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Social Committee Report - Alyssa Watson, Chelsea Hockridge
Executive Retreat 2013:
 We held an Executive Retreat at the Russell Inn on Saturday, September 28 to Sunday,
September 29 2013.
 Retreat is booked for this year at the Russell Inn from September 27 to September 28,
2014.
Christmas Social:
 Was held on November 30, 2013 at the Watson Art’s Centre
 Dinner was catered by Natalie Talpash
 There were 118 tickets sold for this event
Retirement Dinner:
 Will take place on Thursday, June 5th, 2014 at the Watson Art’s Centre.
 There are 4 confirmed retirements at this time.
 Tickets are available from your MVTA school representative for $20.
 Dinner will be catered by Rae & Myra’s HomeStyle Catering.
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Employee Benefits Report – Sharon Paziuk
I attended the provincial Employee Benefits Seminar in Winnipeg on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013.
Dental Plan - For the upcoming renewal of our Dental Plan, MVTA has a surplus over and
above the required surplus level (125%) of 35%. Keeping a surplus of 125% is the accepted
practice for plans such as these. Having another 35% surplus on top of that is not
recommended and thus a decision needs to be made.
Given this and the increase to the Dental Fee Guide of 3.2% in the fall of 2014, the
Dental Trust has recommended these options to our Association.
1. Increase the annual maximums, from $1500 combined annual maximum to a $1750
combined annual maximum for all services, with no change to premiums. This would
run down the surplus over approximately 5 years.
2. Reduce premiums for September 2014 by 3% and make the same plan change, $1500 to
$1750, and run down the surplus over approximately 3 years.
This item will be discussed in greater length at our MVTA Annual General Meeting. Glen
Anderson, Group Benefits Staff Officer, plans to be in attendance.
Blue Cross E-Service & My Good Health http://www.mb.bluecross.ca
This is a great source of information about your claim coverage, personal claims experience
and explanation of benefits. Use your blue cross ID card (contract and group number) to
register. My Good Health is a interactive and personalized health tool you can access through
E-Service.
Manitoba Public School Employees Dental and Extended Health Plan Trust
As of Sept. 1, 2013, premiums for both the Extended Health and Dental Plans are deducted in
pre-tax dollars directly off the salary grid (unless spousal coverage). Because it is deducted
directly off the grid (submitted as employer paid), premiums are paid before tax,
approximately 40% savings, dependent upon individual salaries and tax bracket.
Disability Benefits Plan - The Disability Benefits Plan has been focusing on developing
more preventative health strategies in the form of the Early Intervention Program to help
prevent serious and permanent disabilities. Anyone interested in accessing the Early
Intervention Program can confidentially contact their DBP case manager and ask for a form.
You can contact them toll free at 1-866-216-9014.
Short-Term Disability Plan - In Sept. 2013, the STD plan will be transitioned to a selfinsured plan under the umbrella of DBP.
Last spring, our local membership voted in support of becoming part of the STD plan.
To implement the plan, we must negotiate it into our collective agreement or have a letter of
agreement with the school division concerning its administration. Discussions with MVSD are
ongoing.
Terminating Employment - I would also like to advise teaching staff that when they
formally indicate that they will be ceasing employment with the school division on a specific
date, that decision is binding. As such, the benefits you receive as a result of employment will
also cease at that specified date. I would advise members to be cautious, as your life
circumstances/health can change before that date such that you would benefit from the
continuation of those benefits.
Please remember 90 DAYS! This is the length of time you have to make changes to
insurance (without proof of insurability) upon significant life event (marriage, common law,
birth of first child) or loss of coverage. This is also the period of time you have to sign up for
certain benefits in retirement.
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When did you last update your life insurance beneficiary? Whoever you last
designated as beneficiary WILL BE the legal beneficiary. If you are unsure, ask for a
beneficiary form from division office and update your information.
Wellness Report – Susan Barton Hopfner
On February 1, 2014, I attended the MTS Wellness Forum in Winnipeg. There were thirteen
presenters who discussed various areas of wellness. Please check out some of the ideas on the
MVTA website. Everyone in attendance received the book, “Finding Balance: 101 Concepts for
taking better care of self.” Ten copies were purchased to hand out as door prizes at the MVTA
annual general meeting on May 15th.
The MVTA wellness evening took place at the Watson Art Centre on February 7, 2014.
There were 40 people in attendance. Susan Cowan from the Primary Prevention Team gave a
presentation on wellness. Wine & cheese was available. Everyone in attendance was given a
copy of Canada’s National Health Magazine, “ALIVE.” Books from the Educator’s Assistance
Program were also available for viewing. Four copies of the book, “Finding Balance” were given
as door prizes.
It has been an honour to serve as the MVTA Wellness Chair. This experience has made
me aware of all the hard work, time and effort that the past and present executive members
have put into our organization. “Wellness is more than the absence of illness.” Continue to
make wellness a priority and let the MVTA know what events you would like to see happen.
Equity and Social Justice Report – Dawn Dutchak
I attended the Parkland ESJ Chairs Spring Regional Meeting in Dauphin on April 29th. Items
discussed included:
 the Manitoba GSA Handbook which is similar to the information presented on the
Ontario MyGSA website. Every school should have received a binder.
 Teachers in the Swan Valley region are asking for MTS to provide more information
about Union issues, especially for new teachers. Questions were raised about how
bargaining works and how it will impact them as teachers.
 MTS AGM Women’s Caucus will be held as a breakfast meeting at the opening morning
of AGM. All are invited to attend.
 Deadlines are fast approaching for MTS Grants. Grants are available for Equity and
Social Justice Initiative Grants, amounts available up to $800. Aboriginal Issues Grant
is for a maximum of $800 and Reflective Professional Practice Grant for a maximum of
$800. Deadline for all three Grants is May 30th. See the MTS website for more details.
 ESJ Chairs Summer Seminar – August 18-20th at Hecla.
 ESJ Chairs Fall Seminar – November 7th and 8th.
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MVTA Education Finance Report – Chris Barkman
Highlights:
 Continued to advocate for funding using the membership survey developed in 20122013
 Developed a presentation regarding the survey and delivered the information to MVSD
during their budget consultation process
 Monitored the outcome of the new budget for 2014-2015
A survey, conducted last year, was the pillar of MVTA’s budget consultation process with the
Board of Trustees. The categories given were: Human Resources, Professional Development,
Human Resources and Furniture. From that we found that teachers in Mountain View School
Division agree that Human Resources is the most important area in a school division’s budget.
Hiring more people, especially classroom teachers, and resource teachers will help provide the
students of MVSD the best possible education. In some communities, in particular those
outside of Dauphin, it was identified that school administrators need more release time to
effectively lead and manage a school.
With regard to professional development, MVTA recommended that the board provide
release time to incorporate PD into practice, and adequately fund Professional Learning
Communities. It was noted that MVSD spends $87 per pupil on Professional development,
while the Provincial average is $108.
This year we see the Budget increase 2.85% over the previous year. The Mill rate
decreased from 19.09 mills in 2013 to 16.55 mills for 2014. The mill rate decreased because of a
20% property assessment increase. In the news release the division cites to “channel resources
to support initiatives identified in the Division Plan, such as literacy and numeracy instruction,
teacher effectiveness, student diversity, safe and positive learning environments, 21st century
learning and student engagement.
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MVTA Workplace Safety and Health – Chance Henderson
It has been a busy year concerning Workplace Safety and Health (WS&H) for our school
division. While our government mandated and regulated workplace safety and health program
still needs to grow and improve, progress is being made towards making the program more
effective. Below is a summary of key events.
 June of 2012, MVSD administration informed the MVSD Divisional WS&H committee
that they were intending on undertaking an initiative to review MVSD`s current WS&H
policies. Over the summer and the fall, MVSD drafted a new revised WS&H program,
which it delivered to unions for evaluation in December of 2013. MVTA representatives
on the Divisional WS&H committee and MTVA President Kathy Bellemare reviewed the
draft WS&H program document and determined there was considerable room for
improvement. We lobbied MVSD administration to implement a review process that
would allow all parties to work together collaboratively in the interest of producing a
WS&H program that would reflect the collaborative worker/employer culture related to
WS&H that is essential for employee buy in. May 6, 2013, MVSD announced that it
engaged the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba to audit its WS&H program and
current safety culture. Working with the Divisional WS&H committee, WCB set forth
recommendations for changes to be considered for MVSD’s review of its WS&H
program and they assisted in creating an action plan to assist in the implementation of
these recommendations. The review of MVSD’s WS&H committee has been ongoing
through the 2013-2014 school year and all employee groups, unions and non-union, are
participating actively in this review. During this process, MVTA will continue to lobby to
ensure that teachers concerns and issues related to WS&H are addressed during this
process.
 MVSD continued with the implementation of school based WS&H committees in an
effort to further establish WS&H culture within our division. Having school-based
committees provides teachers the opportunity to have a voice with respect to WS&H
issues within their building. It has been 2 years since the first site based Workplace
Safety and Health Committees were established.
 A number of training opportunities were offered to WS&H representatives by MTS,
MSBA, MVSD, and Safe Work Manitoba. Workplace Safety and Health Reps are
entitled to 2 days training a year.
As your MTVA Workplace Safety and Health representative and Workplace Safety and Health
Committee Co-Chair, I participated in a number of opportunities that allowed me to represent
our MVTA membership. These opportunities included:
 Attending MVSD Divisional Workplace Safety and Health Committee meetings(4 per
year)
 Participating in 5 MTS Provincial WS&H Standing Committee Meetings as a
representative for the Parkland region.
 Attended the Safety Services Manitoba Safe Work Conference participating in sessions
which focused on harassment and violence in the workplace.
 Participating in the development of an MTS WS&H training plan related to workplace
violence and harassment.
 Consulting with MVTA members regarding WS&H concerns and issues.
 Participating in MVTA/MVSD Liaison Committee meetings.
 Co-ordinating the MTS WS&H regional meeting for the Parkland.
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 Acting as an employee representative during workplace incident investigations.
 Representing employee interests at MVSD Workplace Health and Safety Meetings
Public Relations Report – Sharon Thompson
I attended the Public Relations training seminar in Winnipeg in the fall where we
discussed roles and responsibilities, newsletters, grants, and media relations. This year
MVTA applied for and received an MTS grant to cover a portion of the radio advertisements
we are running weekday mornings on CKDM. These ads change monthly, but each has a
wellness focus. We are once again giving each kindergarten student in the division a picture
book to celebrate the completion of their first year of school. These will be distributed in
June. Two issues of the MVTA's newsletter, The Apple, were published and distributed.
PD Report - Ardena Shipp and Michelle Mailhot
1. Ardena attended the following: the summer PD session held in Gimli from August 19th21st, the Professional Development Standing Committee Meeting on January 11th,
February 7th, and 28th. The fall workshop was October 1st and 2nd and the winter one was
February 7th and 8th. Both Michelle and Ardena attended the Regional PD Meeting in
Dauphin on April 24th.
2. We had a PD day in September on Power School implementation. February 24th was
held in Grandview on the topic of PLCs. Charlie Coleman presented an all day session to
teachers. March/April PD was in school.
3. Manitoba Rural Learning Consortium – We registered for this again. Sessions were held
throughout the year depending on topics staff signed up for.
4. We had a whole committee meeting on October 15th, a budget meeting on November 12th
, a planning committee meeting on November 25th, and a whole committee meeting
again on February 11th.
5. SAGE Local options were coordinated by Mrs. Cottyn. We can’t make these options
available any sooner as you are to attend SAGE sessions if at all possible. However if
someone is willing to organized a SAGE session open to all teachers in Manitoba this
would be put out in the SAGE booklet.
6. Ning - Invites were sent out for those who hadn’t joined yet. Some changes have been
made to the appearance of this site. A link is on the Intranet. Teachers are encouraged
to use it.
7. First aid continues on the 1st Tuesday of the month and they have to have 6 people
minimum to run this course.
8. PLCs are happening in a variety of ways and formats. Some schools are using schoolbased PD money, timetable slots, grants, and some of their staff meeting time. Roblin is
using time during monthly early dismissals. MVTA’s goal is to see PLCs be included in
the regular timetable and we still have work to do in this area. Schools that have been
doing this over time are seeing improvements in student learning.
9. The PD budget proposal was submitted to the board and accepted. We asked for a
higher amount due to the amount of spending we have been doing in this area and being
over budget. The major change is a hotel change to $120. This is effective September
2014.
10. MVTA paid to send 2 representatives from the executive to attend the Awakening the
Possibilities MTS conference which was held April 16th and 17th .
11. We have booked Jennifer Katz to present to teachers on the 3 block model Universal
Design for Learning in October 2014.
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Collective Bargaining – Stephen Jaddock and David Clark
As the year continues to roll on so does our preparation for the next round of bargaining. Here
has what has been happening up to this point:
 A bargaining committee was formed. The committee is made up of representatives from
each school in the division and this year we are very appreciative to have representation
from each school. This makes our jobs a lot easier, as the wants and needs of all of our
members are represented.
 We then had our first informational meeting. This meeting was for all the reps to come
and have the bargaining process laid out for them. We are lucky enough to continue to
work with Roland Stankevicius form MTS central. He helped lead everybody through
the process and answer any questions the committee members had.
 The next step was to ask the committee representatives to go back to their respective
schools and try to get a sense of what issues the membership had. These suggestions
were submitted to the committee members or directly to the Co-chairs. These
suggestions were the basis for a survey that had yet to be constructed.
 Once all the suggestions were submitted the table team met and determined what the
top issues were within the division. The table team is made up of Roland, Kathy
Bellemare, Stephen Jaddock, and David Clark. Once the priorities were determined, we
then sent that information with Roland to MTS central, where they put the nuts and
bolts of the survey together.
 The survey was then sent back to Kathy and we then passed it onto the bargaining
committee as a whole and waited for suggestions, in terms of making the survey better.
Once that was finished, we then planned how and when the survey would be distributed.
 During this process, a letter was sent, by Kathy, to the board, stating our intentions to
open this round of bargaining.
 Since then, the survey has been made available to our members. The completed surveys
have been sent to MTS central where they have been scrutinized and tabulated. There is
a meeting set for the 13th of May to look over the results of the returned surveys, and
start looking at an opening package that we can present to the board.
We are now looking to the future of this bargaining process. Our committee would like to thank
all the members who took the time to fill out and return the surveys. We can only represent our
members if they let us know what they need and want.
Also, a big thank-you needs to go out to the committee members who have given of their
time and themselves in this process. As well, a big thank-you needs to be sent out to Roland
and Kathy for ensuring that the process is staying on track and the job continues to get done.
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