We've added some self-booking blocks for talking to an RTU executive assistant. Fill out the form, and an executive assistant will phone you back at the appointed time.
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Find it HERE.

August 19th, 2024 UPDATE:
The payment will be made on the paychecque of August 29th, 2024. 
The interest accrued since August 9th will be included on the same paychecque.












​The Provincial Agreement has been signed. This means that there are sixty calendar days until our retro payments are due, making their deadline August 9th, 2024. If this deadline is not met, interest will begin to accrue from this date. 

How do you know if your retroactive pay is correct?

A couple of points:

1. Everyone’s retro will be somewhat different from others, even on the same step.
2. Taxes, pension, and depending on your total earnings, QPP, EI and other deductibles will be withheld.
3. Any type of unpaid or partially paid leave taken within the retroactive period will affect the amounts owed to you. This includes all types of parental leave, sick leave, partial leaves etc.
4. Workload percentage will affect back pay too.

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For example, a High School teacher was on parental leave. For the weeks where only QPIP was received, no retroactive salary will be paid for this period. There was no salary from the school board earned during that period, to be subject to the pay increases. For the period where she was back at work, retroactive pay will be calculated. 

Another example would be a part-time teacher who had two weeks of no work between contracts within a year. This teacher would not earn retroactive pay for those two weeks of not working, so their payout would be lower by 5% (10 days out of 200 not worked). 

There was an increase in substitution rates. Therefore, casual supply will generate a retroactive payment.

The provided calculations have two red columns, one for each raise that occurred. The second red column accounts for the fact that the retroactivity from April 2024 is only for 8 of a year’s 26 payments, not a full school year. The total of these two columns is the teal column at the far right, which is the approximate gross* repayment that someone on that step can expect, based on a full 100% workload. 

*Gross amounts calculated are before any deductions are made. All retroactive payments will be subject to all deductions usually taken off of every paycheck (varies by teacher).

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Now that the agreements have been signed, there are 60 calendar days for the retroactive payments. This corresponds to August 9th, 2024.

Any payments made after this date will be subject to interest accruing from August 9th, 2024.

We are all waiting for 4 things with bated breath:

• Our salary increases
• Our retroactive pay
• Insurance premium contribution from employer
• Corrections/Assessment of strike pay deductions

Let's talk about the money we won first: Salary increase, the associated retropay, and the insurance contribution.

Wheeeeeeen!

Salary Increase:  1 or 2 pay periods after signing

Retropay: 60 calendar days after signing

Insurance contributions: Happening as we speak! There is a SNAFU as the government and the Commun Front fight over whether the contribution should only be 50% for any teacher working less than 75%. 

It has been temporarily resolved as the insurance company has no idea as to a teacher’s contract percentage. As such all members will receive a monthly premium reduction that corresponds to your family status as declared to IA. These deductions should take effect June 1st, 2024. The premium deduction will be revisited in January of 2025. 

The government is still pushing for their contribution threshold. However, we all pay full premiums and should receive full applicable coverage regardless of employment status. In light of this the Commun front is still pushing for the original union understanding of the promise to be upheld.

Signing!?!

Yep, we agreed to a deal in principle, but as the insurance issue above highlights, that’s not every little detail. 

Our negotiators are working on every little detail as we speak. Checking every preposition and comma to guarantee no sneaky little changes are enshrined in the text.
Our QPAT negotiators are hopeful that the signing will take place in early June, but can’t make promises with accuracy and our rights being more important than speed right now.

So, again like when then!

Best case: Sign in Early June
Salary:  Mid June
Retropay: End of July

Worstish case: Sign in Late September
Salary: Mid October
Retropay: Late November/Early December

STRIKE PAY ERRORS

There were plenty of them. Enough of them there was no way the board would fix them all within the 40 day grieving window. So, RTU along with nearly all local unions has filed a grievance in regards to the equity of how strike pay was administered.

So when will it be fixed?

After the grievances go to the Labour Court, a judge decides whether strike pay was applied in an equitable manner. The school board is awaiting this decision before they implement any solutions.

A date?

At last check, grievances took around a year to be heard. Grieving is not a fast process. In this situation due to the extensiveness of the issues and the unlikelihood of it being solved within 40 days, RTU had no choice but to grieve.

Why so long?

The courts system is not known for its speedy resolution of cases in any branch of law. Labour law is no different. This is why local unions, RTU included, focus on local negotiated solutions so much. As slow as those negotiations are, they are almost always faster than the legal system. Hopefully a local solution will be found to this issue as well.

40 days? 
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A grievance must be filed within 40 working days of the cause. After the 40 days it’s a done deal and the union or individual cannot grieve a situation anymore.  
If there is a non-antagonistic relationship between a local union and a school board, issues can be dealt with and settled outside this window.