat, and direction from above gives us protection for our actions. You are protected from any reprisal because this is a legal work stoppage as a result of a legal strike vote.
Any employee who is currently a full-time or partial-load professor, instructor, counsellor, or librarian participates in work-to-rule.
If you have paid union dues in the last 12 months, you are a member of the Local. However, only those who are currently full-time or partial-load would participate in labour actions at the present time. Members who are on leave will not participate in work to rule. If you are currently part-time or sessional, you would not participate either, however, there are still many ways you can support your colleagues. See “Allies” section below.
You can complete this electronic application form at any time.
Yes; work to rule means you’re completing your assigned work strictly as assigned (on your SWF or academic contract), and therefore, you will be paid your full pay. One thing this action will highlight is the amount of unpaid or voluntary work that you actually do in your day-to-day activities.
Yes; All full-time and partial-load members who participate in this job action are protected under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA). The relevant section is:
s.53. (3) The Council, an employer or any person acting on behalf of the Council or an employer shall not,
- refuse to employ or to continue to employ or discriminate against a person with regard to employment or any term or condition of employment because the person was or is a member of an employee organization or was or is exercising any right under this Act;
- impose any condition in a contract of employment or propose the imposition of any condition in a contract of employment that seeks to restrain a person employed by an employer or a person seeking employment by an employer from becoming a member of an employee organization or exercising any right under this Act;
- seek by intimidation, by threat of dismissal or by any other kind of threat or by the imposition of a pecuniary or any other penalty or by any other means to compel a person employed by an employer to become or refrain from becoming or to continue to be or cease to be a member of an employee organization, or to refrain from exercising any right under this Act. 2008, c. 15, s. 53 (3).
The Local has shared a letter to Humber management regarding what to expect from faculty during this labour dispute. For example:
- the withdrawal of union representatives from all union-college committees, such as Union/College Committee, EDI Task Force, Return-to-Work committee, Centre for Human Rights working group, etc.
- the withdrawal from all voluntary committee work (ie: committees for which no college time has been attributed, and/or for which no compensation has been made to the faculty member. This includes all “working groups”, “meetings” or any other adhoc gatherings by other names)
- the withdrawal from all committee work involving “union” representatives, except for the Joint Occupational Health & Safety and the Workload Monitoring Group committees
- no participation in all start-up week activities, including department meetings, recruitment, orientations, etc.
- restricted availability to regular working hours of all faculty
If you have concerns regarding how work to rule intersects with your obligations under a professional/governing body, feel free to contact us.
The CCBA forbids any employer reprisals on members, including partial-load and probationary members, for participating in any form of strike action, which includes work-to-rule. Should any member – permanent, partial-load, or probationary – experience any pressure, intimidation, actions, or threats of action that you consider punitive because of your participation in bargaining team-coordinated activities, please contact us immediately.
Here is an example of messaging you can use. You should tailor your response to any specific role(s), responsibilities, and availability restrictions you may have, such as committee leads, program coordinators, etc. So please adapt this message as needed:
- As part of ongoing work action that is the result of the College Employer Council refusing to negotiate with our union, the scope of my work and my availability will be limited until further notice. Starting January 10, 2022, I will be checking my email daily between [start time] and [end time]. If your matter is urgent, please contact my Associate Dean, [Name of AD] by email at [AD’s Humber email address]. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you would like to support your College Faculty in resolving the issues around bargaining, please contact President Whitaker and the College Employer Council and ask that they return to the bargaining table. You can also reach the CEO of the CEC, Graham Lloyd, by phone at (416) 902-9543 or by email at: graham.lloyd@thecouncil.ca.
We recommend using Toggl, a free and easy to use app that you can use from your computer or phone. (note: there is a free version and a paid version of Toggl. The premium (paid) version is free for 30 days.) Be sure to track all your work time, including time spent on evaluation, preparation, meetings, student emails, course delivery, etc.
The imposed Terms and Conditions can be found here: ANNOTATED VERSION (aglty.io). Remember that these are the current imposed terms, and that the College can make changes to these terms and conditions at any time.
You can refer them to this website (https://www.opseu562.org/work-to-rule), which will be continually updated throughout negotiations.
We have also developed this information package which you can share with your students.
Absolutely not! Work to rule is a form of strike action. As a member of this union, you have the right to participate in strike activity. Our Bargaining Team dictates the terms of ‘struck work’, and the performance of such work is analogous to the crossing of the picket line. Any direction by the employer to members not to engage in strike activity, or any threats or reprisal to members for engaging in strike activity, will be considered interference with the union and OPSEU will take any and all appropriate steps as may be required.
If you have received a message threatening discipline or loss of pay for participating in work to rule, or have been told to remove/change your signature lines/auto-responders, please let us know immediately.
Our students are important allies in this fight for a better future. Therefore, we’ve created a special FAQ for students.
During non-teaching periods (such as start-up week and Reading Week), meeting invitations should be declined. You are invited to adapt either of the following messages, to suit your purposes:
- Unfortunately, I am not in the position to attend any meetings this week, as CAAT-A faculty are currently in Phase 2 of the work-to-rule campaign. Engaging in struck work at this point would be equivalent to crossing a picket line. I hope that this work-to-rule job action will demonstrate the value of faculty work, get the employer back to the table to negotiate the issues important to faculty, and make a full strike unnecessary.
- In accordance with the work to rule plan, I will not be attending college meetings or activities this week, nor any that are not specifically recorded on my SWF with appropriate time attributed. While It gives me no joy to refrain from campus activities, I believe in the collective bargaining process and the rights it has provided me and countless others. Until the bargaining team directs otherwise, this is my position.
For full-time faculty: during a teaching period (also called a SWF period; look at the dates at the top of your SWF), if you have been assigned time on the 2nd page of your SWF, then you can attend meetings up to that amount of time. For example, if your SWF says “Department Meeting – 0.5 h”, it means that you are assigned to attend up to 30 minutes of meetings each week. Unused hours do not carry forward, so if you did not have a meeting this week, your time cap for meetings next week is still 30 minutes. If you do not have assigned time for meetings, then you do not attend meetings.
For non-SWF’ed faculty, including librarians, counsellors, and some Program Coordinators: if meetings are a part of your work arrangement, then attending meetings is fair game. However, how you prioritize your work duties remains your choice. For example, if you have a 35-hour work week, meetings may be low on your priority list. If it happens that your other work duties take up your 35 hours that week, the meeting can be struck. Priorities will vary person to person, so as long as you can justify your RSVP, you’re good. Feel free to contact us for further discussion.
For Partial-Load faculty: only meetings where attendance is paid can be attended. Unpaid meetings fall under volunteer work, which is struck work.
Here’s an example of what you can share. Feel free to cater it to your stakeholders:
In response to the College Employer Council’s decision to impose employment conditions following the College Faculty vote to support strike actions, Ontario college faculty are now following work-to-rule guidelines established by the Faculty Bargaining Team.
Faculty have chosen to focus on our students’ needs and not interrupt College courses with a strike at this time, while demanding that our employer negotiate a fair resolution to this labour dispute. Work-to-rule means that we will be working only the time outlined by our current contract and workload assignments, or job descriptions. This means that we may not be available for additional, volunteer work that we may normally do, or work outside of regular work hours. Therefore, we may take more time than usual to respond to emails or other forms of communication and any additional work-related requests.
Currently we are in Phase 2 of the planned work-to-rule job actions. For more information on Work to Rule, see Students FAQ. We appreciate your patience and your support in our efforts to improve working conditions for Ontario college faculty and the learning conditions of Ontario college students.
The direction from your manager to change or remove your email signature line or auto-responder due to its union activity content is viewed as union interference. We know that several managers have made this request to faculty, including to some faculty members in FAST, FSCS, FHSW, and SWEL. As such, OPSEU has filed a Unfair Labour Practice (ULP) against the CEC and a number of colleges, including Humber College.
The email signature lines and/or auto-responder messages found on our website have been approved by our Bargaining Team, and have been deemed legal by OPSEU’s legal team. We can only assume that the CEC’s legal team would understand as much, as that the CEC’s directives are no more than an intimidation tactic to create unnecessary stress and tension between managers and faculty.
Therefore, faculty may leave their signature lines/auto-responders as is. If you feel obliged to respond to your manager, you can let them know that you are exercising your right to participate in Work to Rule, as per the Bargaining Teams instructions. In addition, your manager’s directives are seen as union interference, hence the filing of the ULP.
We also encourage you to let the Bargaining Team know about this interference by reporting it here: Work to rule incident form | OPSEU (collegefaculty.org).
Phase 3 of Work to Rule officially begins at 12:01 AM on March 2, 2022.
Yes, they do. The Local shared this letter with all the senior administrators to communicate the details of phase 3 of work to rule.
We have a Student FAQ website that will answer a lot of questions your students will have regarding Work to Rule in general, as well as specifics about Phase 3. We are continually updating this FAQ, just as we do for our Faculty FAQ.
You can also adapt this letter to share with your students, which gives a good overview of what’s happening in Phase 3.
PROGRAM COORDINATORS
For Program Coordinators, the imposed Terms and Conditions say that your work will be reduced to writing, meaning you should be receiving explicit written instructions on what your PC duties are. As each coordinator is allotted different number of hours on their SWF for PC duties, please talk to your supervisor if the assigned work is inconsistent with the hours provided. Again, feel free to contact us should you need assistance.
Here is an example of messaging you can use. You should tailor your response to any specific role(s), responsibilities, and availability restrictions you may have, such as committee leads, program coordinators, etc. So please adapt this message as needed:
- As part of ongoing work action that is the result of all of the colleges in the province refusing to negotiate with our union, the duties of each Program Coordinator must be put into writing by their manager. As a result, I will be able to resume my Program Coordinator duties once I have received my duties in writing from my Associate Dean. Once that occurs, I will be checking my email daily between [start time] and [end time]. Until then, please contact my Associate Dean, [Name of AD] by email at [AD’s Humber email address].
I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you would like to support your College Faculty in resolving the issues around bargaining, please contact President Whitaker and the College Employer Council and ask that they return to the bargaining table. You can also reach the CEO of the CEC, Graham Lloyd, by phone at (416) 902-9543 or by email at: graham.lloyd@thecouncil.ca.
The language in Article 14.03 A3 of the imposed Terms and Conditions states that “Coordinators report to the academic manager who assigns their specific duties, which shall be reduced to writing prior to the acceptance of the designation, subject to changes as circumstances require.” This term has been imposed on Program Coordinators by the Employer. It means that your manager must provide you with clear and explicit details of your PC duties. Once you’ve been provided with this information, ensure that the time you’ve been allotted to perform these duties is reflective of the amount of work being asked of you. If it is not, you can negotiate the terms of your work (including changes to the duties, and/or changes to the hours provided for PC duties). If no agreement can be reached, you can either refer your SWF to the Workload Monitoring Group, or choose to step down from the PC role. In any case, clear details must be provided to you prior to commencing your PC duties for Winter 2022.
In a regular term, yes, hours have been averaged (ie: one week may be busier while another week may be lighter). However, as we are actively engaged in Work to Rule, there is no averaging of hours. Unused hours will not be carried forward to the following week. For example, if you are assigned 10 hours for PC duties, each week, you will work a maximum of 10 hours on PC duties.
As the program coordinator — and therefore a faculty member — we suggest that you:
- Do not send the message out to your program faculty. Instead, let your AD know that it is struck work, and asking faculty to do this work would be analogous to asking them to cross a picket line.
If you are directed (not “expected”) to send the message by your AD:
- Send the message, with a preface that you’ve been directed to do so by the AD. Remind your program faculty that the work being asked is struck work, and doing this work would be analogous to crossing a picket line.
- Contact the union immediately.
FULL-TIME PROFESSORS/INSTRUCTORS
For most faculty, your SWFs begin January 10, 2022 (the start of your assigned work period). Your SWFs stipulate how much time you should be spending on each course (for preparation, evaluation, and teaching). It also provides you 6 hours for “complementary functions”, such as supporting students 1:1, office hours, responding to emails, uploading materials for classes, etc. On the 2nd page of the SWF, you may have other assigned work, such as department meetings, committee work, research, curriculum development, mentorship, etc. In all cases, please ensure you keep track of your hours and limit your weekly workload to what the SWF stipulates. If a task is not explicitly assigned to you, do not do it. Any volunteer work or work above the assigned limit is deemed as ‘struck work’. For a refresher on how to read your SWF: see Decoding the SWF. You can also contact us if you need help understanding your SWF.
Here is an example of messaging you can use. You should tailor your response to any specific role(s), responsibilities, and availability restrictions you may have, such as committee leads, program coordinators, etc. So please adapt this message as needed:
- At the moment, all college faculty (Librarians, Counsellors, Professors and Instructors) are engaging in labour action called Work to Rule. This means that I will be working strictly as assigned on my workload formula. Starting January 10, it means I have 6 hours per week to tend to out of class assistance to students and administrative work, including emails, meetings, and regular contact with students and external stakeholders. I am also attributed no more than 5.4 minutes per week to grade each student’s work and provide feedback. The workload formula which gives these numbers hasn’t changed in almost forty years!
Any work/emails which take longer than the time that I have been attributed for each week will be deferred to the following calendar week. Please encourage President Whitaker and the College Employer Council to return to the bargaining table to resolve these issues. If your matter is urgent, please contact my Associate Dean, [Name of AD] by email at [AD’s Humber email address]. I appreciate your understanding in this matter.
The SWF period refers to the weeks where you are teaching, and therefore, have an active SWF: take a look at the start and end dates on your SWF. During this period, you are assigned work (the work is documented on your SWF). However, a “non-teaching period” is a time where you are not teaching, and work cannot be assigned. Activities during non-teaching periods are decided mutually between the manager and the faculty member. Consent from both parties is required for work assignments during non-teaching periods.
The Bargaining Team’s directive is to refrain from posting your learning materials directly onto BlackBoard. This is not to say that you shouldn’t provide all necessary information to students. You should still post the “minimum required materials” onto BB at the start of the semester, which includes the course outline, your critical path, and a welcome note. At no time will a work-to-rule mean that we don’t provide students with their learning materials, but it would be a good idea to distribute your course materials to students through a different platform, such as DropBox or Google Drive (preferably with password-protection), and to make recordings available to your students via YouTube, Loom, Vidyard, or, Google Drive (again, password-protection is recommended). We believe that these measures would maximize the effectiveness of our current work action (and therefore minimize the need for further escalation), and maximize faculty ownership over their own work product.
Here is some information on alternatives to BlackBoard and MS Teams: Alternatives to BB and MS Teams
We’ve prepared a summary sheet for you on alternatives that can be used instead of BlackBoard and MS Teams: find it here.
In a regular term, yes, hours have been averaged over the term (for example: evaluations during midterm week is often must heavier than evaluations during the 2nd week of class.). However, as we are actively engaged in Work to Rule, there is no averaging of hours. In other words, during Work to Rule, unused hours will not be carried forward to the following week.
For example, if you have been given 0.5 h for meetings on the back of your SWF, it means you can attend up to 30 minutes of meetings each week. Once you’ve hit that weekly maximum, you will no longer attend meetings. There may be weeks where you have no meetings; that time does not carry forward to the following week. Similarly, if your SWF says you have 3.89 hours attributed for evaluation for Course 1, then once you’ve hit that time cap, you stop working on evaluations for that course.
If you need help reviewing your SWF, you can visit our Decode Your SWF page or contact us.
If you recall, in March 2020, faculty had moved all their courses to online delivery due to the pandemic. Since then, we’ve established that faculty have the right to choose to deliver the course synchronously, asynchronously, or a mix of both. During the pandemic, and prior to work to rule, those who were delivering courses synchronously may record the lecture portion (where new material is taught; not discussions, evaluations, role plays, etc.), but are not required to do so if the learning material is provided to your students in a different way (ie: PowerPoint slides, PDFs, links to other videos, etc.). This agreement was made in good faith with the College, to ensure students were given ample opportunity to be successful in their courses.
As we are currently in work to rule, the Bargaining Team is reinforcing the fact that it is faculty’s choice whether classes are delivered synchronously or not, for all courses, including courses that are expected to be delivered face-to-face. Similarly, absent a student’s requirement for accommodation, it is up to faculty whether to make lecture recordings or not. The college cannot direct either of those things, and certainly not during work to rule. To re-iterate, if a student has an accommodation requiring a recording, faculty must oblige. It is only necessary to share recordings with students requiring accommodation.
Please note: If you choose to record your classes, use the Bargaining for Better background in your recordings. We also recommend uploading your videos to Google Drive or YouTube, not directly onto BlackBoard.
All FT faculty with a SWF will have a minimum of 6 hours on the 2nd page of their SWF designated as “complementary functions”. Article 11.01 F1 of the collective agreement outlines that these 6 hours include:
- 4 hours for routine out-of-class assistance to individual students; and
- 2 hours for normal administrative tasks
Note that these 6 hours all pertain to tasks that you need to do as a part of your duty in teaching the courses listed on page 1 of your SWF. Tasks that would fall under “complementary functions” include: supporting students 1:1, office hours, responding to emails, uploading materials for classes, inputting grades, etc.
Tasks that do not fall under “complementary functions” include: Faculty/department meetings, committee work, cluster meetings, coordinator duties, course leads, faculty mentorship, curriculum development, etc. These duties should be listed as its own item of work on the 2nd page of your SWF if the task has been assigned to you.
It’s not too late to make changes to your assessments. Consider the following:
- group assignments instead of individual ones
- fewer # of assessments
- changes to grading, such as moving to a rubric or rounded grades (90%, 80%, 70%, etc.)
- grading X out of Y questions (for example, marking questions 1 and 4 of the assignment, which has 6 questions in total. Of course, your students won’t know in advance which questions you’ll be grading!)
- offering less/no written feedback, only a number grade
Whatever changes or decisions you make, ensure it is consistent and clearly communicated to your students. Let them know why these changes are necessary (I am given X minutes per week to grade your work).
We also recommend that you send a note to your supervisor letting them know of your existing time constraint challenges. Here’s a sample message you can send:
Dear [Associate Dean],
I’m really dismayed that because of insufficient marking time, I wasn’t able to provide students with the feedback I would usually provide. In some cases, all they got was a grade.
Students and faculty deserve better.
Regards,
[Your Name]
If you have been teaching the class in a face-to-face mode since the start of the term, then you must continue teaching face-to-face. However, if you have been teaching online but have been told to return to face-to-face teaching, the choice to return to face-to-face teaching is yours to make. As the subject matter expert and as the person who knows your students best, we trust that you will use your best professional judgement regarding your course’s delivery mode.
There are many factors to consider, including but limited to:
- Workload (especially during Work to Rule): pivoting from online to f2f will likely be an increase to your prep work.
- Health & Safety concerns (for both faculty and students)
- Logistics – this is a greater concern for students than faculty; some students have raised concerns to faculty and to Associate Deans regarding their ability to find suitable living arrangements, conflicts with work schedules (which may lead to financial impacts), commuting time and costs, etc. There are also some students who are living out of the city/country.
- Pedagogical rationale: some courses/content makes so much more sense being taught face-to-face rather than online. And then, there are some courses that work perfectly fine online. Again, this will vary faculty to faculty, course to course.
If your Associate Dean has directed you to return to in-person teaching (or said that you have no choice but to return) but you’d rather stay online, you can send them the following message (customize as you see fit):
Dear [Associate Dean],
As you know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that pivoting from an online delivery mode to a face-to-face delivery mode mid-semester is my decision. At this time, I am choosing to keep my class online, as it is the most logical, practical, and pedagogically sound choice.
Regards,
[Your name]
If you are choosing to return to face-to-face teaching on March 7 as originally planned, there’s no need to send your AD any message.
Finally, regardless of whether you continue to teach online or are moving to face-to-face delivery starting March 7, please ensure you re-communicate the delivery mode with your students. Post it on your Blackboard Announcements section, and check the button that allows the message to be sent to students’ emails. Whatever your decision may be, please be clear and transparent with your students about your decision. Here’s a sample message that you can send your students:
Dear Students,
As you know, the College has an expectation that our class be returned to face-to-face delivery commencing March 7. And as you may also know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that pivoting from an online delivery mode to a face-to-face delivery mode mid-semester is my decision. I have reflected on how our first 7 weeks have gone, the requests and concerns that I’ve received from students, as well as the practical and pedagogical rationale for either keeping the class online or moving back to face-to-face. I have made the decision to _________________ (remain online/transition back to face-to-face delivery, as originally planned), as I think it is in your best interest to finish the semester in this way. If you have concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Yes! Multi-modal classes, such as hi-flex (where faculty is simultaneously teaching students in-person and online) has been deemed struck work in Phase 3. If you have been directed to return to campus to teach a course in hi-flex mode, you can notify your Associate Dean that this work has been struck (sample message below).
Even though teaching in hi-flex is struck, you can still teach the class and the same # of hours. It is up to you to decide how you want to allocate the class time (in-person, online, or a combination of the two – just not simultaneously!). For example, a 3TC class can be taught 2 hours online and 1 hour face to face.
Sample Message to Associate Dean:
Dear [Associate Dean],
As you know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that all multi-modal delivery (including hi-flex) is struck work. Performing struck work is the equivalent of crossing a picket line, and I do not wish to do that.
Regards,
[Your Name]
Once you have made your decision, please ensure you re-communicate your decision with your students. Post it on your Blackboard Announcements section, and check the button that allows the message to be sent to students’ emails. Whatever your decision may be, please be clear and transparent with your students about your decision. Here’s a sample message that you can send your students:
Dear Students,
As you know, the College has an expectation that our class be delivered in a hi-flex model commencing March 7. And as you may also know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that all multi-modal delivery (including hi-flex) is struck work. Performing struck work is the equivalent of crossing a picket line, and I do not wish to do that. I have reflected on how our first 7 weeks have gone, the requests and concerns that I’ve received from students, as well as the practical and pedagogical considerations. I have made the decision to ____________________ [state your course delivery breakdown], as I think it is in your best interest to finish the semester in this way. If you have concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
First, it’s important to share with them why we will not be entering grades into BlackBoard or Banner: Though it is unlikely, it is technically possible for the College to lock us out (forcing us to be out of work). To reduce the possibility of this happening, and to maintain control over our students’ grades and progression through their programs, we must ensure the college does not have access to students’ grades. Therefore, we must remove all grades from Blackboard, and ensure no midterm grades are submitted on Banner. As we get closer to the end of the semester, it’s important to make it difficult for the college to make decisions about students’ advancement without our participation.
Next: it’s important that the students understand they can still get their grades from you directly. Faculty can still provide grades and/or feedback to students – just no grades posted to BlackBoard or Banner.
Finally, depending how your class uses Blackboard, please ensure your students are aware of how they should be submitting assessments to you, and how they will be able to get their grades/feedback from you. If you need help with brainstorming ideas, feel free to drop us a line: info@opseu562.org. We have some useful tips and suggestions in this guidebook as well. The goal is to ensure you are protected from a potential lock out, while ensuring you are still working within your workload limits, and students are still able to get their grades.
The Team has prepared a template letter for students that you can also adapt for your needs.
We’ve created a step-by-step guide on how faculty can move their grades offline. Even though faculty are expected to no longer post grades on Blackboard, faculty can still provide the grades and feedback to students about their progress (just don’t post the grade on BlackBoard!). You can do this via BlackBoard messages, Humber email, other cloud platforms, during synchronous sessions, etc.
Please also ensure that you let your students know why this is happening, and how their interactions with you (submitting assessments, getting feedback, etc) will change.
Because we’re in a legal strike position, our Bargaining Team determines what constitutes struck work. Our legal experts have spoken: “The direction to engage in a strike, and the nature of the strike action, are matters for the union to determine. The College Employer Council (CEC) and the Colleges have no role to play in determining the nature, timing, or scope of a union’s strike activity, and are not required to agree with or approve the union’s actions.”
As a union member, you have a legal right to engage in Work to Rule, and in Phase 3 (which started March 2, 2022), the Union determined that for those who have been teaching classes online thus far this semester, faculty can decide whether they will return to in-person learning or remain online for the remainder of the semester.
In response to your AD’s message, you can say the following (adjust as needed):
Dear [Associate Dean],
Thank you for your message. The decision to continue my class online is part of a legal job action that began December 18 and includes over 16,000 members of the CAAT-A bargaining unit.
My right to participate in this work-to-rule action was acknowledged by the College Employer Council on January 4, when they published that Colleges “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.” These rights are protected by the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act.
I respectfully reiterate that I will not be performing struck work as directed by the Bargaining Team. As always, I will ensure my students are supported in their learning for the remainder of the term.
Regards,
[Your name]
We have a Student FAQ website that will answer a lot of questions your students will have regarding Work to Rule in general, as well as specifics about Phase 3. We are continually updating this FAQ, just as we do for our Faculty FAQ.
You can also adapt this letter to share with your students, which gives a good overview of what’s happening in Phase 3.
Most likely, the email reminder came from a support staff person. If that is so, they are just doing their job in sending the email. Faculty can continue with not entering midterm grades as a part of struck work for Phase 3.
However, if you receive a message from your direct supervisor directing (not “expecting”) you to enter midterm grades, please get in touch with us immediately.
PARTIAL-LOAD PROFESSORS/INSTRUCTORS
For partial-load faculty, work to rule is limited to your academic (teaching) contracts. In other words, any other paid work, such as mandatory training or meetings, work falling under support staff or admin contracts, or paid work to transition courses to BlackBoard Ultra can be completed, and will not count as strike breaking. However, we urge all partial-load faculty to confirm that such work is all paid, as all volunteer work is currently deemed as ‘struck work’. If you have been given an informal offer partial-load work, ensure you receive your contract as soon as possible.
If, by the first day of classes, you have not received your formal contract, please contact your supervisor immediately. Once your contract has begun, ensure that you work only the hours stipulated on your contract. Track the hours that you work per week, and only work up to the # of hours outlined on your contract (see table below). For example, if you are hired on a 9-hour contract, your work week is capped at 19.5 hours. This time includes preparation, evaluation, class time, time spent supporting students, and all administrative tasks related to your academic contract.
We recommend prioritizing your to do list, and working from that list until you’ve hit your weekly maximum.
Finally, we recommend that you let your students know the limits of your working conditions during this work to rule period, such as: your availability (for example: via email, M/W/F: 2 – 4 pm), the reason why responses may be delayed (ie: having reached your workload limit), and a contact person they can reach for further assistance (ie: your Associate Dean). You can do this by adding an auto-responder to your emails, or adding information in your email signature.
Here is an example of messaging you can use. You should tailor your response to any specific role(s), responsibilities, and availability restrictions you may have, such as committee leads, program coordinators, etc. So please adapt this message as needed:
- At the moment, all college faculty (Librarians, Counsellors, Professors and Instructors) are engaging in labour action called Work to Rule. This means that I will be working strictly to the letter of my contract. As a non-full-time faculty, it means I have a limited amount of time each week to complete all course preparations, deliver a/synchronous classes, perform student evaluations, provide student feedback and other out of class assistance to students, and administrative work, including emails, meetings, and regular contact with students and external stakeholders. Any work/emails which take longer than the times that I have been attributed for each week will be deferred to the following calendar week. Please encourage President Whitaker and the College Employer Council to return to the bargaining table to resolve these issues. If your matter is urgent, please contact my Associate Dean, [Name of AD] by email at [AD’s Humber email address]. I appreciate your support and understanding in this matter.
If you have been given an informal offer of partial-load work, ensure you receive your contract as soon as possible. You are considered a member of the union, however, a delay in getting a signed contract also means delays in (re-)instating health benefits, and may also hinder your ability to fully participate in union business. If you have not received your contract by the first day of your class, follow up with your manager immediately.
The Bargaining Team’s directive is to refrain from posting your learning materials directly onto BlackBoard. This is not to say that you shouldn’t provide all necessary information to students. You should still post the “minimum required materials” onto BB at the start of the semester, which includes the course outline, your critical path, and a welcome note. At no time will a work-to-rule mean that we don’t provide students with their learning materials, but it would be a good idea to distribute your course materials to students through a different platform, such as DropBox or Google Drive (preferably with password-protection), and to make recordings available to your students via YouTube, Loom, Vidyard, or, Google Drive (again, password-protection is recommended). We believe that these measures would maximize the effectiveness of our current work action (and therefore minimize the need for further escalation), and maximize faculty ownership over their own work product.
Here is some information on alternatives to BlackBoard and MS Teams: Alternatives to BB and MS Teams
We’ve prepared a summary sheet for you on alternatives that can be used instead of BlackBoard and MS Teams: find it here.
You can let them know that you’re reaching that limit, and ask how you should proceed. If you have prioritized your work (which is your right), you can also let them know. Here is a sample of what you can say:
Hello [Associate Dean],
As you know, in response to the imposition of terms and conditions by the CEC and the colleges, CAAT-A members are now engaged in a legal work-to-rule labour action. Under this action, all faculty members are to work to the letter of their job description or contract.
According to the CEC, the total workload hours per week for a [X]-hour partial-load contract is [Y] hours, and I am quickly approaching this number. I have prioritized my workload to ensure the most critical tasks are completed first. The remaining tasks for this week include: [XYZ]. Please advise on where I should direct this remaining work.
Thank you.
If you recall, in March 2020, faculty had moved all their courses to online delivery due to the pandemic. Since then, we’ve established that faculty have the right to choose to deliver the course synchronously, asynchronously, or a mix of both. During the pandemic, and prior to work to rule, those who were delivering courses synchronously may record the lecture portion (where new material is taught; not discussions, evaluations, role plays, etc.), but are not required to do so if the learning material is provided to your students in a different way (ie: PowerPoint slides, PDFs, links to other videos, etc.). This agreement was made in good faith with the College, to ensure students were given ample opportunity to be successful in their courses.
As we are currently in work to rule, the Bargaining Team is reinforcing the fact that it is faculty’s choice whether classes are delivered synchronously or not, for all courses, including courses that are expected to be delivered face-to-face. Similarly, absent a student’s requirement for accommodation, it is up to faculty whether to make lecture recordings or not. The college cannot direct either of those things, and certainly not during work to rule. To re-iterate, if a student has an accommodation requiring a recording, faculty must oblige. It is only necessary to share recordings with students requiring accommodation.
Please note: If you choose to record your classes, use the Bargaining for Better background in your recordings. We also recommend uploading your videos to Google Drive or YouTube, not directly onto BlackBoard.
It’s not too late to make changes to your assessments. Consider the following:
- group assignments instead of individual ones
- fewer # of assessments
- changes to grading, such as moving to a rubric or rounded grades (90%, 80%, 70%, etc.)
- grading X out of Y questions (for example, marking questions 1 and 4 of the assignment, which has 6 questions in total. Of course, your students won’t know in advance which questions you’ll be grading!)
- offering less/no written feedback, only a number grade
Whatever changes or decisions you make, ensure it is consistent and clearly communicated to your students. Let them know why these changes are necessary (I am given X minutes per week to grade your work).
We also recommend that you send a note to your supervisor letting them know of your existing time constraint challenges. Here’s a sample message you can send:
Dear [Associate Dean],
I’m really dismayed that because of insufficient marking time, I wasn’t able to provide students with the feedback I would usually provide. In some cases, all they got was a grade.
Students and faculty deserve better.
Regards,
[Your Name]
As a part-time faculty member (teaching 6 hours or less per week), you are technically not unionized, and therefore, do not have the protections of our collective agreement. Similarly, you do not have the protections under the CCBA, and therefore, are not obliged to follow Work to Rule.
While we appreciate your solidarity, risking your job is not what we want. There will be other ways that you can continue to support your colleagues, but for now, ensure you fulfill your job duties are per usual.
If you have been teaching the class in a face-to-face mode since the start of the term, then you must continue teaching face-to-face. However, if you have been teaching online but have been told to return to face-to-face teaching, the choice to return to face-to-face teaching is yours to make. As the subject matter expert and as the person who knows your students best, we trust that you will use your best professional judgement regarding your course’s delivery mode.
There are many factors to consider, including but limited to:
- Workload (especially during Work to Rule): pivoting from online to f2f will likely be an increase to your prep work.
- Health & Safety concerns (for both faculty and students)
- Logistics – this is a greater concern for students than faculty; some students have raised concerns to faculty and to Associate Deans regarding their ability to find suitable living arrangements, conflicts with work schedules (which may lead to financial impacts), commuting time and costs, etc. There are also some students who are living out of the city/country.
- Pedagogical rationale: some courses/content makes so much more sense being taught face-to-face rather than online. And then, there are some courses that work perfectly fine online. Again, this will vary faculty to faculty, course to course.
If your Associate Dean has directed you to return to in-person teaching (or said that you have no choice but to return) but you’d rather stay online, you can send them the following message (customize as you see fit):
Dear [Associate Dean],
As you know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that pivoting from an online delivery mode to a face-to-face delivery mode mid-semester is my decision. At this time, I am choosing to keep my class online, as it is the most logical, practical, and pedagogically sound choice.
Regards,
[Your name]
If you are choosing to return to face-to-face teaching on March 7 as originally planned, there’s no need to send your AD any message.
Finally, regardless of whether you continue to teach online or are moving to face-to-face delivery starting March 7, please ensure you re-communicate the delivery mode with your students. Post it on your Blackboard Announcements section, and check the button that allows the message to be sent to students’ emails. Whatever your decision may be, please be clear and transparent with your students about your decision. Here’s a sample message that you can send your students:
Dear Students,
As you know, the College has an expectation that our class be returned to face-to-face delivery commencing March 7. And as you may also know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that pivoting from an online delivery mode to a face-to-face delivery mode mid-semester is my decision. I have reflected on how our first 7 weeks have gone, the requests and concerns that I’ve received from students, as well as the practical and pedagogical rationale for either keeping the class online or moving back to face-to-face. I have made the decision to _________________ (remain online/transition back to face-to-face delivery, as originally planned), as I think it is in your best interest to finish the semester in this way. If you have concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Yes! Multi-modal classes, such as hi-flex (where faculty is simultaneously teaching students in-person and online) has been deemed struck work in Phase 3. If you have been directed to return to campus to teach a course in hi-flex mode, you can notify your Associate Dean that this work has been struck (sample message below).
Even though teaching in hi-flex is struck, you can still teach the class and the same # of hours. It is up to you to decide how you want to allocate the class time (in-person, online, or a combination of the two – just not simultaneously!). For example, a 3TC class can be taught 2 hours online and 1 hour face to face.
Sample Message to Associate Dean:
Dear [Associate Dean],
As you know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that all multi-modal delivery (including hi-flex) is struck work. Performing struck work is the equivalent of crossing a picket line, and I do not wish to do that.
Regards,
[Your Name]
Once you have made your decision, please ensure you re-communicate your decision with your students. Post it on your Blackboard Announcements section, and check the button that allows the message to be sent to students’ emails. Whatever your decision may be, please be clear and transparent with your students about your decision. Here’s a sample message that you can send your students:
Dear Students,
As you know, the College has an expectation that our class be delivered in a hi-flex model commencing March 7. And as you may also know, faculty have been engaged in Work to Rule since December 18, 2021. Most recently, the Bargaining Team has escalated this strike action to Phase 3, which stipulates that all multi-modal delivery (including hi-flex) is struck work. Performing struck work is the equivalent of crossing a picket line, and I do not wish to do that. I have reflected on how our first 7 weeks have gone, the requests and concerns that I’ve received from students, as well as the practical and pedagogical considerations. I have made the decision to ____________________ [state your course delivery breakdown], as I think it is in your best interest to finish the semester in this way. If you have concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
First, it’s important to share with them why we will not be entering grades into BlackBoard or Banner: Though it is unlikely, it is technically possible for the College to lock us out (forcing us to be out of work). To reduce the possibility of this happening, and to maintain control over our students’ grades and progression through their programs, we must ensure the college does not have access to students’ grades. Therefore, we must remove all grades from Blackboard, and ensure no midterm grades are submitted on Banner. As we get closer to the end of the semester, it’s important to make it difficult for the college to make decisions about students’ advancement without our participation.
Next: it’s important that the students understand they can still get their grades from you directly. Faculty can still provide grades and/or feedback to students – just no grades posted to BlackBoard or Banner.
Finally, depending how your class uses Blackboard, please ensure your students are aware of how they should be submitting assessments to you, and how they will be able to get their grades/feedback from you. If you need help with brainstorming ideas, feel free to drop us a line: info@opseu562.org. We have some useful tips and suggestions in this guidebook as well. The goal is to ensure you are protected from a potential lock out, while ensuring you are still working within your workload limits, and students are still able to get their grades.
The Team has prepared a template letter for students that you can also adapt for your needs.
We’ve created a step-by-step guide on how faculty can move their grades offline. Even though faculty are expected to no longer post grades on Blackboard, faculty can still provide the grades and feedback to students about their progress (just don’t post the grade on BlackBoard!). You can do this via BlackBoard messages, Humber email, other cloud platforms, during synchronous sessions, etc.
Please also ensure that you let your students know why this is happening, and how their interactions with you (submitting assessments, getting feedback, etc) will change.
Because we’re in a legal strike position, our Bargaining Team determines what constitutes struck work. Our legal experts have spoken: “The direction to engage in a strike, and the nature of the strike action, are matters for the union to determine. The College Employer Council (CEC) and the Colleges have no role to play in determining the nature, timing, or scope of a union’s strike activity, and are not required to agree with or approve the union’s actions.”
As a union member, you have a legal right to engage in Work to Rule, and in Phase 3 (which started March 2, 2022), the Union determined that for those who have been teaching classes online thus far this semester, faculty can decide whether they will return to in-person learning or remain online for the remainder of the semester.
In response to your AD’s message, you can say the following (adjust as needed):
Dear [Associate Dean],
Thank you for your message. The decision to continue my class online is part of a legal job action that began December 18 and includes over 16,000 members of the CAAT-A bargaining unit.
My right to participate in this work-to-rule action was acknowledged by the College Employer Council on January 4, when they published that Colleges “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.” These rights are protected by the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act.
I respectfully reiterate that I will not be performing struck work as directed by the Bargaining Team. As always, I will ensure my students are supported in their learning for the remainder of the term.
Regards,
[Your name]
We have a Student FAQ website that will answer a lot of questions your students will have regarding Work to Rule in general, as well as specifics about Phase 3. We are continually updating this FAQ, just as we do for our Faculty FAQ.
You can also adapt this letter to share with your students, which gives a good overview of what’s happening in Phase 3.
Most likely, the email reminder came from a support staff person. If that is so, they are just doing their job in sending the email. Faculty can continue with not entering midterm grades as a part of struck work for Phase 3.
However, if you receive a message from your direct supervisor directing (not “expecting”) you to enter midterm grades, please get in touch with us immediately.
LIBRARIANS
As each librarian may have a different work assignment, it is crucial to stick to your 35 hours per week (or 7 hours per day) limit. Any voluntary activities (such as committee work, projects, workshops, etc.) can be halted. However, committee or project work that is explicitly assigned should be done, if it fits within your 7 hour work day. We recommend prioritizing your duties and working according to that list each day or week. Once you’ve hit your daily worked hours, stop. If it means that some of your assigned work cannot be completed, notify your manager. We also recommend letting the students and faculty members that you work with know the limits of your working abilities, such as: your availability (for example: via email, M – F, 9 am – 5 pm), the reason why appointments may be delayed or cancelled (ie: having reached your workload limit), and a contact person they can reach for further assistance (ie: your Manager). You can do this by adding an auto-responder to your emails, or adding information in your email signature.
Please contact Eva MacDonald at eva.mcdonald@gmail.com.
Here is an example of messaging you can use. You should tailor your response to any specific role(s), responsibilities, and availability restrictions you may have, such as committee leads, program coordinators, etc. So please adapt this message as needed:
- College faculty (which includes librarians) have begun a work-to-rule campaign, in protest of the College Employer Council and college management imposition of Terms and Conditions. Librarians’ work to rule actions will have minimal impact on students and faculty. Librarians will still provide research assistance for students and faculty, will provide class instruction to students as requested, and will support faculty in their course resource needs. If you have specific questions about how work to rule may impact you, please contact your liaison librarian. For more information, visit: https://www.opseu562.org/work-to-rule.
COUNSELLORS + ACCESSIBILITY CONSULTANTS
It’s important that counsellors and accessibility consultants limit their work time to 35 hours per week, or 7 hour per day. Throughout the labour dispute, supporting students should remain your priority. You should continue to meet with students and complete the related follow-up and documenting tasks. Any voluntary activities (such as committee work, projects, workshops, etc.) can be halted. However, committee or project work that is explicitly assigned should be done, if it fits within your 7 hour work day. We recommend prioritizing your duties and working according to that list each day (up to 7 hours per day). Once you’ve hit your daily worked hours, stop. If it means that some of your assigned work cannot be completed, notify your manager. Finally, please use your professional judgement to assess circumstances: tending to emergency student situations that may put you over 7 hours that day will not be viewed as strike breaking.
Please contact Shawn Pentecost at shawnopseu415@gmail.com.
Here is an example of messaging you can use. You should tailor your response to any specific role(s), responsibilities, and availability restrictions you may have, such as committee leads, program coordinators, etc. So please adapt this message as needed:
- In response to the College Employer Council’s decision to unilaterally impose employment conditions after college faculty voted to support strike actions, Ontario college faculty are now following work-to-rule guidelines established by the Faculty Bargaining Team. Work-to-rule means that we will be working only the time outlined by our workload assignments, and that we will not be available for any additional (volunteer) work that we may normally do. Therefore, email responses and student/faculty appointments may be delayed. For urgent matters, please contact my Associate Dean [AD name] at [AD’s email address]. We appreciate your patience and your support in our efforts to improve working conditions for Ontario college faculty and the learning conditions of Ontario college students.
ALLIES: PART-TIME FACULTY, STUDENTS, FAMILIES, COMMUNITY MEMBERS
- Sign the click-to-email letter at collegefaculty.org and share it with friends, family, colleagues, other organizations you belong to via your non-Humber email address, and ask for their support. You can also sign and share our Local’s letter/petition to President Whitaker.
- Download and use the “Bargaining for Better” background for any online meetings/gatherings you may have. (NEW Guide: How to change virtual background in Teams)
- Share and retweet posts from our twitter: @opseulocal562, facebook: opseulocal562, and/or Instagram: opseulocal562 accounts.
Our students are important allies in this fight for a better future. Therefore, we’ve created a special FAQ for students.
As a part-time faculty member (teaching 6 hours or less per week), you are technically not unionized, and therefore, do not have the protections of our collective agreement. Similarly, you do not have the protections under the CCBA, and therefore, are not obliged to follow Work to Rule.
While we appreciate your solidarity, risking your job is not what we want. There will be other ways that you can continue to support your colleagues, but for now, ensure you fulfill your job duties are per usual.
If you are part-time status (teaching 6 hours or less per week), you are not unionized, and therefore, not legally a part of the work to rule job actions. Still, you are a frontline worker, who is essential to our students’ learning. You are not obliged to shared information with your students, but it would be helpful if you did. Keep in mind that most of our students do not know the difference between a full-time, partial-load, or part-time professor. To the students, they just see faculty as being in a strike action, without the ability to differentiate between those who are and aren’t part of the union.
You are not required to disclose your employment status, however, if you are part-time, it may be helpful to communicate that with your students so that they know your hands are tied. You can also direct students to our Student FAQ page: https://www.opseu562.org/students-work-to-rule which we will continue to update throughout WTR.