mante.ca

Don’t forget to check out the November newsletter for details on how to enter the holiday contest.

Reminder to everyone that November 15th is a mandatory PD day for all Educational Assistants. There will be a new employee orientation held in the morning, I look forward to seeing all the new faces there. For all other staff, there is specific PD planned that every school should be offering throughout the day, morning and afternoon. All schools will participate in Proactive Strategies to Support Students, and the rest of the day is school based PD planning. Your day should be full of learning opportunities and, if this is not occurring, please email myself immediately. MANTE is working together with Educational Support Services to offer everyone valuable and meaningful professional development and we appreciate any feedback and suggestions you may have.

This months newsletter is available to view. Enjoy and, as always, if you have any suggestions for upcoming newsletters, please send me an email.

The October newsletter is now available to view under the newsletter tab. In this months issue you will find information regarding pay calculations and a review of policies surrounding respite work outside of the school day.

On behalf of the MANTE Executive, I would like to extend a huge shout out of appreciation to all the Non-Teaching Support Staff within the St. James-Assiniboia School Division. To the Educational Assistants and Behaviour Intervention Assistants who day in and day out show up with a positive attitude and a desire to enhance the lives of the students within our buildings, thank you. To all our Receptionists, Department Heads, Secretarial Assistants, Student Information Assistants, Informnet Clerk and Head Administrative Assistants who are there to ensure our buildings run smoothly and answer all the questions, thank you. To our Library Technicians who open up a world of imagination and knowledge, thank you. To our Accounts Payable Team, Payroll Team, Purchasing Team and Receptionist at the Board Office who continue to ensure that the back office duties that keep this division running are done effectively and in a timely manner, thank you. To the Head Administrative Assistants in the Continuing Education and International Education office who are the behind the scenes wizards, thank you. To the Department Heads and Administrative Assistants within the maintenance and transportation buildings who keep these busy departments organized and structured, thank you. To the Administrative Assistants at PSDC who continue to support the numerous specialty areas within that building while operating in an ever changing environment, thank you. To the Program Assistants who are the in the background preparing classrooms for learning, thank you. To the Crossing Guards who brave the weather to ensure our students get to their destinations safely, thank you. To the Community Connectors who organize and supply nutritious meal opportunities to our communities, thank you. And to the Excluded support staff and all members of the CUPE support staff, thank you for all that you do. While this week, September 30th to October 4th, 2024 has been declared support staff recognition week by the Provincial government, please know that the MANTE executive appreciate all that you do everyday of every week of every year.

Further to the email that was sent out earlier this week from the payroll department, I have had several meetings with the department to establish a timeline for the corrections to vacation pay and the retro pay. Making the changes to the vacation pay/days as stipulated in the new Collective Agreement requires several steps in the Atrieve system. Payroll is working to manually change over the dates in the system. This process will be completed soon and will be reflected on your October 9^th pay period. All back vacation pay will be calculated into your retro payment. You can expect your retro pay in December, however if the calculations are completed prior to December and the retro pay is rolling out earlier, I will post a notification on the website. In an effort to allow the payroll department the dedicated time needed to properly make all the retro pay calculations, I would ask that if you have any payroll questions over the next few months that you direct them to myself. I know we are all eagerly awaiting our retro pay. Be assured that the payroll department is working diligently to get this achieved as soon as possible.

Septembers newsletter is now available under the newsletter tab above. In this months issue you will find an explanation of key points in the new Collective Agreement as well as the new parameters around the Non-MANTE lunch supervision position. As always, if there is something you would like to see explored in the newsletter, please let me know.

The Continuing Education department is offering a CPR Level C course, which includes adult/child/infant CPR, choking plus AED training on October 11th at John Taylor Collegiate from 9am to 4pm. There are also several training dates available through Canadian First-Aid Training. I know many MANTE members like to keep their first aid and CPR training current and there are only so many spots available through Division training. If you are interested in these courses, please apply through the MANTE PD fund.

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back. I hope you all had a chance to rest and recharge and are ready to tackle a new year. A frequent question I have been asked is when will we see our retro pay. I have not been given a timeline for this however, your new rate of pay is in effect. More information regarding some important changes to the new Collective Agreement will be explored in the September newsletter which will be out later next week. I remind everyone to check the website often and to review the newsletters as there is useful and helpful information provided here. As always, I can be reached through division email or the MANTE email at mante@mante.ca You can also call the MANTE office at 204-831-2397