| The Dispute Over Pay Periods |
| Wed, September 26, 2018 |
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| Now for some background, the teachers say they have been going back and forth with the board since the contract was first presented on August 20th. There was a revised contract that was never agreed on and a number of failed meetings that yielded no solid compromise between the teachers and the board. This breakdown in communication has unearthed a host of issues and concerns. The teachers brought up points that this was a political move because Education Ministry officials refused to intervene on behalf of the teachers and simply stated that "their hands were tied". Teachers also expressed their outrage that the board would simply terminate them after some teachers have dedicated over thirteen years of service to the college extension; and they stressed they stayed on that long for the love of it, not for the money. That's a lot of pent up grievances. But one of the main points that the teachers raised is that the payment system reflects a tertiary level module rather than secondary, which the teachers say should not be the case. Chairperson Lisel Alamilla begs to differ.
Lisel Alamilla- Chairperson, Claver College Extension
"When we met with them we said to them that for the new school year, so that they don't have to worry about the fact that we won't honor our commitment to them, what we will do is we will use the UB contract and do payments similar to how UB is doing it whereby you are kind of doing two payments- one at midway and one at the end of the semester."
Courtney Weatherburne- reporter
"So every two months, right? Based on their position, that is one of the issues they have. They say they are operating as a secondary institution not tertiary. So, they don't really agree with that contract."
Lisel Alamilla- Chairperson, Claver College Extension
"No, but you see, this is an adult continuing education school. When I came onboard as chair, I was invited by the teacher's services commission to participate in a workshop training that they were doing for the board. So, at that meeting I asked Mr. Samuels what were the rules that governed the adult continuing education program and he said that in fact there is gap between the regulations and laws that govern this school. So, you can't take the rules that apply at say TCC and apply it in its totality. We try to use the education rules as much as possible where it is applicable to that school."
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